Vernacular Religion : : Collected Essays of Leonard Norman Primiano / / ed. by Deborah Dash Moore.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English
• MitwirkendeR: Moore, Deborah Dash,; Weisenfeld, Judith,
• HerausgeberIn: Moore, Deborah Dash,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: North American Religions ; 17
• Physical Description: 1 online resource :; 16 color illustrations

A comprehensive collection of the pioneering work of Leonard Norman Primiano, one of the preeminent scholars in religious studiesIn 1995, Leonard Norman Primiano introduced the idea of “vernacular religion.” He coined this term to overcome the denigration implied in the concept of “folk religion” or “popular religion,” which was juxtaposed to “elite religion.” This two-tiered model suggested that religion existed somewhere in a pure form and that the folk version transforms it. Instead, Primiano urged scholars to adopt an inductive approach to the study of religion and to pay attention to experiential aspects of belief systems, ultimately redressing a heritage of scholarly misinterpretation.Here for the first time, Leonard Norman Primiano’s pioneering works have been collected into one volume, providing a foundational look at one of the preeminent scholars of twentieth-century religious studies. Vernacular Religion makes visible the dimensions of vernacular religion in North America, exemplifying the richness of its ability to explain key facets of American society, including especially thorny issues around race and sexuality. The volume also demonstrates a method of abiding engagement, the creation of ongoing relationships with those who are studied, and how the relationship between scholars and the communities they study inform an ethics of critical commitment—what Primiano calls an “ethnography of collaboration and reciprocity.”This posthumous collection, edited by Deborah Dash Moore, brings together key studies in vernacular religion that explore its expression among such varied groups as Catholics, LGBTQ Christians, and the followers of Father Divine. Vernacular Religion models empathetic ethnographic engagement that embraces American religion in all its rich diversity, illuminating Primiano’s enduring legacy.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface: A Labor of Love -- Introduction: Vernacular Religion and the Search for Method in Religious Folklife -- Part I Religious Material Culture -- 1 Textures of a Religious Life: The Vernacular Religious Art of Sister Ann Ameen -- 2 The Vow as Visual Feast: Honoring St. Joseph in Sicilian American Homes -- 3 Postmodern Sites of Catholic Sacred Materiality -- 4 Artifacts of Belief: Holy Cards in Roman Catholic Culture -- 5 Catholiciana Unmoored: Ex-Votos in Catholic Tradition and Their Commercialization as Religious Commodities -- Part II Dignity in Philadelphia -- 6 The Gay God of the City: The Emergence of the Gay and Lesbian Ethnic Parish -- 7 What Is Vernacular Catholicism? The Dignity Example -- 8 “I Would Rather Be Fixated on the Lord” Women’s Religion, Men’s Power, and the Dignity Problem -- Part III Father and Mother Divine -- 9 “The Consciousness of God’s Presence Will Keep You Well, Healthy, Happy, and Singing” The Tradition of Innovation in the Music of Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement -- 10 “Bringing Perfection in These Different Places” Father Divine’s Vernacular Architecture of Intention -- 11 “And as We Dine, We Sing and Praise God” Father and Mother Divine’s Theologies of Food -- 12 “As a Living Shrine I Came” Remembrance, Creativity, and Paradox in God’s American Tomb -- Coda. Encountering the Female Divine . . . Literally: Ethnographic Writing about Mother and Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Further Reading -- Index -- About the Author and Editor