Orthodox Christianity in America: An Introduction - Sarah Riccardi-Swartz

Orthodox Christianity in America: An Introduction offers a thematically driven, anthropological account of how Orthodox Christian life has been shaped in the United States through migration, empire, and racial formation. Rather than presenting a single linear history, the book examines Orthodoxy as a dynamic and contested field of transnational religious practice, institutional development, and cultural negotiation.

Drawing on historical and ethnographic approaches, the book traces how Orthodox communities—from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia—have established religious worlds across the United States while navigating shifting conditions of belonging and exclusion. It foregrounds key forces—colonialism, capitalism, and communism—that have structured Orthodox subjectivities and institutions across homelands and diaspora. Through case studies and thematic chapters, the book explores migration infrastructures, racialization, jurisdictional tensions, conversion, and digital religious publics. It demonstrates that Orthodoxy’s presence in America is both enduring and unevenly recognized, shaped by overlapping national affiliations, transnational ecclesial authority, and the racial and political conditions that determine when Orthodoxy becomes visible or remains marginal within dominant narratives of American religion.

This book is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in religious studies, anthropology, history, theology, and American studies, as well as scholars of Christianity, migration, and Middle Eastern and Eastern European diasporas. It also serves as an accessible resource for readers seeking a critical anthropological introduction to Orthodox Christian histories in the United States.