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The Spirit of Vatican II In 1962, Pope John Paul XXIII convened Vatican II and changed how Catholicism was practiced by millions around the world. Through the prism of her own mother's life, Professor McDannell traces how this dramatic shift into modernity changed the everyday lives of American Catholics . Both scholarly and personal, this account of Vatican II is a unique exploration of a turbulent time in Catholicism, and the underlying historical and societal forces that continue to alter the lives and faith of American Catholics in an increasingly post-Vatican II faith.
Catholics in the Movies The common admission that "everything I know about religion I learned from the movies" is true for believers as much as for unbelievers. And at the movies, Catholicism is the American religion. As an intensely visual faith with a well-defined ritual and authority structure, Catholicism lends itself to the drama and pageantry of film. Colleen McDannell edits this survey, beginning with the silent era of film and ending with movies today. Essay by essay, eleven prominent scholars explore how Catholic characters, spaces, and rituals are represented in cinema.
Picturing Faith Chronicles a team of photographers working first for the for the Farm Security Administration and then the Office of War Information during the Great Depression. These photographers, including the famed Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, photographed the religious lives of American in their homes, schools, and places of worship.
Material Christianity This unique book studies the material forms chosen by the American faithful for their homes, their graves, and their churches. Rather than the usual examination of the doctrines and theology of the Christian America, Material Religion explores the ways t-shirts, toys, and even gravestones can speak to the religious lives of their Christian owners.
Religions of the United States in Practice Edited by Professor McDannell, this 2 volume set examines the lived religion of America through 67 essays by the current leaders in the field of material religion. The first volume considers the Colonial period through the nineteeth century, volume two chronicles the twentieth century.
Heaven: A History Written with Bernhard Lang, this work is a chronological examination of the evolving understanding of heaven. Drawing from religious writing, pop culture, and literature, McDannell and Lang examine how scholars and artists through the ages have changed our understanding of the afterlife. Now in its second edition and with an updated preface.
The Christian Home in Victorian America, 1840-1900 Victorian America was a place that worshiped home, the women's place as arbiter of morality, and the celebration of religious sentiment as witnessed in the "tasteful" decoration of home and hearth. Understand how domestic religion was uniquely shaped in this chapter of our nation's history.
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