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Rating:  Summary: A useful survey Review: Last spring my pastor asked me to teach an adult level Sunday School class on the history of American Christianity. After consulting with two professors of religious history and considerable library browsing, I settled on this book for reasons on availability and cost, inclusiveness, and the reputation of the author. It has worked exceedingly well, better than I hoped. Marty did occasionally forget to provide basic definitions and overviews, but overall I think this is the best book for any similar class.
Rating:  Summary: A very good popularized history of American Religion Review: There is much good and little to criticize about "Pilgrims." Marty employs a common conceit of pop history, using biographical sketches to transmit historical data. This makes for a very readable book and gives the memory a peg upon which to hang the plethora of information presented. The disadvantage is that historical movements are inavoidably ascribed to a few persons and thereby made two dimensional. This is not, however, so bad in a survey such as this one because the full story of any one movement would not fit.One is ashamed, having read Marty's book, of having missed almost entirely the religious movements which determined the character of America today to a much greater degree than the posturings of politicians and rhetoriticians. His presentation is balanced and his prejudices only rarely peek through. Any believer who reads "Pilgrims" will have a better understanding of the peculiar American character of certain aspects of her or his faith. Any non-believer may become stimulated to ask why so many for so long have found life's answers in religious faith - what the common denominator is among the array of ecclesial expressions. The last chapter of the book - but none of the others - has been made obsolete by time. Current trends are, of course, often ephemeral and guessing which will last is a gamble at best. Much has changed since the 1984 publication date(e.g., the proliferation of mega churches, the snowballing movement among existing Southern Black Baptist congregations to join the Southern Baptist Convention, the massive impact of the Charismatic Renewal on many established Christian religions and the apparent success of Jewish day schools in reversing the loss of particularization among Orthodox and Conservative youth, to name a few examples.) The book is a great read and a good first exposure to a little known and critical aspect of American life.
Rating:  Summary: A Wonderful History Review: This manuscript is a wonderful history of religion in America. It is a must read for a serious Christian historian. It does however, tend to speak to empathetically about views that are dramatically unorthodox according to established and fundamental Biblical doctrine. However, that said it speaks warmly of the people involved in past and current religious developments and the circumstances which lead to their distinct movements. I recommend this book not for its clear exposition of orthodox Christianity but for its detailing of Christianity's influence in America.
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