Reddit mentions of New World Faiths: Religion in Colonial America (Religion in American Life)

This is a copied answer I gave to another user in this thread, hope you don't mind.

Books for laymen I would say are New World Faiths by Jon Butler. Butler's book is super digestible, not very long, and very comprehensive. He does a fantastic job of discussing and explaining what religion looked like as it went through a transformative process during American colonial history.

There are two more books, both academic, but both should be digestible for non-historians:

Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People by Jon Butler


The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan O. Hatch.

(I strongly recommend starting with Butler because it's easier to read and it discusses movements that came before the movements in Hatch's book.)

Both of these books rocked the entire historical climate for people who study religion in American History. Butler's book makes several important claims, first that early American history is not nearly as religious as people believed it was (he has ample evidence to prove this point). He also explains that later generations, particularly those of the early 19th century, re-wrote the American narrative to try and make the 18th century seem much more religious than it was.

Hatch's book is arguably the most important academic book written about the study of America's history with religion. Focusing mostly on events of the early 19th century, which he asserts did more to "christianize" the American people than any other period in American or colonial history. He focuses on the transformations of five major sects (nondenominational Christians, Baptists, Methodists, African-American preachers and churches, and Mormons) and shows what happened to them during this period that permanently altered their course moving forward.

Please feel free to reach out to me and ask any questions you have in regards to anything you read on there. I am always willing and eager to discuss this stuff.