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Turning Points in the History of American Evangelicalism
Lucid, authoritative overview of a major movement in American history
The history of American evangelicalism is perhaps best understood by examining its turning points —those moments when it took on a new scope, challenge, or influence. The Great Awakening, the rise of fundamentalism and Pentecostalism, the emergence of Billy Graham—all these developments and many more have given shape to one of the most dynamic movements in American religious history. Taken together, these turning points serve as a clear and helpful roadmap for understanding how evangelicalism has become what it is today.
Each chapter in this book has been written by one of the world's top experts in American religious history, and together they form a single narrative of evangelicalism's remarkable development. Here is an engaging, balanced, coherent history of American evangelicalism from its origins as a small movement to its status as a central player in the American religious story.
Contributors & Topics
Harry S. Stout on the Great Awakening
Catherine A. Brekus on the evangelical encounter with the Enlightenment
Jon Butler on disestablishment
Richard Carwardine on antebellum reform
Marguerite Van Die on the rise of the domestic ideal
Luke E. Harlow on the Civil War and conservative American evangelicalism
George M. Marsden on the rise of fundamentalism
Edith Blumhofer on urban Pentecostalism
Dennis C. Dickerson on the Great Migration
Mark Hutchinson on the global turn in American evangelicalism
Grant Wacker on Billy Graham's 1949 Los Angeles revival
Darren Dochuk on American evangelicalism's Latin turn
The history of American evangelicalism is perhaps best understood by examining its turning points —those moments when it took on a new scope, challenge, or influence. The Great Awakening, the rise of fundamentalism and Pentecostalism, the emergence of Billy Graham—all these developments and many more have given shape to one of the most dynamic movements in American religious history. Taken together, these turning points serve as a clear and helpful roadmap for understanding how evangelicalism has become what it is today.
Each chapter in this book has been written by one of the world's top experts in American religious history, and together they form a single narrative of evangelicalism's remarkable development. Here is an engaging, balanced, coherent history of American evangelicalism from its origins as a small movement to its status as a central player in the American religious story.
Contributors & Topics
Harry S. Stout on the Great Awakening
Catherine A. Brekus on the evangelical encounter with the Enlightenment
Jon Butler on disestablishment
Richard Carwardine on antebellum reform
Marguerite Van Die on the rise of the domestic ideal
Luke E. Harlow on the Civil War and conservative American evangelicalism
George M. Marsden on the rise of fundamentalism
Edith Blumhofer on urban Pentecostalism
Dennis C. Dickerson on the Great Migration
Mark Hutchinson on the global turn in American evangelicalism
Grant Wacker on Billy Graham's 1949 Los Angeles revival
Darren Dochuk on American evangelicalism's Latin turn
315 pages, Paperback
Published March 16, 2017
19 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Heath W. Carter
5 books8 followersProfessor Carter (PhD, University of Notre Dame) joined the Valparaiso faculty in autumn 2012. He teaches a variety of courses on the modern United States and writes about the intersection of Christianity, politics, and reform in American history.
He is also an active member of the Valparaiso community. In December 2015, Mayor Jon Costas appointed him chair of the city’s Human Relations Council. In addition, Professor Carter is on the boards of both Project Neighbors and the Northwest Indiana African American Alliance.
Interests
Histories of Christianity, capitalism, race, and reform in modern United States history.
He is also an active member of the Valparaiso community. In December 2015, Mayor Jon Costas appointed him chair of the city’s Human Relations Council. In addition, Professor Carter is on the boards of both Project Neighbors and the Northwest Indiana African American Alliance.
Interests
Histories of Christianity, capitalism, race, and reform in modern United States history.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 22, 2022
I'm a bit more familiar with turning points that are discussed earlier in the book (and earlier in American history), so personally, I was retreading familiar territory. Had I been new to some of the talking points in the early essays, I think I would have been more dialed in: The information is good. Really good.
As it was, however, I was looking for something new... and when I arrived at essays dealing with post-WWII evangelicalism/fundamentalism, whoo boy!, I was in heaven. The two essays that grabbed me and wouldn't let go, the ones I'll probably refer back to in the future, were Grant Wacker's "Billy Graham's 1949 Los Angeles Revival" and Darren Dochuk's "Lausanne '74 and American Evangelicalism's Latin Turn."
