Vernacular Religion: Collected Essays of Leonard Norman Primiano

Published by New York University Press 2022

Vernacular Religion

Collected Essays of Leonard Norman Primiano

Edited by: Deborah Dash Moore
Preface by: Judith Weisenfeld

Volume 17 in the series North American Religions

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479818693.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

A comprehensive collection of the pioneering work of Leonard Norman Primiano, one of the preeminent scholars in religious studies

In 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.

Author / Editor information

Moore Deborah Dash :

Deborah Dash Moore is Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of History and Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author and editor of a number of books, including Vernacular Religion: Collected Essays of Leonard Norman Primiano (NYU, 2022), Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of A City and A People (NYU, 2020), City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York (NYU, 2012), and GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation (Harvard, 2006).Weisenfeld Judith :

Judith Weisenfeld is the Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion at Princeton University and the Co-Director of The Crossroads Project: Black Religious Histories, Cultures, and Communities, which is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. She is the author of New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity during the Great Migration, Hollywood Be Thy Name: African American Religion in American Film, 1905- 1945, and African American Women and Christian Activism: New York’s Black YWCA, 1905-1945.Deborah Dash Moore (Editor)
Deborah Dash Moore is Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of History and Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author and editor of a number of books, including Vernacular Religion: Collected Essays of Leonard Norman Primiano (NYU, 2022), Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of A City and A People (NYU, 2020), City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York (NYU, 2012), and GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation (Harvard, 2006).

Judith Weisenfeld (Foreword by)
Judith Weisenfeld is the Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion at Princeton University and the Co-Director of The Crossroads Project: Black Religious Histories, Cultures, and Communities, which is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. She is the author of New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity during the Great Migration, Hollywood Be Thy Name: African American Religion in American Film, 1905- 1945, and African American Women and Christian Activism: New York’s Black YWCA, 1905-1945.

Reviews

Jodi Eichler-Levine, Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization and Professor of Religion Studies, Lehigh University:
The collection is compelling, with rich ethnographic details, and represents a major contribution to the field as a body of work.

Sally M. Promey, Director, Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion, Yale University:
This impressive volume persuasively recommends and gorgeously exemplifies a nuanced courageous scholarship of human engagement and commitment.

Julie Byrne, Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman Chair in Catholic Studies and Professor in the Department of Religion, Hofstra University:
Reading this work, I feel nothing so much as grateful that someone had the idea to do this ‘collected works’ project. . . . Primiano’s study of Dignity is the best work on Dignity. His study of the Peace Mission is the best work on Father Divine. . . . This volume not only collects important essays, but also reflects to the field more of itself, a part that has been missing or under-told to this point.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Foreword Judith Weisenfeld Publicly Available Download PDF	x
Preface: A Labor of Love Deborah Dash Moore Publicly Available Download PDF	xiv
Introduction: Vernacular Religion and the Search for Method in Religious Folklife Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I Religious Material Culture
1 Textures of a Religious Life: The Vernacular Religious Art of Sister Ann Ameen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2 The Vow as Visual Feast: Honoring St. Joseph in Sicilian American Homes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3 Postmodern Sites of Catholic Sacred Materiality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
4 Artifacts of Belief: Holy Cards in Roman Catholic Culture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
5 Catholiciana Unmoored: Ex-Votos in Catholic Tradition and Their Commercialization as Religious Commodities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Part II Dignity in Philadelphia
6 The Gay God of the City: The Emergence of the Gay and Lesbian Ethnic Parish Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
7 What Is Vernacular Catholicism? The Dignity Example Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
8 “I Would Rather Be Fixated on the Lord” Women’s Religion, Men’s Power, and the Dignity Problem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
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 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
10 “Bringing Perfection in These Different Places” Father Divine’s Vernacular Architecture of Intention Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
11 “And as We Dine, We Sing and Praise God” Father and Mother Divine’s Theologies of Food Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
12 “As a Living Shrine I Came” Remembrance, Creativity, and Paradox in God’s American Tomb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
Coda. Encountering the Female Divine . . . Literally: Ethnographic Writing about Mother and Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
About the Author and Editor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325