Editor David D. Hall has drawn together in this text ten essays by sociologists and historians on the integration of religion and experience. Instead of emphasizing dogma or institutional activity, the focus in these case studies is upon how people carry out their religious beliefs in the exigencies of everyday life. As editor David D. Hall, professor of American Religious History at the Harvard Divinity School, points out in the introduction, this exploration of "lived religion" opens the door to a fresh view of behavior as shaped by faith, custom, tradition, and improvisation.
This paperback contains interesting essays on gift exchange, cremation, hymn singing, and women's spirituality. These pieces reveal, as Stephen Prothero puts it, "the seemingly endless religious creativity of Americans." They also show how ordinary people follow the spool of meaning as it unravels in their daily activities. Nancy T. Ammerman's "Golden Rule Christianity" is one of the best essays in this collection. Here the practice of faith involves caring, relationships, and doing good.