Ever since the rise of the religious Right in the 1980s, many people have associated American religion with political and cultural conservatism—grounded in tradition, more comfortable with the past than the future. Historically, however, American religion has been at least as liberal as conservative. American Religious Liberalism, a collection of scholarly essays edited by Leigh Schmidt and Sally Promey, aims to correct the more recent perception.
When it comes to definitions, the term “religious liberalism” is a moving target, not only because it has evolved over time but because liberalism itself welcomes change. Perhaps chief among them is an emphasis on ecumenicism—not just tolerance but an “openness to otherness,” as contributor Matthew S. Hedstrom puts it—that was always “much of what it meant to be a religious liberal.” This once intra-Christian impulse has been extended to Judaism, Eastern religions and, increasingly, Islam.
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