Religion and sexuality

From the Dust Jacket: From the earliest days of settlement to the present, Americans have experimented with varied forms of communal living, alternative marriage and sexual patterns, and other unorthodox lifestyles. During the turbulent decades before the Civil War in particular, thousands of Americans joined communally oriented religious groups which rejected existing family and sex-role patterns. In Religion and Sexuality, Lawrence Foster analyzes the origin, early development, and institutionalization of three such alternative systems-Shaker celibacy, Oneida Community complex marriage, and Mormon polygamy. These three experiments highlight the process by which individuals and groups can radically change an entire belief system and way of life. Based on extensive research in the primary sources-including the first work ever conducted by a non-Mormon with full access to the central Mormon archival holdings on polygamy in Salt Lake City-Religion and Sexuality breaks new ground both factually and conceptually. Foster presents his findings in case studies, sympathetically yet critically describing the development of each experiment. A comparative introduction and conclusion link the