Fundamentalism and American CultureMany American's today are taking note of the surprisingly strong political force that is the religious right. Controversial decisions by the government are met with hundreds of lobbyists, millions of dollars of advertising spending, and a powerful grassroots response. How has the fundamentalist movement managed to resist the pressures of the scientific community and the draw of modern popular culture to hold on to their ultra-conservative Christian views? Understanding the movement's history is key to answering this question. Fundamentalism and American Culture has long been considered a classic in religious history, and to this day remains unsurpassed. Now available in a new edition, this highly regarded analysis takes us through the full history of the origin and direction of one of America's most influential religious movements. For Marsden, fundamentalists are not just religious conservatives; they are conservatives who are willing to take a stand and to fight. In Marsden's words (borrowed by Jerry Falwell), "a fundamentalist is an evangelical who is angry about something." In the late nineteenth century American Protestantism was gradually dividing between liberals who were accepting new scientific and higher critical views that contradicted the Bible and defenders of the more traditional evangelicalism. By the 1920s a full-fledged "fundamentalist" movement had developed in protest against theological changes in the churches and changing mores in the culture. Building on networks of evangelists, Bible conferences, Bible institutes, and missions agencies, fundamentalists coalesced into a major protest movement that proved to have remarkable staying power. For this new edition, a major new chapter compares fundamentalism since the 1970s to the fundamentalism of the 1920s, looking particularly at the extraordinary growth in political emphasis and power of the more recent movement. Never has it been more important to understand the history of fundamentalism in our rapidly polarizing nation. Marsen's carefully researched and engrossing work remains the best way to do just that. |
What people are saying - Write a review
User ratings
| 5 stars |
| ||
| 4 stars |
| ||
| 3 stars |
| ||
| 2 stars |
| ||
| 1 star |
|
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
LibraryThing Review
User Review - Scapegoats - LibraryThingThis book is an examination of the foundations of fundamentalism in American Protestantism. Marsden looks at the half century after the Civil War. He notes that fundamentalists were the vast majority ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - swg214 - LibraryThingThis is a superb and amazing monograph and is recommended to all students of early twentieth-century American religion and culture. This is considered to be a groundbreaking work and one that every ... Read full review
Contents
| 3 | |
| 9 | |
The Shaping of a Coalition | 41 |
The Crucial Years 19171925 | 139 |
Interpretations | 197 |
Fundamentalism Yesterday and Today 2005 | 229 |
History and Fundamentalism | 259 |
Notes | 261 |
| 333 | |
| 338 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
A. C. Dixon A. J. Gordon American evangelicalism American Fundamentalism anti-evolution Baptist Bible Union became Beecher Bible Institute Biblical Blanchard C. I. Scofield Calvinist Charles Chicago Christ Christian church civilization concern controversy crisis denominations dispensational dispensationalism dispensationalist doctrine Editorial emphasized especially evangelists evolution fact faith Finney funda fundamentalist Gaebelein groups heritage holiness teachings Holy Spirit human Ibid ideals important inerrancy intellectual interpretation issue Jesus Keswick King's Business kingdom leaders liberal Machen major McLoughlin ment Methodist militant missions modern Moody Bible Institute Moody's moral nineteenth century Northern Baptist Northern Baptist Convention Pentecostal Ph.D Philadelphia political popular postmillennial preaching premillennialism premillennialists Presbyterian Princeton prophecy prophetic Protestant Protestantism reform religion religious revivalism revivalist Riley Sandeen School scientific Scofield Scripture secular sermon Social Gospel Southern Straton supernatural Theological Seminary thought tion Torrey tradition truth twentieth century Warfield William Jennings Bryan York
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Fundamentalism and American Culture |
| Author | George M. Marsden |
| Edition | 2 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 2006 |
| ISBN | 0199741123, 9780199741120 |
| Length | 468 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / General Religion / Fundamentalism Religion / General Social Science / Popular Culture |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |