Religion in American Life: A Short History

by Jon Butler, Grant Wacker, Randall Balmer

"Quite ambitious, tracing religion in the United States from European colonization up to the 21st century.... The writing is strong throughout." Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"One can hardly do better than Religion in American Life .... A good read, especially for the uninitiated. The initiated might also read it for its felicity of narrative and the moments of illumination that fine scholars can inject even into stories we have all heard before. Read it." Church History

This new edition of Religion in American Life, written by three of the country's most eminent historians of religion, offers a superb overview that spans four centuries, illuminating the rich spiritual heritage central to nearly every event in our nation's history. Beginning with the state of religious affairs in both the Old and New Worlds on the eve of colonization and continuing through to the present, the book covers all the major American religious groups, from Protestants, Jews, and Catholics to Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Buddhists, and New Age believers. Revised and updated, the book includes expanded treatment of religion during the Great Depression, of the religious influences on the civil rights movement, and of utopian groups in the 19th century, and it now covers the role of religion during the 2008 presidential election, observing how completely religion has entered American politics.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, American History, Grad School, American

576 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2002

Reviews

[Robbie Deacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent textbook about American Religion. Concise, engaging, and even-handed. There’s some minor repetition between chapters (probably due to the book being co-authored by three people) that could have been edited out, but aside from that it’s a great read!

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've ever wondered what the differences might be between Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and all the other American Christianities, this book provides a useful historical survey of their origins and general beliefs.

I'm still looking for a book that is very specific about the fine points of doctrinal difference among the many Protestant groups, and Catholic and Orthodox Christians, and that takes an explicitly taxonomic approach. Somewhere there must be a point-by-point analysis of how each group understands different points of doctrine. I really want to see a "doctrine first" approach, that also relates doctrine to historical sociology. I want to know how many angels each group says can dance on the head of a pin, and exactly why its leaders believe that. This is not quite that.

The three authors appear to be scholars of American Protestantism, first, and of American religion more broadly. As a Jew I did not find their analysis of Jewish history and practice in America to be particularly insightful. It is more or less right, but brushes over many fine points, and so I assume that when they write about Native American religions, or even Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity that they are writing more as outsiders, and, I imagine, people with internal familiarity with those religious practices might find the approach here similarly dissatisfying. And perhaps a committed Lutheran or Baptist would also feel as if too much has been left out, but I suspect that is less likely. The survey of Protestant thought and history seems solid.

This is a useful survey, perhaps intended for a college level "Introduction to Religion in America" course. It's helpful as a starting point. I'd still like to know what Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists and others really don't agree on, why they believe what they do when they can articulate the differences themselves, and why (other than the likely sociological and communal affiliative reasons) they believe those differences matter. As an outsider and amateur cultural anthropologist, these are my questions.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for my Religion in American History course at my university. I don't typically include a textbook on Goodreads, but I felt that I needed to include this one. I genuinely enjoyed reading this and have now made so many personal connections which I feel that I wouldn't have otherwise. It is a comprehensive, and mostly, objective history of how the religious landscape in the United States came to be. While I knew about certain religious events, I never quite understood how they all fit and why they mattered in the context of history. This book does a beautiful job of logically explaining the sequence of events and not only including religious history, but cultural history as well. I don't usually go back to my textbooks, but I can imagine myself going back to this book many times over the years so I can review the information and expand upon my research on religion.

[Sebastian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Religion in American Life is good background reading. It surveys the waves of religiosity in the United States, roughly:
- early 1600s: Spanish and French Catholics; encomienda system
- 1620s-1640s: Puritans arrive in MA; Anglicans in VA
- 1720s: First Great Awakening; Whitefield / Jonathan Edwards
- 1776-1820s: Decline of religiosity
- 1830: Book of Mormon
- 1830-1865: Second Great Awakening; Timothy Dwight / Francis Asbury / Charles Finney; rise of the evangelical faiths (Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists)
- Civil War / Reconstruction: Fracturing of north and south churches; the affiliation of churches with social justice
- 1880s-1920s: Mass Catholic (and Jewish) immigration

