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No living scholar has shaped the study of American religious history more profoundly than George M. Marsden. His work spans U.S. intellectual, cultural, and religious history from the seventeenth through the twenty-first centuries.
This collection of essays uses the career of George M. Marsden and the remarkable breadth of his scholarship to measure current trends in the historical study of American evangelical Protestantism and to encourage fresh scholarly investigation of this faith tradition as it has developed between the eighteenth century and the present. Moving through five sections, each centered around one of Marsden’s major books and the time period it represents, the volume explores different methodologies and approaches to the history of evangelicalism and American religion.
Besides assessing Marsden’s illustrious works on their own terms, this collection’s contributors isolate several key themes as deserving of fresh, rigorous, and extensive examination. Through their close investigation of these particular themes, they expand the range of characters and communities, issues and ideas, and contingencies that can and should be accounted for in our historical texts. Marsden’s timeless scholarship thus serves as a launchpad for new directions in our rendering of the American religious past.
“. . . this volume [is] a sort of a double tribute. On the manifest level, it pays tribute to Marsden in words, but on the latent level, the overall substance of this volume is itself a reflection of Marsden’s lasting influence upon the writers.” —Fides et Historia
“It is an elegant, witty, and finely nuanced account of how fundamentalists and other evangelical Protestants were shaping and being shaped by postwar American culture. . . Likewise, the ‘new directions’ essays are a remarkable display of talent and interpretive verve.” —The Catholic Historical Review
“This format, as the editors suggest and the impressive assembly of contributors skillfully imparts, sculpts something larger than a tribute; the volume’s value for instruction is manifest and, as such, it bestows to another generation a clear view of the terrain, an edifying lens through which to view it, and a prolific yet discerning exemplar for the future of the discipline.” —Religious Studies Review
“The name of George Marsden. . . needs no introduction to American church historians. . . This volume. . . is a great contribution to scholarship. . . One mark of a truly great scholar is the degree to which that person transforms an entire perception of a major subject. This fine collection of nineteen essays shows how ably Marsden fits this definition.” —Anglican and Episcopal History
“Together, these essays offer a compelling case for understanding the depth and breadth of Marsden’s work. . . This is a powerful testament to the tremendous impact of Marsden’s career on the narrating of American religious history.” —Journal of Church and State
“In these thoroughly researched, compellingly argued pathbreaking works, Marsden. . . inspired many other scholars to investigate and write about. . . topics that greatly enhance our understanding of the role and importance of religion—especially evangelicalism—in American life. . . this treasure trove of thoughtful essays, which, by building on Marsden’s impressive foundation, perceptively assess many key aspects of America’s religious history.” —The Journal of American History
"This festschrift honors one of the finest twentieth-century scholars of the evolution of evangelicalism and its relationship to US culture. The essays examine the absolutely critical role Marsden played in the development of contemporary historical scholarship regarding US Protestant evangelicalism, while illustrating the state of such scholarship today." —Choice
"This impressive collection of essays by many of the nation’s most distinguished historians of American religion stands not only as a fitting Festschrift in honor of George Marsden but also as testimony to the incredibly rich and diverse scholarship currently addressing the history of American evangelicalism. This is truly a landmark volume for understanding the state of American religious history." —Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University
“American Evangelicalism is a grandly conceived and skillfully executed Festschrift in honor of George M. Marsden. The affection and regard for Marsden from his colleagues and former students shines through one essay after another. As a major historian of American evangelicalism whose scholarly range spans from the colonial era well into the twentieth century, Marsden very much deserves this impressive tribute.” —Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward C. Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities, Washington University in St. Louis
"George Marsden's intellectual interests have made a wide-ranging yet coherent Festschrift possible. The editors and authors have deftly used Marsden's breadth within the history of evangelicalism to bring coherence to the volume through essays on five major aspects of American evangelical history. American Evangelicalism can be read by graduate students in American religious history and certainly will give historians interested in the evolving character of American evangelical scholarship and success a holistic treatment not found anywhere else." —Jon Butler, Howard R. Lamar Emeritus Professor of American Studies, History and Religious Studies, Yale University
Kurt W. Peterson is director of development, Office of Advancement, Loyola University Chicago.
Thomas S. Kidd is professor of history at Baylor University.
Darren Dochuk is associate professor in the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics and the Department of History at Washington University in St. Louis.
Foreword: George Marsden as Scholar, Christian, and Friend Nathan Hatch, Mark Noll, Harry Stout, and Grant Wacker
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1. Puritan Beginnings
1. Jonathan Edwards and the Study of His Eighteenth-Century World: George Marsden’s Contribution to Colonial American Religious Historiography by Douglas A. Sweeney
2. Jonathan Edwards: A Life by Thomas S. Kidd
3. Jonathan Edwards and Francis Asbury by John Wigger
Part 2. Protestantism’s Century
4. The Evangelical Mind and the Historians by Margaret Bendroth
5. The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience by Peter J. Wallace
6. The African American Great Awakening and Modernity, 1866–1900 by Jay R. Case
Part 3. Protesting Modernity
7. Marsden and Modern Fundamentalism by Barry Hankins
8. Fundamentalism and American Culture by William L. Svelmoe
9. Reorienting American Religious History in the Age of Global Christianity: The Case of Katharine Bushnell by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
10. A Gilded Age Modernist: Reuben A. Torrey and the Roots of Contemporary Conservative Evangelicalism by Timothy E. W. Gloege
11. The Interdenominational Evangelicalism of D. L. Moody and the Problem of Fundamentalism by Michael S. Hamilton
Part IV. Pluralism’s Challenge
12. Marsden and Secularization by John Schmalzbauer
13. The Soul of the American University by Steven M. Nolt
14. More Than a Footnote? Evangelical Ministries and the Secular University John G. Turner
15. The Southernization of the Evangelical Mind by Rick Ostrander
Part 5. Pluralism’s Blessing
16. Marsden and Fundamentalist Resurgence by Garth M. Rosell
17. Reforming Fundamentalism by Darren Dochuk
18. Missionary Realities and the New Evangelicalism in Post–World War II America by Kathryn T. Long
19. The Evangelical Left and the Politicization of Evangelicalism by David R. Swartz
Conclusion: How an Evangelical Won the Bancroft Prize by Mark Noll
Appendix: List of George Marsden’s Doctoral Students and Their Dissertations
Selected Bibliography of George Marsden’s Works
List of Contributors
Index