God-Optional Religion in Twentieth-Century America - Quakers, Unitarians, Reconstructionist Jews, Crisis Over Theism

God-Optional Religion in Twentieth-Century America provides a historical account of the idea that being religious and believing in God might be separate concepts. Isaac Barnes May focuses on the story of three groups-liberal Quakers, Unitarians, and the forerunners of what would become Reconstructionist Judaism-and how they attempted to preserve their faith in the modern world by redefining what it meant to be religious.

List of contents

• Acknowledgements


• Introduction


• 1. Putting Away Childish Things


• 2. Scientists and Mystics


• 3. Why Be a Jew?


• 4. Outgrowing the Past


• 5. The Boundary with Godless Religion


• 6. Fruits Not Roots


• 7. Legalizing God-Optional Religion


• Epilogue

About the author

Isaac Barnes May is a student at Yale Law School. He is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and earned his PhD in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia.

Product details

• Authors: May, Isaac Barnes May, Isaac Barnes (Student May
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 10.03.2025
• EAN: 9780197624234
• ISBN: 978-0-19-762423-4
• No. of pages: 342
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Miscellaneous; USA, 20th Century, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion, RELIGION / Christianity / History, RELIGION / Baha'i, Religion: general, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, History of Religion, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas