<p>With deft analysis and elegant prose, Bill Leonard provides a succinct history of a fascinating, though long overlooked, element of American religion. <i>Appalachian Mountain Christianity</i> takes its place along side Deborah Vansau McCauley’s work as the definitive history of religion in Appalachia.</p>
author of Evangelicalism in America
<p>With the objective eye of a scholar and the subjective heart of a dear friend, Bill J. Leonard explores the gifts of the otherness inherent in Appalachian Christianity. This insightful and, in many ways, prophetic monograph could only have been written by a deeply spiritual scholar willing to expose how his own Christian otherness has been formed and strengthened through communion with the otherness of the people of Appalachia.</p>
<p>With characteristic wit and respect, Leonard examines both persistence and transformation, wrought by influences from TikTok to mountaintop removal, in Appalachia’s distinctive religious traditions. His engaging, provocative approach illuminates religious practices and beliefs as crucibles of experiential insight—not curiosities of a dying, stereotyped culture—that can reveal places of spiritual emptiness and yearning in ourselves. An invaluable read for scholars and seekers alike!</p>
author of Digging Our Own Graves : Coal Miners & the Struggle over Black Lung Disease
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
BILL J. LEONARD is the founding dean and professor emeritus of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University. He holds a PhD degree from Boston University. His research focuses on church history with particular attention to American religion, Baptist studies, and religion in Appalachia. A popular speaker and author of around twenty-five books, he has given lectures at a variety of universities. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.