Since the 1980s scholars who specialize in American religion have moved away from concentrating solely on the history, texts, leadership, and theological controversies of religious institutions. .What had been referred to as the study of American "church" history is now more broadly and openly referred to as American "religious" history. There is presently a greater sensitivity and interest in the realities of religion as it is actually lived, not only among ministers or administrative functionaries of a religious institution, but also among the laity whose beliefs and practices actually sustain those religious institutions. Additionally, written or published sources are no longer given primacy over other cultural forms or expressions of religion such as speech, music, and art as sources for telling the multiple and complex stories of American religious communities and individuals, and their intrinsic practice of encounter, contact, and exchange within a large dynamic national religious topography. The desire to study the historical parameters of people's religion has been accompanied by a greater interest in studying the cultural life of contemporary religion using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

While the possibilities and resources for studying American religion offered by scholars of religious studies, history, sociology, and anthropology are considerable, they are supplemented significantly by the by the field of folklore, specifically its appreciation for the subject matter, but also the sensitivity of its approach and the methodological attention to descriptive detail offered by its practitioners. Folklorists are attentive to the documentation and analysis of American religiosity in historical and contemporary settings as well as in contexts that range from rural, urban, suburban, agricultural, industrial, face-to-face, mass mediated, and generational. Folklore studies particularly challenge both academic and nonacademic representatives to learn from and analyze the cultural production of all people and communities within a society, not solely the socially elite, academically trained, or politically powerful. Folklorists, therefore, emphasize that scholarly attention ideally focuses on all individuals, cultures, and lifeways found within the context of a local region, as well as how these extend and manifest globally. An essential focus of attention within such lifeways is the expressive elements, the "expressive culture" found within them, and from which these vernacular genres communicate a multitude of meanings.

A focus on folklore, and the context of its performance and use in everyday life, offers an exciting prospect for students of American religion. As folklore ethnographies have blended oral, musical, and material traditions of religious Americans, they have emerged with rich understandings of neglected communities, forms, and functions. The folkloristic contribution to American religion will celebrate the significance of the artfulness of American religion, an aesthetic appreciation of the ways religious belief and practice is embedded in American society and has thrived and continues to thrive among the multi-ethnic, multi-regional American population.