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Religion in American Life: A Short History Updated Edition

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This book is a disappointment. If it were not for my high regard for one of the authors, Jon Butler, I would not have given that even three stars. Prof. Butler has shown me great patience in helping with a research project, but this work falls below what I expected of him. Perhaps I have put too much emphasis on discovering the place of religion in American life. The book is written with clarity but it is certainly not a work to be used for research. One of the major faults is a lack of footnotes and or and notes so necessary for in-depth study. A professor of mine used to say that it is important to get a bird's eye view; she would be pleased with this work as it provides the view of a myopic bird.

There were some interesting thoughts throughout the book especially in the importance or lack of importance religion in American life throughout the history of the country. For example, "the Constitution and the First Amendment applied only to the federal government, however, leaving the states free to do as they wished regarding the establishment of religion." [Page 161.] "How common was Deism? The short answer is, not very. In matters of religion, the founders spoke for an influential and the well-educated elite, but not many others." Page 166. One especially interesting point is made on pages 187 and 188, "Evangelicals regarded the South too as a mission field, one desperately needing reform. And with good reason. Until the middle of the century probably the majority of Southerns remained unchurched. The Episcopal Church, dominating the colonial era, had come to be identified with the privileges of the planter aristocracy. Moreover, a `culture of honor, 'which placed a premium upon drinking, gambling, dueling, aggressive sports, and mail sexual conquests, pervaded the old South. Evangelical religion, this post especially by lower-class and lower middle class whites and slaves, challenged the culture of honor." Another interesting factor is states rights. On page 234 we are told, "until the mid-19th century many Americans, especially Southerners, customarily used a plural verb when speaking of the nation [the United States are]. After all, what came first, the federal Constitution or the rights of the individual states?" The authors show us the flexibility of Christianity in the following excerpt, "God had, they said, specially chosen the South to show the world what a truly Christian society look like. Indeed, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America (unlike that of the United States) explicitly identified the Confederacy as a Christian nation." [Page 240.]

The future of religion in this country was deeply affected by the institution of slavery. The authors cite the interpretation of Philemon as an example of regional splitting in the Christian church. The fact that the apostle Paul urged the runaway slave to return to his master was seen as a virtual godsend by the proslavery element. "Southern and northern Protestants looked to the same Bible, but the former tended to interpret it literally, the latter figuratively.... Given such enormous differences in outlook between the regions, by the mid-1840s millions of men and women on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line had come to believe that the separation of the North and South was inevitable." [Page 238.]

The book goes on to review the history of American religion in the 20th century, perhaps the most interesting segment is that dealing with the religious radical right. It must be stated again, this book is at best only a shallow survey of the history of religion in America. It is disappointing that a publisher like Oxford University Press would produce such shallow work on a topic of great importance. Any reader interested in a good doorstop would do best to look at the hardcover edition of this book which is less expensive than the paper and will stand up better to physical abuse.