Background
Porterfield, Amanda was born on February 6, 1947 in Bronxville, New York, United States. Daughter of John Buchanan and Emily Ide (Wheaton) Porterfield.
(The Power of Religion is an engaging introduction to six ...)
The Power of Religion is an engaging introduction to six religious traditions - Native American religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism - which recognizes the diversity of religious belief and offers both comparative and historical analysis. Genuinely accessible to undergraduates and general readers, it shows how various forms of these traditions are lived out in practice, experience, and community, presenting religions as conceivable ways of living and demonstrating how religious beliefs are integrally related to other aspects of life. Many chapters open with a description of a particular religious event or act that one might encounter today in the United States, where virtually all of the world's religions are now being practiced. The author discusses several of the historical developments each religion has undergone and considers how each of the religions has changed in response to the climate of religious exchange and religious pluralism that exists in the United States today. The Power of Religion helps readers to understand the vitality and plausibility of religious belief, to draw comparisons between religions, and to reflect on the nature of religion and its role in society. It is ideal for courses in introduction to religion, world religions, and comparative religion, and will also appeal to general readers interested in religion.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195093291/?tag=2022091-20
(A synthesis of literary critical and historical methods, ...)
A synthesis of literary critical and historical methods, Porterfield's book combines insightful analysis of Puritan theological writings with detailed examinations of historical records showing the changing patterns of church membership and domestic life. She finds that by conflating marriage as a trope of grace with marriage as a social construct, Puritan ministers invested relationships between husbands and wives with religious meaning. Images of female piety represented the humility that Puritans believed led all Christians to self-control and, ultimately, to love. But while images of female piety were important for men primarily as aids to controlling aggression and ambition, they were primarily attractive to women as aids to exercising indirect influence over men and obtaining public recognition and status.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195068211/?tag=2022091-20
(Amanda Porterfield offers a survey of ideas, rituals, and...)
Amanda Porterfield offers a survey of ideas, rituals, and experiences of healing in Christian history. Jesus himself performed many miracles of healing, and Christians down the ages have seen this as a prominent feature of their faith. Indeed, healing is one of the most constant themes in the long and sprawling history of Christianity. Changes in healing beliefs and practices offer a window into changes in religious authority, church structure, and ideas about sanctity, history, resurrection, and the kingdom of God. Porterfield chronicles these changes, at the same time shedding important new light on the universality of religious healing. Finally, she looks at recent scientific findings about religion's biological effects, and considers the relation of these findings to ages-old traditions about belief and healing.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199729948/?tag=2022091-20
(As recently as a few decades ago, most people would have ...)
As recently as a few decades ago, most people would have described America as a predominantly Protestant nation. Today, we are home to a colorful mix of religious faiths and practices, from a resurgent Catholic Church and a rapidly growing Islam to all forms of Buddhism and many other non-Christian religions. How did this startling transformation take place? A great many factors contributed to this transformation, writes Amanda Porterfield in this engaging look at religion in contemporary America. Religious activism, disillusionment with American culture stemming from the Vietnam war, the influx of Buddhist ideas, a heightened consciousness of gender, and the vastly broadened awareness of non-Christian religions arising from the growth of religious studies programs--all have served to undermine Protestant hegemony in the United States. But the single most important factor, says Porterfield, was the very success of Protestant ways of thinking: emphasis on the individual's relationship with God, tension between spiritual life and religious institutions, egalitarian ideas about spiritual life, and belief in the practical benefits of spirituality. Distrust of religious institutions, for instance, helped fuel a religious counterculture--the tendency to define spiritual truth against the dangers or inadequacies of the surrounding culture--and Protestantism's pragmatic view of spirituality played into the tendency to see the main function of religion as therapeutic. For anyone interested in how and why the American religious landscape has been so dramatically altered in the last forty years, The Transformation of Religion in America offers a coherent and persuasive analysis.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195131371/?tag=2022091-20
Porterfield, Amanda was born on February 6, 1947 in Bronxville, New York, United States. Daughter of John Buchanan and Emily Ide (Wheaton) Porterfield.
Bachelor magna cum laude, Mount Holyoke College, 1969; Master of Arts, Columbia University, 1971; Doctor of Philosophy, Stanford University, 1975.
Assistant professor Religion Syracuse (New York ) University, 1975-1982, associate professor Religion, 1982-1991, professor Religion, 1991—1994. Professor religious studies Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, 1994—1998, adjunct professor philanthropic studies, 1995—1998, adjunct professor American studies, 1995—1998, director women's studies, 1995—1998. Visiting professor religious studies University Wyoming, 1998—1999, professor religious studies, 1999—2003.
Robert A. Spivey professor religion Florida State University, Tallahassee, since 2003. Member executive advisory committee Center for Study of Religion and American Culture, Indianapolis. Chair faculty council College of Arts and Sciences Syracuse University, Syracuse, 1993-1994.
(The Power of Religion is an engaging introduction to six ...)
(A synthesis of literary critical and historical methods, ...)
(As recently as a few decades ago, most people would have ...)
(Amanda Porterfield offers a survey of ideas, rituals, and...)
(Book by Porterfield, Amanda)
Member American Society Church History (president 2001), American Academy Religion, American Studies Association, American History Association, Science Society Study of Religion, Religious Research Association, Phi Beta Kappa, American Antiquarian Society.
Married Mark Daughter of Kline, March 12, 1979. 1 child, Nicolas.