The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Volume 1: Religion

Edited by Samuel S. Hill

Charles Reagan Wilson, General Editor

272 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 38 illus., bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5674-1
    Published: April 2006
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-7716-6
    Published: December 2006
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7762-8
    Published: December 2006

New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

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Evangelical Protestant groups have dominated religious life in the South since the early nineteenth century. Even as the conservative Protestantism typically associated with the South has risen in social and political prominence throughout the United States in recent decades, however, religious culture in the South itself has grown increasingly diverse. The region has seen a surge of immigration from other parts of the United States as well as from Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East, bringing increased visibility to Catholicism, Islam, and Asian religions in the once solidly Protestant Christian South.

In this volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, contributors have revised entries from the original Encyclopedia on topics ranging from religious broadcasting to snake handling and added new entries on such topics as Asian religions, Latino religion, New Age religion, Islam, Native American religion, and social activism. With the contributions of more than 60 authorities in the field--including Paul Harvey, Loyal Jones, Wayne Flynt, and Samuel F. Weber--this volume is an accessibly written, up-to-date reference to religious culture in the American South.

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi

About the Author

Samuel S. Hill is professor emeritus of religion at the University of Florida. He is author of Southern Churches in Crisis and the Encyclopedia of Religion in the South.
For more information about Samuel S. Hill, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Hill presents an up-to-date South now with more religious, racial, and ethnic diversity visible both on the ground and in the works of scholars reexamining the region's history. . . . With so much new information . . . all readers will appreciate the appearance of this new project so soon after its initial publication and hope the press will continue to support future editions."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"This volume offers a wealth of current information on a broad range of topics concerning the ever-changing religious currents in the South."--Journal of Folklore Research

"Captures a major tension in the field of southern studies: one between homogenous culture and cultural diversity. . . [and] captures the state of things in southern religion, where it has been and where it is going. . . . Invaluable both as a pedagogical tool and a scholarly resource."--Religious Studies Review

“This set represents a solid improvement on a celebrated work. The individual volumes will be essential for scholars of various Southern studies topics.”--Library Journal

"The New Encyclopedia is comprehensive, relevant, and representative of past and present trends in the field of Southern religion."--H-AmStdy

"But wherever one's researches may lead, this volume will provide a welcome starting point. Its expertly crafted entries guide readers through the thicket of southern religious life while accomplishing that most difficult of tasks: answering questions for the novice while providing penetrating commentary for the expert."--North Carolina Historical Review