Getting Religion: Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama

by Kenneth L. Woodward

"In this thoughtful book, Ken Woodward offers us a memorable portrait of the past seven decades of American life and culture. From Reinhold Niebuhr to Billy Graham, from Abraham Heschel to the Dali Lama, from George W. Bush to Hillary Clinton, Woodward captures the personalities and charts the philosophical trends that have shaped the way we live now." –Jon Meacham, author of Destiny and Power

Impeccably researched, thought-challenging and leavened by wit, Getting Religion, the highly-anticipated new book from Kenneth L. Woodward, is ideal perfect for readers looking to understand how religion came to be a contentious element in 21st century public life.

Here the award-winning author blends memoir (especially of the postwar era) with copious reporting and shrewd historical analysis to tell the story of how American religion, culture and politics influenced each other in the second half of the 20th century. There are few people writing today who could tell this important story with such authority and insight. A scholar as well as one of the nation’s most respected journalists, Woodward served as Newsweek’s religion editor for nearly forty years, reporting from five continents and contributing over 700 articles, including nearly 100 cover stories, on a wide range of social issues, ideas and movements.

Beginning with a bold reassessment of the Fifties, Woodward’s narrative weaves through Civil Rights era and the movements that followed in its wake: the anti-Vietnam movement; Liberation theology in Latin America; the rise of Evangelicalism and decline of mainline Protestantism; women’s liberation and Bible; the turn to Asian spirituality; the transformation of the family and emergence of religious cults; and the embrace of righteous politics by both the Republican and Democratic Parties.

Along the way, Woodward provides riveting portraits of many of the era’s major figures: preachers like Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell; politicians Mario Cuomo and Hillary Clinton; movement leaders Daniel Berrigan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Richard John Neuhaus; influential thinkers ranging from Erik Erikson to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross; feminist theologians Rosemary Reuther and Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza; and est impresario Werner Erhardt; plus the author’s long time friend, the Dalai Lama.

For readers interested in how religion, economics, family life and politics influence each other, Woodward introduces fresh a fresh vocabulary of terms such as “embedded religion,” “movement religion” and “entrepreneurial religion” to illuminate the interweaving of the secular and sacred in American public life.

This is one of those rare books that changes the way Americans think about belief, behavior and belonging.

– Christianity Today, 2017 Book Awards - Award of Merit

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Christianity, American History

464 pages, Hardcover

Published September 13, 2016

Reviews

[BlackOxford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh for the Days

Going very deeply into the surface of things is what journalists are paid to do. When journalists publish their memoirs, therefore, no matter what their favourite 'beat', the result is most often a very smooth, very flat skating-rink of a book with a depth measurable only by micrometer.

Getting Religion skates over 60 years or so of the professional life of Kenneth Woodward. For most of that time, Woodward was the Religious Affairs man for the magazine Newsweek. The book is billed as an analysis of religious change in the United States. It is actually a memoir of religious war-stories (mostly Catholic) punctuated by some rather well-known sociological data and personal anecdotes. There is much about the good old days of uniform religious education and second generation immigrant culture in the American Mid-West. Interesting opinion, much less analysis, is simply absent.

There is, therefore, a great deal in Getting Religion to jog the memories of those of us old enough, but not yet senile, about the days of 'parochial' primary schools, nuns in starched linen, lily-white, post-war, suburban neighbourhoods in which children romped without supervision and without fear of molestation or abduction. Clergy were sacred; Catholic clergy were close to divine. Religion was terribly important but not at all serious from the President on down.

Then came Vatican II, the American Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, and the Beatles. The smug world of American civil religion crumbled much faster than the Roman Empire. Familial religious tradition went into meltdown. By the end of the 1960's Christianity, as it had been known in 1950, was dead. It was replaced by a vague sort of non-sectarian background spiritual radiation and a militant evangelicalism of Pentecostals, Mormons, and Baptists. The former constitutes today's politically liberal America; the latter has become the heart of American Republicanism. Guess which one is better organised.

