In order to be admitted as church members in puritan New England, men and women had to write a description of their conversion experience to their pastor (see Patricia Caldwell, The Puritan Conversion Narrative: The Beginnings of American Expression [New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983]). Once accepted, the congregation voted to welcome them as “visible saints” in the community. For today's evangelicals, a conversion experience of being “born again” is central to their identity, marking someone's transition from a non-believer to a believer, and guaranteeing salvation. Since their colonial beginnings, Americans have used conversion and other religious experiences as important indicators of their faith and entry into religious community.

In his latest book, Bill J. Leonard, the James and Marilyn Dunn Professor of Baptist Studies and Professor of Church History in the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, surveys Americans' religious experiences from colonial times to the present. In this expansive study, Leonard explains that religious experience not only encompasses conversions, but includes a spectrum of involvement, such as “revivals, holiness codes and Holy Ghost baptisms, communes, séances, mystical fervor and spiritual exploration, theological debates and denominational schisms, slave revolts and sacramental rituals” (xi). This study focuses on the particular individuals and movements that shaped the meaning and reality of religious experience for Americans. Ultimately, this is a book about American pluralism, and how individuals sought faith and comfort in a variety of practices and ideas.

The title, “A Sense of the Heart,” refers to the feelings spurred by famed orator Jonathan Edwards, describing his religious experience (xx). Sojourner Truth described the experience as a “rush of love through my soul” that enabled her to even love “white folk” (xi). Others tried to capture the experience by comparing it to heaven, lumination, affection, or even a sense of taste. In capturing the history of religious experience, Leonard covers a lot of ground. From nineteenth-century movements such as the Shakers, Oneida, Mormons and spiritualists to his exploration of Catholics, pentecostals, Buddhists, and African American religiosity, Leonard introduces the reader to the famous and lesser-known people who influenced their movements, from George Whitefield and James McGready to Peter Cartwright and Margaret Fuller. The reader travels from the puritan meetinghouse and revivalist camp meetings to the transcendentalist club and the Fox sisters' séances communicating with the dead.

An ordained Baptist minister, Leonard has published two dozen books on religious movements, primarily exploring the Baptist tradition. The depth and breadth of this study are impressive, even though Leonard prefaces this study by explaining that it is “representative rather than all-inclusive” examination of diverse religious experiences (ix). A Sense of the Heart provides a rich survey of the scholarship, extremely useful to any graduate student studying American religious history, especially one in need of a deep historiography. Chapters move chronologically and topically to explore both the power and diversity of American religiosity, analyzing the impact of individuals and movements “in light of such distinct religiocultural issues as pluralism, voluntarism, religious freedom, democratic idealism, and Protestant privilege in the US” (22). Diverse religious and spiritual experiences have shaped the landscape of America, and at various times have inspired conservative or liberatory movements. While fundamentalism sought to control behavior, theological liberalism expanded boundaries. African American religious experience is intricately linked to abolition and the Civil Rights Movement (284). As Leonard explains, “The book's purpose is to define, describe, and analyze various elements of religious experience across a wide spectrum of religious communities where varying expressions of religious liberty and pluralism exist” (3). Today's students are in need of a reminder of the vast spectrum of conservative and liberal religious expressions.

The lessons in this book extend beyond religious history to expose students to the full range of American identities. “One nation under God,” has become a mandate for a singular type of Christianity and morality that falsely claims our nation is threatened by multiculturalism and diversity that dilute our heritage, history and future. In today's political climate of religious litmus tests that invalidate non-conforming spiritual experiences, disparage non-believers, and threaten to deport Muslims, in which national candidates argue over the primacy of Christianity in government, Leonard's study provides an important reminder of the long and rich history of American pluralism. Indeed, perhaps the “many senses of the heart” that have shaped our society and institutions indicate we should be heralding pluralism as strength rather than the demise of America, as some contemporary conservative political pundits exclaim. It is not one religious mind that is exceptional about America, but the landscape of a multitude religious and spiritual experiences that have shaped our society and character.