摘要：For one hundred and fifty years, the specter of secularization haunted philosophy, sociology, and religion. Only until research into contemporary realities and the historical record posed serious challenges to its empirical accuracy did secularization give way to more nuanced approaches in understanding religious trends. Religion in the United States presents a unique case: religion has been individualized by a shift from institutionally-regulated beliefs to those developed by and centered on adherents. The evolution of this American religious outlook began at the nation’s inception and was catalyzed by the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Pragmatism of William James