There isn't much more than this level of insight in Woodward's book. But if you're craving a bit of cultural nostalgia, he could be your man.

[Melora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This examination of American religious culture, from, as the title says, “the age of Eisenhower to the era of Obama” is much more personal than the title suggests, and very engaging. Kenneth L. Woodward was, as the cover also notes, Religion Editor of Newsweek magazine from 1964 to 2002, and his telling of the trends, events, and personalities in American religion during those years is based in large part on the stories he wrote for that magazine. In researching his stories he traveled the country, interviewing people like the Dalai Lama, Billy Graham, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, etc. – the major figures. He does a very thorough job covering the changes in the Roman Catholic church during those years (he is Catholic himself, and he makes clear that his own faith is important to him), and also the changes within mainline Protestant denominations, the growth of Evangelicalism, and various movements such as Liberation Theology, feminist theology, etc. Judaism gets a friendly but more cursory treatment, and Islam isn't covered. Still, what he covers he presents in a lively, anecdotal way that suggests that he and the reader are sitting comfortably together while he relates some of the best stories gathered over a long and interesting career.

Two minor complaints. One is limited to the format of my copy – an audiobook read by Peter Altschuler. Altschuler reads well, and he has a very pleasant voice, but his persona – the “folksy, slightly curmudgeonly grandpa” – is overkill here. Woodward opens his book with a paean to the 50s of his youth, an idyllic world in which Father knew best, the nuns were wise and kind, and kids were polite and hardworking, and that era remains his touchstone, a golden age of faith and family. Altschuler's manner, coupled with Woodward's nostalgic tone, can get to be a bit much. The second complaint is related to the first, but concerns the Epilogue. While I felt like Woodward could be excused for his lengthy reminiscence of his Catholic youth in Ohio, the Epilogue is an irritable tirade on the many failings of “kids today” which fails to offer any insights into either religion or culture, and which ends the book on an unfortunately sour note. If I had quit listening/reading when I got to the Epilogue I'd have ended up liking the book better. Still, for the most part this is enjoyable, and the sections on Movement Religion and Liberation Theology, topics about which I knew little, were particularly interesting.

[Mark Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this view of twentieth-century American culture and religion from someone who watched it ever so closely. The personal anecdotes were entertaining and informative and the analysis was incisive. It's sad that a journalistic position like Woodward's is, I think, no longer possible. New possibilities have come with new media, but old ones have passed away. I'm so glad Woodward took the time to write this book.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reads more like a biography of the journalist who authored it...it was less than I had expected by the title and the reviews.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken Woodward, who died earlier this year after having lived an eventful, fascinating life, wrote this remembrance "of how things were" -- as well as "how things have become the way they are" -- in 2016, and I found it one of the most immersive, memory-rich and memory-invoking books that I have ever read.

Woodward was my senior by 7 or 8 years, but we are close enough in age that the "feel" of the times he recalls struck several rich memory-chords in my mind.

I must confess that I ultimately found the "journey" in this book sad, both because it reinforced for me just how long ago was my own childhood -- and, indeed, the era in which I was fortunate to be born and raised -- as well as how both "religion" and "faith" have changed. And not for the better, I believe, at least if one accepts the vital measurement of impact on the larger community.

Catholicism, for instance, the faith-tradition in which I was formed, has shrunk from a wider caring for the larger community and a broad range of social-justice issues to one riddled with ideological factionalism and small-minded tribalism.

Two of the most pleasant surprises I found in this very readable book were: 1) the rediscovery of my own memories of the times, events, and persons Woodward discusses; and 2) the many mini-biographies -- snapshot portraits, if you will -- of many of the major "players" of decades past, including politicians, religious figures, and those who had a significant role in shaping secular culture, too.

Woodward's compassion, insight, and wisdom are revealed in every page, and no matter what the faith-tradition or belief system of any reader I believe that you will find much of interest in these pages.

