A Religious History of the American People

by Sydney E. Ahlstrom, David D. Hall (Contributor)

This classic work, winner of the 1973 National Book Award in Philosophy and Religion and Christian Century’s choice as the Religious Book of the Decade (1979), is now issued with a new chapter by noted religious historian David Hall, who carries the story of American religious history forward to the present day.

Genres: History, Religion, American History, Church History, Nonfiction, Christianity, Reference

1216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up at the excellent Union Theological Seminary bookstore while still studying there during the seventies, inspired by the sequence of Church History courses required for the M.Div., courses which did not include the course on American Church History. Ahlstrom's was the text for that class.

Over a decade later I finally get down to reading the thing and regret not having done so earlier. Ahlstrom's review is fascinating, particularly to someone who knows their North American history pretty well, but has never looked at it from the angle of religion.

Most interesting discovery: Until very recently, the ruling class of the USA has been predominately Presbyterian.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthroposophists? Check. Encyclicals from the Pope? Double check. The church and 1900s-era immigration? Step right up.

Unfortunately I read only the 1975 edition of Volume Two, but fortunately I still found it to be engaging and relevant. In this comprehensive study, Ahlstrom (mostly chronologically) covers the development of American religious life from the Transcendentalism of Emerson to the social overhaul of the 1960s. While he occasionally gets bogged down detailing denominational shifts and the lives of minor figures, he manages to present a clear, highly-readable overview of two centuries of church development.

I found myself wanting more details about groups Ahlstrom considers less mainstream (Mennonites, Mormons, Buddhists, etc.), although the book briefly covers Eastern religions and the New Age movement. However, I definitely came away with a fuller comprehension of American Protestantism & Judaism. I particularly appreciated Ahlstrom's special emphasis on the history of the black church, and I came away interested in finding the edition that extends the discussion through the beginning of the 21st century.

The extensive footnotes and bibliography would make this book a great place to start research on many aspects of the church's role in American life.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gold standard for works of its kind, but a Yale historian. Even 30-odd years later, it makes its successors (Gaustaud and Noll's wonderful texts) seem superfluous. Massive in size and scope, it deals with social, political and intellectual issues masterfully. Very clear and accessible, while creative and brilliant.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Religious History of the American People will probably be on my "currently reading" list for about a million years. That's how big and heavy and long this book is. It's a classic, though, so if you're interested in American religious history (I am), then you should read it.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mistitled, as it basically addresses only JudeoChristian (emphasis on Christian) faith. Still, great, balanced reference for Christian US History.

[Eric Lazarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my 2008 Amazon Review:

The finest single volume work on American religious history December 18, 2003 By Eric Lazarian "New England Calvinist" I cannot praise this work enough. The time invested in reading this book has been well worth it. It has not yet been surpassed in scope or excellence. The work is well-balanced and covers all of the major movements and some of the minor movements in American religious history. The Puritans are dealt with fairly, as are other Protestant and non-Protestant Christian groups with substantial coverage of Roman Catholic history in America, and Ahlstrom covers the Eastern Orthodox groups as well. This is a graduate level book that can also be read in advanced undergraduate course work and I recommend this book for all Americans, regardless of your faith. Since one cannot understand American history without understanding our religious heritage, it should be on the reading list for all students of American history. A masterwork. Five stars are not enough praise for this work. If truth is important to you, and you respect high scholarship, then you will appreciate this book. It is also very well written, and the flow of the text is both smooth and erudite, without being haughty or overly specialized.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Public schools and universities seem to dilute American history of much of its religious content. The former for over-reading the establishment clause and the latter for a (religous) desire to see the world through economic and social constructs. You can fill the holes left in your history education by allowing Ahlstrom to guide you through American history as he traces the people as they saw themselves - as a predominantly religious society of many flavors living out their interpretation of their Providential place in history. This is a serious, well-researched volume - not given to the loaded feeling that are is often detected on both sides of contemporary "America is Christian" battles. It is refreshing to read our history, which is so laced with religious themes, by someone who has a respectful understanding of religion on its own terms.

[Brenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it's getting some age on it, this is the finest treatment of the history of religion in America that I've seen. A professor years ago told me it was one of the best church history text he'd ever discovered, and I couldn't agree more. It's the kind of book you read once and mark up on every page. Then you go back and read it again marking things you didn't mark the first time. I finally had to purchase a second copy. Don't be intimidated by its massive size. You can read it selectively.

[Sula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing: religious history that begins in 1492!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, it's a classic, but I found it a bit dull, for all of that. That may have a lot to do with having speed-read this for comprehensive exams.

[Devin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An older, standard history of American religion. Flawed, but still valuable for understanding the shape of my discipline in the 1960s and 1970s.

[Joel Zartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing resource. How can anybody be interesting for over 1100 pages?

[Jeremy Canipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sydney E. Ahlstrom was a professor of American religious history at Yale University. Originally published in 1972, A Religious History of the American People is a detailed and expansive history of religious faith in the United States. The book was highly acclaimed, with much reason. I highly recommend this book.

The book is over 1,000 pages in length. As such, I read the book slowly over several weeks, taking occasional breaks. I will provide a brief overview here. I expect to use the book again for questions about specific time periods and specific issue.

