pmd@cbscc.UUCP (Paul Dubuc) (03/17/85)
I heartily second Greg Taylor's recommendation of "The Search for Christian America" by Noll, Hatch and Marsden. (See his article in net.religion). The book definitely offers a balanced view of The Christian influence in early America which is romanticized and used as a rallying point by the Religious New Right. >When you're done with that book, pick up a copy of George Marsden's >"Fundamentalism and American Culture (Oxford University Press)". It >will go a long way toward pointing out where all the stuff comes from >in the first place. The historical period covered is approx. 1830-1940. >It is a real eye-opener of a book if you grew up in the tradition (I >spent my adolescence in it), and pretty involving even if you aren't. Another good one is "The Bible in America: Essays in Cultural History" (1982, Oxford Univ. Press) edited by Hatch and Noll. Noll, Hatch and Marsden are also three of the editors who worked on the "Eerdmans' Handbook to Christianity in America" (1983). It's worth having in any Christian home. I contributes much the stuff our "secularized" American History books leave out. -- Paul Dubuc cbscc!pmd