Among other things, he holds the distinction of being the record-setting editor of an important section of the original "Newsweek" magazine -- 35 years!

A good man who deserves to be remembered!

[John Sagherian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading Kenneth Woodward’s “Getting Religion: Faith, Culture and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Ascent of Trump.” I found it very interesting, informative, sometimes cynical, but often entertaining in its scope. I wonder, though, how accurate an interpretation of religious movements can be if one takes out the work of God’s Spirit from it. Still, a good read for anyone interested in the cultural shifts in America today.

[Blair Hodges · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woodward is at his best when talking about his own journalistic experiences as a reporter. He's at his worst when offering up warmed-over theories from conservative-leaning sociologists about the decline of religion in America, which he largely defines as white Catholics and Protestants.

[Darrick Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting Religion is Kenneth Woodward's depiction of religion and its changing status in American life, from the 1950s to the present. Woodward, who was the religion editor of Newsweek for 38 years, had as good a chance describing his subject as anyone could, and his book fulfills its purpose mostly. The book is really more of a memoir, both of Woodward's own experience growing up in small Ohio town (Woodward is a politically liberal but culturally conservative Roman Catholic) but also of his experience as a journalist, interviewing and coming to know sometimes intimately crucial religious figures in American society over a fifty year period, from Billy Graham, Richard John Neuhaus, to Abraham Herschel and the Dalai Lama, just to name a few. And this is something I should stress to readers of this review. You should not come to this hoping for an analysis of the changes in American religion over the past fifty years or so. Woodward is a journalist, and though he makes some noises about journalists being the first draft of history (a dumb idea I wish would go away), he mostly sticks to recounting his reporting, which is accurate, well-written, and flush with details that I found rather impressive, as I did Woodward's obvious learning and copious reading in several subject areas. Again, if you are hoping for a history of religion in America over the period, or an anthropological analysis of what has happened in the past fifty years, you will come away disappointed. Woodward mentions a few thing, but for the most part eschews pondering the causes of the changes he chronicles. Which is just as well: his genius lies in his descriptions not his prescriptions, and anyone wishing to learn more about how religion has intersected with culture and politics in the past half century will find more than enough to justify buying the book. Highly recommended.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting Religion by Kenneth Woodward is an important work, especially for me since I am so interested in presenting religion as a vital, but missing, subject for learning at all levels of education. I must say that I lived through most of these events, though as young person had no understand what drove the various changes to religion and politics. This remarkable book explains how our culture evolved into this half secular / half religious very divided country. I found the entire book of help to me and my understanding, however, the book is neatly divided so that one can read a section of interest and not necessarily worry about reading the whole book.

[Randy Corn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1976 I was twenty years old and had my first opportunity to cast a ballot in a presidential election. I voted for Jimmy Carter, largely because of the furor he created by proclaiming himself “born again.” Four years later I would vote for Ronald Reagan because, like few candidates before him, he publicly embraced the values which evangelicals hold dear. I have often wondered how many voters were swayed by these, or similar, factors in the election of our 39th and 40th presidents, or for that matter any of them. Kenneth L. Woodward’s book, Getting Religion, goes a long way toward giving an answer.

The subtitle of this book is “Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama.” Far from being a dry recitation of sociological facts, the author weaves a personal memoir into the tapestry of American society, especially as it relates to religious faith. Woodward was the religion editor for Newsweek magazine for nearly four decades. This gave him extraordinary access to the movers and shakers of American religion, from evangelicals like Billy Graham and Bill Bright to Mormon leader Boyd K. Packer, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He either reported on, or was present for, most of the events in the past forty years that made the landscape of American religion what it is.

