Examines how nineteenth and twentieth-century American believers rejected older, evangelical, theological traditions and turned to psychologies to formulate ideas about mind and spirit and practices for spiritual growth.
"Christopher White's Unsettled Minds makes clear how important new psychologies of religion were for those Protestants navigating their way out of Calvinism and evangelical revivalism. Just as his religious liberals remapped mind and spirit, White has remapped the historical terrain of religion and psychology in American culture. He spotlights not a cultural world absorbed with ecstasy, altered states, or mythic depths, but instead one riveted on measured stages of spiritual growth and effective habits of self-discipline."-Leigh Eric Schmidt, Princeton University
"An important contribution to the growing literature on the history of religious experience and of the distinctive dynamics of Christian interiority in the modern U.S."-Robert Orsi, Northwestern University
"Today, when brain researchers and psychologists are again attempting to explain religion, this remarkable study suggests that we should not be surprised to see religious believers creatively embracing new scientific findings and making use of them for religious purposes unexpected by scientists."-Ann Taves, author of Fits, Trances, and Visions
"[White's] scholarship adds depth and richness to the history of psychological science."