There's a lot of good facts but not much synthesis in Butler. I have more questions than answers. Some themes:
- Does religion flow from power or does power flow from religion? Many nominally doctrinal splits in the US and through history seem to have big ramifications for the legitimacy of certain power structures. Hard to tell which drives the other.
- Is Mormonism even Christianity? When are things considered the same religion versus different? It's about as different as Catholicism is from Judaism.
- That which is evangelized is what survives. The big three evangelical faiths (Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians) all became popular in the mid-1800s and far eclipsed other forms of Protestantism... in part because they were actively evangelized.
- [Shakers, which refrain from sexual activity of any kind... and therefore don't reproduce... naturally have had a harder time getting the word out over the generations]
- Almost every new faith or movement starts a university. The Congregationalists (Harvard, Yale), Catholics (Georgetown), Baptists and Methodists (Denison, Kenyon, Knox, Oberlin), Orthodox Jews (Yeshiva).
- Throughout US history, women have generally made up >55-75% of most church congregations. What's the deal with this gender imbalance?

Another question:
When Yale named its residential colleges, why did it seek to honor two great evangelical preachers (Jonathan Edwards; Timothy Dwight)? What does it say about American history and Yale that Edward Harkness and others presumably involved in the naming decision that they'd make these choices in 1933?

[Dan Gorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The definition of religion in this book is a bit too simplistic for my taste, but since the book is meant as a survey for undergrads or people totally new to the study of American religions, it gets the job done. This is a very lyrical read, compared to the rather technical prose of John Corrigan and Winthrop Hudson's "Religion in America." In another difference from Corrigan, the authors here do a better job taking a wide view of American history, rather than reverting to the tired old assertion that Protestantism is the core of American religious history. The authors also celebrate American pluralism: The country isn't unique because of some divine plan, but rather because people who believe in many (and no) divinities have managed to live together for this long.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily readable for undergrad courses, though could be stronger with a glossary.

Includes wonderful, extensive timeline & further reading.

Useful for undergrads & teachers.

[Lewis Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book that gives needed perspective on American religiosity.

[Keri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written, accessible overview of the various expressions of religion in American History.

[Elizabeth Gunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually pretty interesting for a textbook

[Ivy Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not often I recomend required university reading, but this is one I think y'all will like.

[Brad Strelau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clear and readable.

[Brittney smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a religion course. History was interesting but still had many questions about belief systems of certain religions.

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for my religion class. The book had a lot of interesting pieces but it didn’t go into anything very deep which I would’ve liked.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an ingenious volume, three in one really, tackling three centuries and more of American religious life. At times it might seem too breezy, but that is the point, as it pushes you, the reader, to see the bigger patterns. American religion has a unique shape and movement. So much of American religion is outsized, too, and to see everything from a wide perspective is a much needed help, pretty much a spiritual endeavor in its own right. So appreciate this work and its authors who are distilling their life's work so the everyday student of religion can enjoy it.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Religion in American Life: A Short History, three historians divide the religious history of America into three sections in an attempt to demonstrate how in spite of a society lacking uniform beliefs, “religion—beliefs in supernatural powers, forces, and beings—powerfully shaped the peoples and society” of the United States. Jon Butler focuses on religion in colonial America, Grant Wacker on the nineteenth century, and Randall Balmer on the twentieth century. The three authors make an intentional effort to emphasize the people—and not just men who tend to get the lion’s share of credit in religious histories—who have shaped and been shaped by religion in America in their writings. Not only do the authors incorporate diverse views into their analysis, but they also follow up each chapter with excerpts from primary documents expressing religious sentiments; a good number of these give voice to minority and female points of view. Furthermore, unlike many other books on American religious history, this one includes a fair amount of illustrations as primary sources. Drawings and photographs capture the visual dimensions of lived religious life, which adds a rich layer to the authors’ discussions.