The great value of this volume is helping the reader to get perspective on all of the varied religious impulses in our country over the past half century. While the section on the author’s own Roman Catholic background is interesting, and the discussion of mainline Protestants is enlightening, the section dealing with Evangelicals was of greatest interest to me. In chapter three, Woodward argues that while “Entrepreneurial Religion” is not a theological phrase it is Evangelicalism’s distinguishing feature. The proof of this assertion is not so much in the churches that constitute the movement, but in the para-church organizations, which Evangelicalism has spawned. The book gives a short recitation of the tele-evangelist scandals, and also some interesting information about such organizations as the Moral Majority and the Religious Roundtable. While the author is sympathetic to Billy Graham and Bill Bright, he saw Jerry Falwell as playing dangerously close to scandal financing the Moral Majority out of revenue from his broadcast ministry. This the Lynchburg preacher justified by a phrase in the fine print of his promotional literature, which allowed him to spend any money raised as he saw fit! Woodward summarized, “The key to his personality, I always thought, was his determination to make good as well as make waves” (chapter 12).

The volume closes with two chapters dealing with the current political situation. The first “Piety and Politics” dealing with the Republican Party and the last “Religion as Politics” focusing on the Democrats. This is one of the best explanations I have seen about the polarization in American politics, why broadly speaking you don’t find moderate Republicans or conservative Democrats.

In his epilogue, the author sums up the shift in public morality due to the underlying erosion of what was a Christian consensus in American life. Woodward quotes sociologist Christian Smith who had done extensive surveys of college students. His frightening conclusion is that most have adopted what he calls, “moralistic, therapeutic deism.” This means that college students think God wants them to be nice, happy, that He is not all that involved in the day-to-day living of their lives.

If you are looking a broad analysis of the influence of religious faith in our current culture and how we got here, this is the book for you.

[James Hallmark · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, this is not a religion book. This is a mix of history/culture on the role of religion in American society from the 50s to about 2012 or so. Woodward was the religion editor at Newsweek for 40 years and as such had a front row seat to observe the influence of religion on American society and the influence of American society on religion. Woodward is a Catholic (a “midwestern Catholic,” as he stresses, and he makes that distinction with the assumption the distinction matters) and the events are unashamedly viewed through that lens (which is both important and interesting). He makes no pretense of this being an objective view, but rather “here’s what I think.” It’s pretty good. His take on Billy Graham, and Jerry Falwell and Vatican II and…. It’s all very interesting and well informed. I found it odd that there is not a peep about the Catholic sex abuse scandals. I can’t imagine Newsweek never covered it and it has certainly been a huge story for decades. The first few chapters are of his experience growing up in and around Cleveland in a 100% Catholic environment. I didn’t have any interest in his memoir chapters. But once the book got to his job at Newsweek, I would say it was 100% interesting. For those with an interest in the sociology of religion, this would be a must read. I found it fascinating.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kenneth L. Woodward is religion editor for Newsweek. Forty years of writing about religion gives him adequate experience to write this informative book. American religion is the major topic here from the post war period to recent times. Since the country has a variety of cultural areas, there are a variety of religions. Religion and culture are shackled together. Lots of fringe religions get coverage and entertain the reader. Whether you joined any of them or not, it's fun to read about them. If your feminism and your theology are meshed together, that's covered. If you aspire to a buddhist spiritual life, that's covered. So this book hones in on most of it. Tammy Faye Bakker and the Berrigan Brothers are here. The whole 9 yards.

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this would be a deep analysis of religion in American culture, but this turned out to be a summary of the various religious groups and movements that swept through America while the author was a Newsweek journalists, assigned to cover religion. It did a good job summarizing the activity and beliefs of each movement, but stopped short of offering much analysis. Also, the author is very open about his Catholic upbringing and practice, so he promotes that view often. And he is very critical of the evangelical Christians. Ironically, he is more complimentary to Hindu swamis than he is to Billy Graham, for example.

[Barbara V. Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Think it Over

Me Woodward speaks from journalistic and ecclesiastical experience. His book gives an excellent chronology of Americans’ cultural growth away from traditional foundations of faith.

In his opinion politicians and citizens may be Christians in name only and the future of true faith is questionable.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The nostalgia from the authors childhood to young adulthood mixed in with church history was very readable and entertaining.

