Randy Balmer’s concise overview of religion in twentieth century America offers the reader keen insight into the intricate, turbulent, innovative, and certainly complex tapestry of religion in America. He follows a rough chronological order in the book that brilliantly weaves together historical, economic, political, and social events with their religious components. His narrative is equally balanced between relating developments within and between American Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and Native American traditions. With the advent of the immigration laws of the 1960's he brings in the new voices of immigrant and native Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs. If one is wanting a more detailed analysis of any of these traditions there are other volumes in the Religion in American Life series that can clearly do this. I would add that Mr. Balmer, without resorting to lengthy methodological explanations, writes a narrative of American history that clearly illustrates that to exclude religion from American history is to tell a very weak and partial story.
Like many good historians of religion Mr. Balmer begins Chapter One, "Beginnings" by returning to the literal beginning of the century. He notes that at the dawn of the new era "Christian Century" magazine editor George A. Campbell foresaw the twentieth century as a century "more truly Christian than any of its predecessors (11)." For Campbell that triumph would most certainly be of the mainline Christian denominations. What he did not know was that the twentieth century would also see the rise of American Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Judaism, and eventually the presence of significant numbers of Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims.
While the beginnings of the twentieth century looked to be very mainline Protestant the seeds of numerous alternatives were being planted as well. American Roman Catholics, either ignored or actively discriminated against, were moving from thinking of themselves as religious strangers in a strange land to belonging to a distinctly American church. "In 1908 Pius X declared that the United States was no longer a missionary territory for Roman Catholicism, meaning that the church in America was sufficiently well established that it required no further help from foreign Catholics (11)." The American church was actually strong and active enough to be sending out missionaries and schooling its young adherents against Protestant education in schools and youth associations.
Mr. Balmer’s academic background and knowledge really come to the forefront when he so lucidly talks about the rise and development of twentieth century Protestant Pentecostalism. While his writing is always clear and succinct, his information readily accessible; I found this material to be particularly informative. He begins by discussing Bethel Bible College student Agnes Ozman’s experience of glossolalia (speaking in tongues) on the very first day of the new century, January 1st, 1901. While glossolalia was not entirely new, students at the college "believed that the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament which included divine healing of sickness or physical deformity as well as glossolalia, had been restored to the church in the last days before Jesus would return to Earth (13)." While evangelicalism was not new to America and shared with the new Pentecostal fervor a literal interpretation of the Bible and an insistence on a conversion or born again experience, they differed in the Pentecostal’s zeal for apocalypticism and the display of spiritual gifts. (13) This movement quickly spread from Bethel Bible College (Kansas) to Los Angles and the famous Azusa Street revival. Remarkable to note is that during the Los Angeles revival the lines of race and gender faded (15).
Mr. Balmer also reminds us that in this germinal period of the century (1900-1915) " 15 million immigrants entered the country (15), the World’s Parliament of Religions meet in Chicago in 1893 bringing Swami Vivekananda (Hinduism) and Angaraika Dharmapala (Buddhism) to American shores and lecture tours, American Indians struggled for religious autonomy, anti-semitism simmered beneath the cultural surface occasionally boiling over into lynching, and Walter Rauschenbusch preached the social gospel. Deftly, Balmer shows the development and change over time of the religious currents of the twentieth century by looking at their origins and by drawing lines of a progressive and chronological order and sequence.
In Chapter 2, "The Age of Militancy" (1920s-30s) religion in America is framed by "the language of Christianity became the religion of American patriotism (25)," and the divisions between liberal and conservative Protestants became more pronounced. The focus of this conflict can be seen most clearly in attitudes towards cities and in their respective approaches to science, especially Darwinism. The highly publicized Scopes Trial very clearly illustrated the conflict between the two groups. The media coverage of the trial, especially by radio, signaled the use of new electronic technologies to transmit religious ideas to even larger audiences. The active use of electronic media by religious groups would continue to be a focus of the twentieth century.
We are introduced also in this chapter to the origins of fundamentalism. Harkening back to the growing split between liberal and conservative Christians, the Stewart brothers of California Union Oil created a fund to publish a series of books, "The Fundamentals," to reestablish what they saw as the Christian basics. These basics or fundamentals included "biblical inerrancy, the Virgin Birth, the authenticity of miracles, and the Genesis account of creation (27)." " Those who subscribed to these doctrines became known as "fundamentalists"(27)." Liberal Christianity responded harshly to these notions driving fundamentalists out of mainline Protestantism and creating " an evangelical subculture which provided the foundation for the return of evangelicals to political activism in the 1970s (29)."
Discussed also in this chapter are the consolidation of American Roman Catholicism and Judaism, the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, the immigration of southern African-Americans northern cities (following rail routes), Marcus Garvey and the Harlem Renaissance, Dorothy Day and the Catholic Workers Party, and the Neo-Orthodoxy of Reinhold Niebuhr. As disparate as these peoples and movements may seem on the surface, Mr. Balmer is able to weave them together within the context of the political, economic, and social conflicts running throughout the American 1920s and 1930s.
