- 270 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
This wide-ranging study examines the ever-evolving forms of Christianity in the US, and why this constant reinvention is a vital part of American faith.
Christianity takes an astonishing variety of forms in America: from traditional chapels to modern megachurches, from evangelical fellowships to social-action groups, and from Pentecostal faith to apocalyptic movements. Stephen Cox argues that radical and unpredictable change is one of the few dependable features of Christianity in America. It is in a necessary and ongoing state of revolution and has been throughout our history.
Cox explores how both Catholic and Protestant churches have evolved in ways that would make them seem alien to their past adherents. He traces the rise of uniquely American movements, from the Mormons to the Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, and brings to life the vivid personalities—Aimee Semple McPherson, Billy Sunday, and many others—who have taken the gospel to the masses.
Cox also sheds new light on such issues as American Christians' constantly changing political involvements, their controversial revisions in the style and substance of worship, and their chronic expectation that God is about to intervene conclusively in human life. Asserting that "a church that doesn't promise new beginnings can never prosper in America," Cox demonstrates that American Christianity must be seen not as a sociological phenomenon but as the ever-changing story of individual seekers.
Christianity takes an astonishing variety of forms in America: from traditional chapels to modern megachurches, from evangelical fellowships to social-action groups, and from Pentecostal faith to apocalyptic movements. Stephen Cox argues that radical and unpredictable change is one of the few dependable features of Christianity in America. It is in a necessary and ongoing state of revolution and has been throughout our history.
Cox explores how both Catholic and Protestant churches have evolved in ways that would make them seem alien to their past adherents. He traces the rise of uniquely American movements, from the Mormons to the Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, and brings to life the vivid personalities—Aimee Semple McPherson, Billy Sunday, and many others—who have taken the gospel to the masses.
Cox also sheds new light on such issues as American Christians' constantly changing political involvements, their controversial revisions in the style and substance of worship, and their chronic expectation that God is about to intervene conclusively in human life. Asserting that "a church that doesn't promise new beginnings can never prosper in America," Cox demonstrates that American Christianity must be seen not as a sociological phenomenon but as the ever-changing story of individual seekers.
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Information
INDEX
Abbott, Jacob, 102
abolition movement, 41–42, 82, 109–110, 114–115
Adams, John, 220
Addison, Joseph, 200
adventist movements, 24–25, 69–70, 129–137, 143–144, 205, 217
African American Baptist Church, 44, 46
African American religious movements, 20–23, 44, 46, 60, 103, 126–127, 196–199, 209–210
African Methodist Episcopal Church, 21, 44, 46
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 22
Akers, Doris, 210
American Civil Liberties Union, 8–9
Anglicans. See Episcopal Church
Aquinas, Thomas, 97
architecture, religious, 40, 166; colonial, 174–177, 184; Gothic, 1–3, 32, 51, 54, 87, 175–180, 184, 187, 189, 191; history of changes in, 172–194; modern and postmodern, 4–5, 58–59, 186–190, 192–194, 223; Romanesque, 3, 32, 47, 51, 54, 58, 177–182, 184, 192
Armstrong, Herbert W., 100, 144–145
atheism, 69, 96, 220
Azusa Street meetings, 72
baby boom, 53, 58, 59, 153, 168, 184, 186, 235n31
Bakker, Jim, 100
Bakker, Tammy Faye, 100
Baptist movement and churches, 32–34, 36, 37–38, 42, 44, 46, 56, 59, 77, 109, 198; and architecture, 39–40, 175, 176, 179, 189; political involvements of, 31, 109, 116, 120, 124
Bay Psalm Book, 200
Beecher, Henry Ward, 80–84, 92, 206–209
Beecher, Lyman, 80, 82, 112, 202
Bennett, Isaiah, 40
Bible translations, 36, 212–215, 217. See also King James translation
Bliss, P. P., 204
Bloom, Harold, 220
Bradbury, William, 203, 204, 211
Bradstreet, Anne, 19
Bryan, William Jennings, 9, 96, 235n40
Bunyan, John, 102, 196–197
Calhoun, John C., 109
Calvinism, 42, 44, 75, 80, 87, 125, 146, 205
Camp...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- One. Ruins or Foundations?
- Two. Finding Oil
- Three. The Mainstream and the Cataracts
- Four. The Making of Revival
- Five. Stars That Rise and Set
- Six. The Low Wall of Separation
- Seven. Millions Now Living Will Never Die
- Eight. Hierarchies and Revolutions
- Nine. Sermons in Stone
- Ten. The Mortal Word
- Eleven. Unfinished Cathedrals
- Notes
- Index