European and American Christianity in Past and Present

An analysis of how competing social forms impact the development of religion, exemplified by different Christian traditions in Europe and the Americas.

Social forms of religion – the ways in which individuals and groups coordinate religious practice – produce community at the same time as they enable individual religious experiences. A mix of group, organization, market exchange, network, event, and/or other forms characterizes different traditions. Shifts in dominant social forms within a religious tradition are catalysts and expressions of religious transformation alike. The contributions to the volume test this argument by presenting Catholic, Protestant, Charismatic/Pentecostal, Orthodox, and Mormon case studies from Europe and the Americas.