Touchdown Jesus: The Mixing of Sacred and Secular in American History

by R. Laurence Moore

This book is an intriguing narrative of the interplay between American religion and patterns of American culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. R. Laurence Moore considers the ways nationalism, the separation of church and state, democratic pluralism, and shifts in boundaries between secular and sacred practice have shaped American religion for the past two hundred years.

Genres: Sociology, History

Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

R. Laurence Moore is professor emeritus of history and American studies at Cornell University.

Reviews

[Michaela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for class and while it was a quick and easy read it felt like Moore tried to squeeze way too many sub topics into each chapter that I think the larger picture was lost. There are some thought provoking moments and we had some great discussions in class regarding this book.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was assigned this as a textbook for a college course, and it was honestly one of the most difficult reading materials I've ever been assigned. Each chapter was very hit or miss in terms of how well they explained the subject matter; sometimes the chapter would begin with an unrelated topic and then switch to something else. It was confusing and hard to follow.

I will give two stars for the research done - it could've been better. My main issue with this book was how poorly the information was structured. Such a broad topic and such varied subject matter should be written by a group of writers who can each share some of the work load, not one researcher trying to be an expert on 12 different fields.

[Maia M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it for a class. It's a very informative book on religion in America but focuses mostly on Catholics and Protestants in America. It does have some information on other religions in America, but not as much. There are a lot of long block paragraphs. For my class that I took was useful.

[Eyani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moore is an outstanding historian and in this book he pulls out the religion embedded in American culture that is not so obvious at first glance. Other than not using foot or end-notes the book is solid in it's scholarship. I think Moore banking on his reputation just figured he didn't have to provide citations anymore, and he's probably right.

[Amanda Packer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for a school class. If it wasn't for that I probably never would have read it. However, I still found that some of the information was informative.

[Christopher Raffa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative, that's about all I can say.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought-provoking, if nothing else.