Similar to Peter W. Williams’ America’s Religions, the three authors’ Religion in American Life: A Short History proceeds chronologically only to argue that in spite of major changes, there is a continuity of religious tradition that persists in American society. As in the former book so too in this one, the changes are more convincing than the continuities unless speaking in the broadest of terms: such as “amid massive cultural changes…Americans remained incurably religious, however variously defined their religious lives….” However, the authors do �make the important point that even as religion has played a significant role in each century of American history, in “none of these periods does religion occupy the attention of men and women all the time…. Americans have always ordered their lives around the challenges of making a living, rearing children, getting along with neighbors, and pursuing the simple…pleasures of life.” In addition to better qualifying a more convincing image of what is meant by continuity, the authors of A Short History are also able to more clearly compare religion in America across the centuries. For example, building off of Butler’s section, Wacker is able to say that whereas the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century was a relatively passive affair for those being preached to, the Second Great Awakening of the nineteenth century demanded action on behalf of those listening: grace had already been offered to sinners and they simply had to choose to accept it. Similarly, Jon Butler demonstrates that the Revolutionary War was largely a secular affair—with religion as a minor contributing albeit contradictory factor—in contrast to Wacker’s explanation on how the Civil War had religion largely at the forefront of both the arguments made by abolitionists of the North and the Southerners’ justification of slavery leading up to the conflict. Though these generalizations are appropriately fleshed out in their respective chapters, the organization of the book lends itself well to important contrasts among the three time periods examined.

[Heather Zalapa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a class, and was sincerely intrigued at the viewpoint this book had to offer - how religion shaped and was shaped by American history. But boy oh boy, was this frustrating to read. It was sort of like a million dates and facts written on little pieces of paper and thrown into a hat, then plucked one by one and that's how they determined sentence structure. It flip-flops, jumps from one century to the next in one paragraph then back again in the next. It's hard to keep track of. I could barely read one whole chapter at a time without getting frustrated, let alone read more than one chapter in an afternoon (which made studying difficult). Some of the facts seemed to be placed arbitrarily, like they really just wanted to sound knowledgeable, but fell short in the overall ADD of the writing style. (Some chapters more so than others; in fact, some were easy to follow.) In addition, some typos were hard to overlook (Harrier Beecher Stowe?). If you are not bothered by all of that, and can look past the framework, the information in the book is good. Its a unique look into our 'freedom of religion' ideology and ideas in history I was not aware of.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to use this book as the main text for a survey course on Religion in the United States. Having read the book more closely throughout the semester, I believe it was a good decision, especially for some of my students who had never taken a course on American religion. The book is deep enough to intrigue, yet wide in its topics and written in a very readable style.
The book was, in a previous iteration, three works by three different authors, so each part is different. I found Balmer's description of 20th century America the weakest, especially when it discussed the politically-charged 1980s and 2000s. There Balmer tended to let his ideology show through.
I assigned this book alongside the primary text collection American Religions: A Documentary History and, with good feedback, plan on using the same texts next semester.

[Jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book works well as a teaching tool. It doesn't appear to be designed for the general reader, who might wish to read it cover to cover. That would be a bit overwhelming and not particularly satisfying, I think.

The book is also a little spotty. The Butler and Wacker portions are strong. The final section, written by Randall Balmer, grows tendentious, especially in the final chapter. I can see students with a conservative political outlook chafing at Balmer's tone and often hastily-made claims about the political right.

On the whole, the book works well as short introduction to the religious historical context of various literary periods one might teach.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introductory book. Provides a general overview/survey of American religious life spanning Native American religious views to the formation of the Moral Majority, and everything in between. They had to cram so much information in the book that they would devote several paragraphs to one group or religion, and then jump to another one without any warning (no time to write transitions, I guess). But very readable and accessible, though mostly on a superficial level. But given the purpose and scope of the work, it's understandable. Overall, I enjoyed it very much.

[Chaffee Viets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally well done. Very insightful look into how Christian faith in American developed. Strong correlation to the PBS miniseries, _God In America_, but more in depth and analytical. A must read for all Christians and Reform Jews in particular, since many of my friends in these two groups are unaware of their denominational beginnings and differences.

[Samira]

I read this book for the first time in 2008. I just re-read it while teaching a survey class.

[Christopher Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good undergrad-level textbook by some of the best historians in the field. Not much here that's new, however, so seasoned historians of American religion won't benefit much from the book.

[Kassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite informative and written simplistically enough that it's easy to not get bogged down in the details.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-written history, with many fascinating stories.

[Allison Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history was very interesting. I had to read it for class.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad birds-eye view of American religious history, though not very deep.