jon butler: yes. one of the biggest surprises was that we also became a place famous for theology, and so if you think of paul tillich, if you think of reinhold lieber, dorothy day, the leader of a special kind of catholicism who is now being promoted for sainthood, if you think of abraham or joseph , very famous jewish theologians, these people all coalesced in the 1930's or 1940's into a remarkable intellectual -- they gave a remarkable intellectual life to the city. they did not always correspond or know each other, the two he did -- one gave the eulogy at the other's funeral. and the others did not necessarily associate. but the city and intellectual vitality of modern manhattan helped and them explicitly to make new york city a marvelously theologically creative place and whoever thinks about this about new york city? it is a place where broadway shows and whatnot. you do not think about it as a place for theological creativity inut where would we be judaism, catholicism, and protestantism withou

jon butler: it is about religion in new york city. when people think about religion in america and new york, they do not put the two together. religion ink about america, weeping think about rural america and south. but we do not think about manhattan. manhattan and new york city are often referred to as the capital f -- >> wins my urge you to write this book? jon butler: two things. a close friend to was an urban historian. we were close friends. we both lived in minneapolis in summer. our kids played together. we talked about urban history. i thought there was a story here. he helped me find a story. i started out as a colonial american historian. i thought there was a story about religion in modern that you and part of can see economically and in the architecture. people remember st. patrick's cathedral, central synagogue. but if you walk around the city, you will find religious conceivable every type, corner, cranny, people stuck them in wherever they could because they had no choice if they wanted to fit them in. i thought, there

he was interviewed this year in providence, rhode island. >> jon butler, you are writing a book called

american history tv, a conversation with the president of the organization of american historians, jon butlerg a book on religion in urban areas, mr. butler sat down with us to talk

. ♪ ♪ a knows are: next on american history tv, a conversation with jon butler.