28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very good popularized history of American Religion, May 2, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America (Paperback)
There is much good and little to criticize about "Pilgrims." Marty employs a common conceit of pop history, using biographical sketches to transmit historical data. This makes for a very readable book and gives the memory a peg upon which to hang the plethora of information presented. The disadvantage is that historical movements are inavoidably ascribed to a few persons and thereby made two dimensional. This is not, however, so bad in a survey such as this one because the full story of any one movement would not fit.
One is ashamed, having read Marty's book, of having missed almost entirely the religious movements which determined the character of America today to a much greater degree than the posturings of politicians and rhetoriticians. His presentation is balanced and his prejudices only rarely peek through.
Any believer who reads "Pilgrims" will have a better understanding of the peculiar American character of certain aspects of her or his faith. Any non-believer may become stimulated to ask why so many for so long have found life's answers in religious faith - what the common denominator is among the array of ecclesial expressions.
The last chapter of the book - but none of the others - has been made obsolete by time. Current trends are, of course, often ephemeral and guessing which will last is a gamble at best. Much has changed since the 1984 publication date(e.g., the proliferation of mega churches, the snowballing movement among existing Southern Black Baptist congregations to join the Southern Baptist Convention, the massive impact of the Charismatic Renewal on many established Christian religions and the apparent success of Jewish day schools in reversing the loss of particularization among Orthodox and Conservative youth, to name a few examples.)
The book is a great read and a good first exposure to a little known and critical aspect of American life.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent survey of religious history in America, May 16, 2005
This review is from: Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America (Paperback)
For a highly readable and engaging history of religion in America, you can't get much better than Marty. "Pilgrims" is the work of an accomplished scholar who knows how to write history as it should be: an ongoing drama filled with interesting characters moved by varying motivations. All historians, however, let their personal worldviews slip onto the page, and this is the only complaint that I have about Marty. As a liberal Protestant theologian and historian he has a tendency to discredit evangelical theology. This is not so much of a problem when he deals with the great evangelicals of previous centuries (the Francis Asburys and the Jonathan Edwards, for example), but as he approaches the twentieth century he clearly favors the theology of, say, Reinhold Niebuhr or Walter Rauschenbusch over the conversion theology of Billy Graham (perhaps he thinks Jesus' statement that, "you must be born again," applies only to conservative politicians?). This is a minor quibble, however, and one that is to be expected. Marty paints the picture of American religious life as a vivid panorama of people and movements committed, in their own way, to that particularly American brand of the human search for God.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful History, February 28, 2001
This review is from: Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America (Paperback)
This manuscript is a wonderful history of religion in America. It is a must read for a serious Christian historian. It does however, tend to speak to empathetically about views that are dramatically unorthodox according to established and fundamental Biblical doctrine. However, that said it speaks warmly of the people involved in past and current religious developments and the circumstances which lead to their distinct movements. I recommend this book not for its clear exposition of orthodox Christianity but for its detailing of Christianity's influence in America.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![American Culture [under construction]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61f%2B7EkDHmL._AA60_.jpg)
