414 - Evangelicalism and Modern America

Evangelicalism and Modern America
By George Marsden, ed.
Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1984. 220 pp. $8.95.

A book of essays, with its many approaches, viewpoints, and interpretations, is bound to be uneven, and this title is no exception. Yet there are no essays here that are not worth reading, and several that are well worth it. The best essay in the collection is by Nathan Hatch, "Evangelicalism as a Democratic Movement," not for the new information it contains, but for its insightful analysis. I had never before seen the intimate connection between our American form of democracy and the shape and contour of American evangelicalism. When the audience is sovereign and the marketplace of ideas is free, the pluralism that marks American evangelicalism is inevitable. So Hatch argues, and convincingly.

George Marsden, the editor, referring to the volume as a w hole, observes that "the greatest conceptual challenge in a discussion of this sort is to say what evangelicalism is." His own effort is as good as any we have seen, at least so far as the historical side of the question is concerned. The book as a whole is a commentary on this question. The first part, consisting of five essays, is essentially historical. The latter, eight essays, is concerned with the ways in which evangelicalism both challenges and reflects the culture in which it is manifest. "The New Religious Right in American Politics," by Richard Pierard, is impressive as a bibliographical piece. As such, it will serve many readers well in leading them through a plethora of titles on all aspects of the subject. It is a pity, however, that a writer with such moving style and rigorous mind should have his thought constantly interrupted by an endless stream of titles and authors. When I finished reading his essay, I felt like some of my frustrated students after a lecture whose flow was interrupted by too many questions.

Paul K. Jewett
Fuller Theological Seminary
Pasadena, Calif.