Chapter Three, "In God We Trust," and Chapter Four, "Religion in the New Frontier" discuss the 1950s and 1960s. Mr,. Balmer frames the 1950s saying, " by the middle decades of the 20th Century Americans were growing increasingly confused and uneasy about the varieties of religion around them (43)." This confusion resulted in a variety of responses. One result was the creation of the term and notion "Judeo-Christian" and the notion of a pluralistic culture. This meant a pluralism to include Protestants, Christians, and Jews. While this collective amalgamation was taking place there was a move also to consolidate within each of these traditions. For Protestants this meant the creation of the National Council of Churches (47). For Catholics Balmer sees this happening through organizations such as the Catholic Youth Organization, the Knights of Columbus, and Catholic education (47). "Indeed, Catholic education played a critical role in allowing American Catholics to feel comfortable in American Society, and nothing symbolizes their coming of age more than the rise to promise of the University of Notre Dame, probably the best known Catholic university in the world (48-49)."
For evangelical Christians Mr. Balmer turns to Billy Graham. Graham, the proto-evangelist of the second half of the twentieth century, kept his message simple and direct, utilized radio and televison, and made important political connections. "One of Graham’s most impressive legacies over a career that extended more than half a century was that no one ever seriously questioned the integrity of his financial dealings or his moral conduct (55)."
This chapter ends with a discussion of the African American civil rights movement. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott and the rise of Martin Luther King are discussed here. Mr. Balmer suggests that influenced by his black Southern Baptist background, the social gospel of Walter Rauschenbush, and the non-violence of Gandhi, King was set to lead the journey that would take him to the leadership of the civil rights movement. Balmer shows us that Dr. King was a reluctant prophet of sorts whose understanding and commitment to this enormous struggle evolved over time.
Chapter Four, "Religion in the New Frontier" usea this phrase from John F. Kennedy to brilliantly cluster idea together that range from the space race, Death of God theology, Vatican II, the acceleration of the civil rights movement, the rise of African-American Islam, to the progressively violent urban race riots of the mid 1960s. The reforms of Vatican II are linked to the disastrous effect of Pope Paul’s conservative notions of birth control in "Humanae Vitae" on American Catholics. The history of the Nation of Islam is linked to the life and biography of Malcolm X and the religious overtones of the civil rights movement.
Chapter Five, "Religion in an Age of Upheaval," begins by talking about the Woodstock music festival and the anti-war movement as signs of social dissatisfaction. Here too we are introduced to the influx of Asian religions into American culture. Mr. Balmer keeps reminding us of the unique cultural stamp Americans have always put on religious ideas. ".....American culture has a way of leaving its unique stamp on every religious tradition homegrown or exotic it adopts. In North America Buddhist practice, traditionally associated with the monastic life, emphasized meditation more than monasticism, making it more accessible to the middle classes, who were unlikely to exchange their suburban lives for the rigors of a Tibetan monastery (85)."
The chapter covers also the Jesus People, Native American resurgence and resistance at Wounded Knee, the changing roles of women in religion, and the return of evangelicals in large numbers to the political arena. By the late 1970's conservative evangelicals were a political force that candidates for the presidency had to contend with.
Chapter Six chronicles the 1980's by looking at the flamboyant lives of televangelists like Jerry Faldwell, Pat Robinson, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, and Jimmy Swaggart. Trickle down economics of the Reagan era is held parallel to the "prosperity theology" that dominated the programs of many of these techno-preachers. Even when the financial and social fiascoes of many of these organizations and evangelists became known groups like the Christian coalition continued to grow in membership.
Chapter Seven, "Religion for a New Millennium,"opens by talking about how Americans have continued to be religious, "but the varieties of religious expression remained anything but constant....(114)." The 1950's dream of an America of a Judeo-Christian heritage gave way to a much more pluralistic reality. The immigration acts of the mid 1960's meant that an increasing number of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Muslims were becoming part of the American fabric. Through both immigration and conversion "comparative religions" were now entrenched in American soil.
Mr. Balmer touches too on the New Age movement, the continuing struggle of Native Americans for religious freedom, and the Branch Davidians. He looks also at the rash of African-American church burnings, and the rise of the Promise Keepers, who like their early 20th century forerunners, advocates of "muscular Christianity" linked sports and evangelical Christianity together. Summing up the complex last decade of the 20th century Mr Balmer says: "The one constant, however, amid massive cultural changes, was that Americans remained incurably religious, however variously they defined their religious lives, be it Protestant or Hindu, Jewish or New Age, Mormon, Buddhist, or Roman Catholic - or some wildly eclectic combination. Despite industrialization, modernization, even secularization, Americans clung stubbornly to religion and spirituality. This was the legacy they carried into the 21st century (129)."
Randy Balmer has written a book that is very accessible to high school students and to use in secondary classrooms. I am most impressed with his ability to wrap religious developments right into the fabric of American history. The separation of religion and history that sadly dominates the teaching of American history is clearly shown to be both false and misleading. One can hope that American history teachers can bring through such works as Mr. Balmer’s a more vibrant and vital picture of the American story to their students.
review ©2002Tom Collins and RSiSS
Palmer Trinity School
Miami, Florida
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