HIST 291 - U.S. Catholic History

Credits: (3)
Explores the development of Catholic communities in North America from early contacts between Europeans and Native Americans through the massive influx of Catholic immigrants in the nineteenth century to debates over authority and religious liberty in the twenty-first century. Using a variety of texts, ranging from personal narratives and sermons to film and literature, students will gain an understanding of the theological, political, and cultural tensions shaping the lives of Catholics in the United States from various ethnic, geographic, and economic backgrounds. Students will also draw on the history of Catholicism in Maryland.