Sanctifying Suburbia: How the Suburbs Became the Promised Land for American Evangelicals

by Brian J. Miller

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2025

Reviews

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brian Miller brings together a lot of fascinating facts about the move in the US from the city to the suburb. I learned a lot about the how and why that shift happened. I'm intrigued by his connecting of that move to the formation of the current understanding of "evangelical Christian" in the US. I hadn't thought of that connection in exactly that way before, but it instantly made sense to me. I picked up the book right after reading a review of it in CT. I work at a seminary that's in a city, but I wondered: Is the school functioning as a "suburban bubble" in an urban environment? And are we preparing students primarily for ministry in suburban settings, even in full view of a major city skyline?

Now, having finished the book, I realize that I was asking more of it than it promised. The subtitle clearly says How, but I'm more interested in getting to the So what? I want to move from the details of the move to suburbia to a consideration of the ways suburbia has conditioned evangelicals to understand their faith and the world around them in particular ways. That's not what Miller's book sets out to do, so if I was disappointed, it's my fault for misplaced expectations. (I still want a book that takes the data from Miller's research and explores those other issues of suburban culture and evangelical faith.)

I felt overall that the book doesn't quite cohere into a sustained argument about a particular direction of investigation. But I did love a lot of the research Miller discovered or originated. Maybe the highlight of the book for me was the table on pages 65–66, showing the number of urban and suburban congregations across ten Protestant denominations through the twentieth century. I spent a long time looking through those numbers, and I returned to it again later to ponder it some more. Really fascinating, seeing the ways urban contexts decreased while the suburban flourished. That was a great idea for research as part of this project.

On the other hand, analyzing mentions of place types in twenty-nine books by Billy Graham seemed like an interesting idea but, to me, didn't add up to much by the end. It generally reinforces what Miller discovered through other research tools, but it didn't add anything very substantive.

My main disappointment with the book is the writing style, which needed another round of editing and proofreading. Yes, it's essentially a collection of related academic conference papers, but that doesn't mean it can't read with better flow and precision. I would like to see Miller give a lecture on this topic, which I'm sure would be wonderful and could probably cover the main points of the book in a more streamlined, engaging way.

Tangential note: As Wheaton alumnus, I enjoyed the chapter about the development of the city of Wheaton. But what most surprised me was to learn, after all these years, that the neighboring town of Carol Stream was founded by a man named Jay Stream, who had a daughter named Carol! How did I not know this??

[David Swartz]

Just finished Brian Miller's *Sanctifying Suburbia: How the Suburbs Became the Promised Land for American Evangelicals*. Why did evangelicals leave cities at midcentury to relocate to suburban havens in Wheaton, Grand Rapids, and Colorado Springs? How were evangelicals spiritually formed as they commute from their parachurch ministry jobs to their suburban-tract homes in between stops at Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A?

Money quote: “When evangelicals use the theological term sanctification, they refer to being set apart for religious uses or the process of becoming more holy. I argue that a similar process occurred with the American suburb: evangelicals saw it as a place set apart, a place where they could best pursue their religious goals. In a suburban setting marked by racial homogeneity, pursuing a middle-class lifestyle, and the ideal of a nuclear family living in single-family homes, the cultural toolkits of evangelicalism emphasizing individualism and anti-structuralism found a home.”

[Justin Lonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my forthcoming review: "Miller’s book raises and attempts to answer some vital questions of who is shaping whom. Did evangelicals create the suburban American dream, or has suburbia twisted the gospel into its image with grave consequences for the church and the country as a whole? Maybe it is both. Miller offers a powerful examination of the intersection between beliefs and places, reminding us that social location matters more to our biblical interpretation than most evangelicals are comfortable with examining, and that we leave these stones unturned at our peril."

[Paul]

I have to write a review of this book for a journal, so I’m not going to say too much here. I think the general argument is important and interesting, but it’s definitely written for an academic rather than general audience.