I work in full-time Christian ministry, evangelical Christian ministry and previously had a cursory knowledge of Billy Graham's importance and place in America's long history of revivalism; however, Wacker not only documents what Graham did, but what it meant to Christianity globally. Wacker does this as if its a "whodunit:" We know Graham suceeded, but why and how? Who are the players? What were their motives? And did William Randolph Hurst tell his reporters to "puff Graham?" But here's my favorite detail that Wacker chose to include:
Dochuk's essay, the final one of the book, brings things full circle: American Evangelicalism was a reaction to and interaction with European, Continental Protestantism. As American Evangelicalism has expanded its reach globally, Dochuk notes how Latin America internalized American Evangelicalism, particularly Pentecostalism, married it with Marxist class-struggle, viewed through a Biblical lens of caring for the "least of these," and is feeding it back to America, that is, the U.S.A.
The second half of the book was my favorite, but I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a better handle on the how, what, where, who, when of the rise of American Evangelicalism.
As it was, however, I was looking for something new... and when I arrived at essays dealing with post-WWII evangelicalism/fundamentalism, whoo boy!, I was in heaven. The two essays that grabbed me and wouldn't let go, the ones I'll probably refer back to in the future, were Grant Wacker's "Billy Graham's 1949 Los Angeles Revival" and Darren Dochuk's "Lausanne '74 and American Evangelicalism's Latin Turn."
I work in full-time Christian ministry, evangelical Christian ministry and previously had a cursory knowledge of Billy Graham's importance and place in America's long history of revivalism; however, Wacker not only documents what Graham did, but what it meant to Christianity globally. Wacker does this as if its a "whodunit:" We know Graham suceeded, but why and how? Who are the players? What were their motives? And did William Randolph Hurst tell his reporters to "puff Graham?" But here's my favorite detail that Wacker chose to include:
Many years later a Los Angeles Times reporter recounted how the actress Jane Russell–"a sassy, brassy, buxom bomb shell"–also had been there, "wheeling a former soldier, wounded in the war, down that sawdust aisle to meet Bill and receive the Lord."Did this actually happen? Who knows? And that's the point. This chapter is, at its core, a good yarn.
Dochuk's essay, the final one of the book, brings things full circle: American Evangelicalism was a reaction to and interaction with European, Continental Protestantism. As American Evangelicalism has expanded its reach globally, Dochuk notes how Latin America internalized American Evangelicalism, particularly Pentecostalism, married it with Marxist class-struggle, viewed through a Biblical lens of caring for the "least of these," and is feeding it back to America, that is, the U.S.A.
The second half of the book was my favorite, but I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a better handle on the how, what, where, who, when of the rise of American Evangelicalism.
March 2, 2021
This collection of essays walks through the history of American Protestantism. The differing authors seeks to point to evangelicalism, but never truly define what they mean by that term. A firm definition of evangelicalism is needed in a book like this, because the term has changed so much in the history of the U.S. Despite this failure the authors succinctly describe the different eras or Protestantism in America and walk through the changes in the church in minority groups as well. This is a good resource that does not necessarily have to be read from beginning to end.
November 21, 2023
Some really great contributions, some not so much. Given the tone of some authors, you would think the sins and decay of America could wholly be placed on Evangelicals. It was sobering at times as well as challenging to perspective. Two areas that were meaningful dealt with were the Enlightenment’s influence on early Evangelicalism, and second, the development of evangelicalism during the Civil War. Walking away less impressed by man and more impressed by God’s grace in Christ. We have great need, but what a Savior the Lord of history has given us in Christ.
January 9, 2026
Good collection of essays charting the movement of evangelicalism in America. Some essays hit harder than others
July 4, 2020
Very informed and informative, yet contemporary biases tended to intrude in several of the chapters.
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January 12, 2026Still confused about what Evangelicalism is, but am gradually coming to appreciate the historical breath of the term.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews