Description
Book SynopsisThe role of liberalized, ecumenical Protestantism in American history has too often been obscured by the more flamboyant and orthodox versions of the faith that oppose evolution, embrace narrow conceptions of family values, and continue to insist that the United States should be understood as a Christian nation. In this book, one of our preeminent
Trade Review"The intensely autobiographical essays of this book add luster but also complexity to David Hollinger's reputation as one of the most noteworthy historical essayists of his generation. The luster comes from the coruscating flow of insight he communicates about the larger meaning of liberal or mainline Protestantism in recent American history. The complexity arises from the book's tight interweaving of personal biography and historical analysis."--Mark Noll, Intellectual History Review "In these tightly argued, elegantly written interlocking essays, Hollinger, one of America's premier historians, examines the career of liberal Protestantism in the United States."--Philip Jenkins, Christian Century "The erudition, insight, range, and quality of these essays cannot be captured in brief summary, but the contribution can. Simply put, no scholar of American religion, American intellectual life, or American politics can afford to ignore After Cloven Tongues of Fire. More than a book on liberal Protestantism, the essays here reshape our understanding of the very nature of modernity in America and what makes it unique."--Matthew S. Hedstrom, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "After Cloven Tongues of Fire succeeds in offering a nuanced and compelling interpretation of liberal Protestantism's engagement with the increasingly complex and diverse cultural and intellectual climate of the twentieth century. Hollinger's work offers much to historians and students of this era as well as to the study of Protestantism in the United States."--Jeffrey Williams, Catholic Historical Review
Table of ContentsPreface ix 1. The Accommodation of Protestant Christianity with the Enlightenment: An Old Drama Still Being Enacted 1 2. After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Ecumenical Protestantism and the Modern American Encounter with Diversity 18 3. The Realist-Pacifist Summit Meeting of March 1942 and the Political Reorientation of Ecumenical Protestantism in the United States 56 4. Justification by Verification: The Scientific Challenge to the Moral Authority of Christianity in Modern America 82 5. James, Clifford, and the Scientific Conscience 103 6. Damned for God's Glory: William James and the Scientific Vindication of Protestant Culture 117 7. Communalist and Dispersionist Approaches to American Jewish History in an Increasingly Post-Jewish Era 138 8. Church People and Others 170 9. Enough Already: Universities Do Not Need More Christianity 190 10. Religious Ideas: Should They Be Critically Engaged or Given a Pass? 199 Epilogue: Reinhold Niebuhr and Protestant Liberalism 211 Index 227
