"A monumental achievement. . . . Certainly the best thing written         on Appalachian Religion and one of the best works on the region itself.         Deborah McCauley has made a winning argument that Appalachian religion         is a true and authentic counter-stream to modern mainstream Protestant         religion." -- Loyal Jones, founding director of the Appalachian Center         at Berea College       Appalachian Mountain Religion is much more than a narrowly focused         look at the religion of a region. Within this largest regional and widely         diverse religious tradition can be found the strings that tie it to all         of American religious history. The fierce drama between American Protestantism         and Appalachian mountain religion has been played out for nearly two hundred         years; the struggle between piety and reason, between the heart and the         head, has echoes reaching back even further--from Continental Pietism         and the Scots-Irish of western Scotland and Ulster to Colonial Baptist         revival culture and plain-folk camp-meeting religion.       Deborah Vansau McCauley places Appalachian mountain religion squarely         at the center of American religious history, depicting the interaction         and dramatic conflicts between it and the denominations that comprise         the Protestant "mainstream." She clarifies the tradition histories         and symbol systems of the area's principally oral religious culture, its         worship practices and beliefs, further illuminating the clash between         mountain religion and the "dominant religious culture" of the         United States. This clash has helped to shape the course of American religious         history.       The explorations in Appalachian Mountain Religion range from Puritan         theology to liberation theology, from Calvinism to the Holiness-Pentecostal         movements. Within that wide realm and in the ongoing contention over religious         values, the many strains of American religious history can be heard.