The part about the Sandinistas was really really long and not that relevant to American life (I get the political part).

[Christina Schall]

*Pre-Read*
God and religion

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. I've compared it to Ross Douthat's Bad Religion, but significantly better. A must read if you are at all interested in 20th century American religion told by a man with a front row seat.

It begins horribly. Not because it's not well written or interesting, but because it talks about Woodward's own childhood. The immigrant Catholic community scene with all the St Ignatius boys, and all the Fr. O'Malley's, and all the Notre Dame stories was a bit more than I could handle. Those that live in the catholic world or in a predominantly catholic state will see the remnants of this world all around them. But push on through this and you get to a very thorough critique of evangelical entrepreneurs, hippie new agers, baby boomer losers, religious politics, civil rights/social gospel practitioners, and finally a sober assessment of our times in the epilogue that would be worth reading if you find you can't make it through the entire book.

[victor harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is certainly comprehensive in its coverage and range of important figures he interviewed while at Newsweek, among them, Billy Graham and the Dalai Lama. The analysis of the impact of the changes wrought by the Second Vatican is among the strong points. It has somewhat of a conservative tilt and the author admits as much, based on his Catholic upbringing. Nevertheless I thought it was quite balanced except for the last section when it somewhat loses perspective in dealing with the issue of abortion and mounts an assault (an inaccurate one) on Planned Parenthood. Still well worth the effort because of the scope of topics and personalities.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitled “Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama,” Kenneth Woodward’s Getting Religion is a large book, but a surprisingly absorbing and informative read. The text is split into overlapping sections, examining the author’s experience as he grew up Catholic, the country’s governance in war and in peace, the rise of drug use and magical thinking, racial discrimination, feminism and more. Reading it is like watching a well-wrought documentary of recent American history, and I was totally hooked.

The author’s parents, like mine, married across religious boundaries--a minor detail I suppose, but one that drew me in. The undisciplined student came of age in the 50s and describes an America that’s far from my (English) experience. His life and his world must have seen many changes since then, but the author makes all these changes seem logically rooted in the past as he chronicles the fusion and later divisions of faith, culture and politics. From his prominent place in journalism, the author meets the famous people of his age, asks questions, analyzes trends with well-wrought words, and offers his observations with honest humanity and intelligent thought.

Days of racial segregation, legal or otherwise, times of separation and unification, abortion laws and the rise of feminism, a people seeking change and a secular world embracing the power of the sacred… the author follows evolution in Catholic thinking, the marches of Martin Luther King, the rise of “self-started” religions, Billy Graham's ministry, the politics of JFK, Israel’s 6-day war, and much much more, each section in the book reading like a collection of fascinating essays, each revealing its different part of the past, and each depicting honestly both the author’s impressions and the characters of the people and world around him.

As an English reader I loved the insight into American life and politics. As a Christian reader, I found the author’s depiction of religion’s rise and fall both fascinating and disturbing. And as an American, I truly value learning the history of this country I now call home. Getting Religion is a wonderful work by a fascinating author—highly recommended.
Disclosure: Blogging for Books provided this book to me and I offer an honest review.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, but also very personal. More Catholicism than I was interested in, though that was the author's religion, and that was 30+ percent of the nation at the beginning of the narrative, in the 1950s. By the time the author had finished, the 30+ percent was "none." Good on the foibles of mainline Protestant denominations, and the religious right, but has next to nothing to say about the Jewish right or the vast increase in Asian religions.

[Mark Seeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating yet personal historical triptych about the role and influence of religion and faith in America. The epilogue itself is sobering yet hopeful. It covers the 1950's to the present; Eisenhower to Obama.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been an informative memoir by the 40-yeared tenure religion editor of Newsweek, from "embedded religion" to "movement religion" to "women's liberation and the feminization of religion" to "the human potential movement" to "piety and politics." It's a catalog of every trend/fad in religion that has happened in my personal and profession life. You may not always agree with his editorial outcomes, but you will be reminded of important developments in the last five decades.