Religion After the Gods: Edwin H. Wilson and the American Humanist Association
University of Illinois Press, 2026
Cloth: 978-0-252-04958-3 | Paper: 978-0-252-08924-4 | eISBN: 978-0-252-04874-6 (standard)
Library of Congress Classification BL2747.6.H28 2026
See other books on: 20th Century | Agnosticism | Gods | Humanism | Movements
See other titles from University of Illinois Press
Cloth: 978-0-252-04958-3 | Paper: 978-0-252-08924-4 | eISBN: 978-0-252-04874-6 (standard)
Library of Congress Classification BL2747.6.H28 2026
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The life and work of a religious humanist thinker
Sometimes called America’s fourth religion, religious humanism emerged in the Midwest as a product of Enlightenment rationality, the Social Gospel, and the philosophy of pragmatism. John S. Haller Jr. examines religious humanism’s first fifty years alongside Edwin H. Wilson’s pivotal role in the American Humanist Association (AHA).
Started by a group of Unitarian faculty and students, religious humanism applied the rituals of the theocentric universe of Judeo-Christianity to the non-theistic, anthropocentric universe of agnostics, altruists, humanitarians, and meliorists. Their beliefs found expression in the AHA, founded in 1941 with Wilson as the secretary and editor of its magazine. Wilson’s actions in these and other roles weighed heavily on the organization’s reputation, influence, successes, and failures. At the same time, his multifaceted work reflected the relationship between power and the possibilities inherent in the pluralistic and democratic heritage he pursued.
Rigorous and astute, Religion After the Gods reveals how the tensions between individual aspirations and bureaucratic constraints culminated in hopeful humanist practices.
Sometimes called America’s fourth religion, religious humanism emerged in the Midwest as a product of Enlightenment rationality, the Social Gospel, and the philosophy of pragmatism. John S. Haller Jr. examines religious humanism’s first fifty years alongside Edwin H. Wilson’s pivotal role in the American Humanist Association (AHA).
Started by a group of Unitarian faculty and students, religious humanism applied the rituals of the theocentric universe of Judeo-Christianity to the non-theistic, anthropocentric universe of agnostics, altruists, humanitarians, and meliorists. Their beliefs found expression in the AHA, founded in 1941 with Wilson as the secretary and editor of its magazine. Wilson’s actions in these and other roles weighed heavily on the organization’s reputation, influence, successes, and failures. At the same time, his multifaceted work reflected the relationship between power and the possibilities inherent in the pluralistic and democratic heritage he pursued.
Rigorous and astute, Religion After the Gods reveals how the tensions between individual aspirations and bureaucratic constraints culminated in hopeful humanist practices.
See other books on: 20th Century | Agnosticism | Gods | Humanism | Movements
See other titles from University of Illinois Press