Ahlstrom started in Europe, setting out the Medieval background to the Reformation and Counter Reformation in western Europe. In this context, he explored the European colonization of the western hemisphere, both by (eventually) Protestant England and by the Catholic powers of Spain, Portugal, and France.

Ahlstrom's key thesis is that Puritanism and its worldview became crucial the the English colonies and left an indelible imprint on American culture and religious life. In fact, one might see the entire book as reflecting on this dynamic across the centuries after Jamestown and Plymouth to the near-present of his book's culmination in the late 1960s.

This book also carefully traced the other wide range of religious and philosophical traditions that have been present in colonial British North American and the United States. He provided great detail, not only on the various ranges of English religious practice and sects, but also the diverse Catholic heritage from Europe, African African religious history, and eventually the impact of various national Orthodox churches such as Greece, Russia, and Ethiopia.

Throughout, Ahlstrom places the changing modes of religious faith and non-belief in the context of other changes and trends in American society.

In short, the book is a great resource. One might nit-pick in many regards, but it is soaring panorama of the history of religious belief and practice of the American people.

[Austin Gisriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

After 6+ months of plowing through 1100 pages of text and footnotes, I am finally finished! A more thorough history on any subject cannot be imagined, as author Sydney Ahlstrom begins in the 13th century and continues his history through 1970-71. (The book was published in 1973.) How one person could have accumulated so much knowledge is breathtaking.

Unless American religious history is your absolute passion, you will not cruise through this book. In fact, you probably shouldn't pick it up. I have a Masters in Theological Studies from Wesley Seminary and I had to take small bites and chew thoroughly. It is impossible to remember all the new facts that the reader will encounter, but I found myself intrigued by the flow of the events. Ahlstrom discussed the origin and evolution of religious perspectives that I now recognize in my parents and in the world in which I grew up. (I'm 66.)

This book is not to be entered lightly, but if you have an earnest desire to learn about a most important, but often overlooked and misunderstood aspect of American history, you will do well to read this tome from a most earnest historian.

[Bill Hooten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have owned this book for 40+ years, and have read sections of it on particular subjects; but have never read it. I started reading it back in September, and would read in it for 30-40 minutes, 4 or 5 mornings a week. It is long (1097 pages), it is difficult reading (and parts of it can be dry), there are no pictures or illustrations -- so you have to really want to read it. I'm glad that I did! I learned so much about the history of religion in America, and the struggles that religion has had in our country. One thing that I am convinced of -- being religious, is not the same thing as following God. But that is not the subject of this book, it was a comprehensive look at the religions that have impacted our country. As one that was born in 1950 (meaning that all of my teenage years were in the 1960's), I found the last chapter "The Turbulent Sixties" to be of special interest. Again, even if you have an interest in this subject matter, you will have to want to read it -- but you will be glad that you did.

[Tyson Guthrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is itself a piece of American religious history. Ahlstrom writes in 1970 assured of the demise of "Puritan" (evangelical) influence and the triumph of religious pluralism. The chapter added by David Hall to the second edition in 2004 corrects Ahlstrom's misplaced optimism and modifies his thesis.
The work is well-written, informative, and will serve the church historian well, even if he/she does not share Ahlstrom's perspective.

[Michael McCue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, extremely complete history covering every denomination, sect, cult and movement in two vol. Read it while a student at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley CA. My advisor, Dr. Samuel Garrett recommended it.

[Lazarus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An expansive and still relevant scholarly text for anyone interested in American religions, their impacts on different historical/social contexts, and how their modern forms have been shaped by history. It's long, but worth it.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

A monumental work that, despite its length, can still accurately be described as a summary of the increasingly complex subject of American religious experience.

[Nancy Devlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required textbook for masters in theology class. Just used it as reference.

[Kye Alfred Hillig · Rating 5 out of 5]

First it must be said that Ahlstrom seems to leave no stone unturned within this all-inclusive history of religion in America. The amount of research and effort it must have taken to compile this work must have been enough to drive anyone mad. My struggle with this work is that it's far too academic for its own good. It's not an accessible work. And what's the point of writing an exclusively academic work for other academics who already know this shit? It's pointless. Why not make it more readable to give the lay person a crack at understanding the history of religion in our country. With that said, Ahlstrom is surely a genius.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahlstrom was a professor at Yale and was teacher of my professor at Western Washington University (William Stoever - who wrote A Faire and Easie Way to Heaven). This book is fantastic, well-written, and riveting. I read it in college and have read it since.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really ought to be called "A Christian History of the American People." The new version may address this issue, but I haven't read it. Otherwise very good.

[Sterling Fritz]

One of the definitive works in this area. Well worth reading.

[Covenant Presbyterian Springfield Ohio]

Call Number: 277 AHL

Available.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

At about 1100 pages, this book is loaded with information. I simply ran out of steam at about 400 pages, which only got me up to about the early nineteenth century.

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive and intriguing... if you like the subject matter.

[Chris Comis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative. Ahlstrom wasn't very orthodox, but he quotes Philip Schaff like an adoring little school boy, which makes the book much more readable than it would have been otherwise.

[Tim Senter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent catalogue of the history America's religious development. Good reference, well resourced.

[Zach Hollifield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most likely the most in depth and yet comprehensive study of American Religion to date.