477 - Dictionary of American Religious Biography

Dictionary of American Religious Biography
By Henry Warner Bowden
Edwin S. Gaustad, Advisory Editor
Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1977. 575 pp. $29.95.

Henry Warner Bowden of Rutgers has succeeded admirably in furnishing us with a serviceable, scholarly one-volume work on American religious biography. It is serviceable because of article design, layout, and type; scholarly because of selection, quality of narrative, and bibliographical recommendations.

Four hundred twenty-five American religious figures are fitted into 543 pages, persons ranging from "leathery circuit riders to pallid philosophers, from sectaries and dreamers to social activists and cosmic-minded citizens." The volume sacrifices a measure of in-depth treatment in order to provide a greater coverage of persons, but the quality of the articles is excellent. In each entry there is first, a biographical sketch with stress on education and career positions where appropriate; second, one or more paragraphs of narrative by which the author determines the person's accomplishments and lasting significance in American religion; and finally, a two-part bibliography, the first part supplying book-length publications by the individual, and the second part, publications about the person including encyclopedia articles as well as full biographies. Thus, whether one wishes biographical facts, bibliography, or an interpretation of the leading figure, there is no difficulty in finding it. The book shows signs of wise planning and careful publishing.

Bowden's scholarship is evident in the way he has selected his sub-

478 - Dictionary of American Religious Biography

jects and handled them. His touch is that of the historian who practices sound research techniques, and who at the same time writes readable prose. The book is not dull. On the other hand, the author has not put cheap popularization uppermost in his project. He expresses the hope-not without some justification, I might add-that the dictionary will be useful to advanced scholars as well as beginning students.

Of course, selection of persons is a key consideration in a work of this sort. Bowden's leading assumption is pluralism, that throughout our history religious expressions have been "rich in complexity and variegation." He rejects a consensus viewpoint in which ordained, white, male, Protestant clergy dominate, and instead opts for a wide choice of religious types to be included in his study: women (Georgia Harkness, Aimee Semple McPherson), Indians (Samson Occom, Tenskwatawa), blacks (Richard Allen, Elijah Muhammad), Easterners (Abdu'l-Baha, Yogananda), laypersons (John R. Mott, Ira D. Sankey), plus a scattering of free thinkers, transcendentalists, deists, and cultists of many stripes. The trouble is that if one discards a "consensus viewpoint," another principle of selection is hard to come by, and finally, it would appear, the principle is only an author's or editor's good judgment regarding the lasting importance of a leader, founder, or thinker. It is not that I would quarrel with Bowden, but I would raise a query or two: If Communitarians Rapp, Noyes, and Mother Ann Lee are worthy of inclusion, then why not Robert Owen and Joseph Baümler? A number of "Social Gospelers" are present, but not Edward Bellamy, Henry George, Richard Ely, or Albion Small. No representatives of Eastern Orthodoxy appear to have been entered, and no modern Mormon. Finally, a decision was made to include only those who had died before July 1, 1976; thus, there are no articles on Billy Graham, Norman Vincent Peale, Luther Weigle, George Buttrick, or Fulton Sheen. Such criticisms are not meant to detract from the high quality of Bowden's volume, but they do illustrate the problem of selection.

Two appendices and an index contribute to the volume's usefulness.

A reference volume of this kind and stature points up the great need for a multi-volume encyclopedia of American religion. DARB helps to fill the void, but we should not be required to wait decades for the larger work. Planning should commence at once.

L. Gordon Tait
The College of Wooster
Wooster, Ohio