Book description
The South has always been one of the most distinctive regions of the
United States, with its own set of traditions and a turbulent history.
Although often associated with cotton, hearty food, and rich dialects,
the South is also noted for its strong sense of religion, which has
significantly shaped its history. Dramatic political, social, and
economic events have often shaped the development of southern
religion, making the nuanced dissection of the religious history of
the region a difficult undertaking. For instance, segregation and the
subsequent civil rights movement profoundly affected churches in the
South as they sought to mesh the tenets of their faith with the
prevailing culture. Editors Walter H. Conser and Rodger M. Payne and
the book's contributors place their work firmly in the trend of modern
studies of southern religion that analyze cultural changes to gain a
better understanding of religion's place in southern culture now and
in the future. Southern Crossroads: Perspectives on Religion and
Culture takes a broad, interdisciplinary approach that explores the
intersection of religion and various aspects of southern life. The
volume is organized into three sections, such as "Religious
Aspects of Southern Culture," that deal with a variety of topics,
including food, art, literature, violence, ritual, shrines, music, and
interactions among religious groups. The authors survey many
combinations of religion and culture, with discussions ranging from
the effect of Elvis Presley's music on southern spirituality to yard
shrines in Miami to the archaeological record of African American
slave religion. The book explores the experiences of immigrant
religious groups in the South, also dealing with the reactions of
native southerners to the groups arriving in the region. The authors
discuss the emergence of religious and cultural acceptance, as well as
some of the apparent resistance to this development, as they explore
the experiences of Buddhist Americans in the South and Jewish
foodways. Southern Crossroads also looks at distinct markers of
religious identity and the role they play in gender, politics, ritual,
and violence. The authors address issues such as the role of women in
Southern Baptist churches and the religious overtones of lynching,
with its themes of blood sacrifice and atonement. Southern Crossroads
offers valuable insights into how southern religion is studied and how
people and congregations evolve and adapt in an age of constant
cultural change.
""The list of contributors to Southern Crossroads reads
like a who's who in southern religious studies."" --
Southern Historian
Walter H. Conser Jr. is professor of history and religion at the
University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He is the author of A Coat
of Many Colors: Religion and Society along the Cape Fear River of
North Carolina. Rodger M. Payne is associate professor of religious
studies at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and is editor
of the Journal of Southern Religion. He is the author of The Self and
the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism.
