After Cloven Tongues of Fire (ebook)

Argumento de After Cloven Tongues of Fire (ebook)

"Liberal Protestantism is not appreciated enough, not studied enough, and keeps getting written off as a movement destined to fade away. David Hollinger, one of our finest and most provocative intellectual historians, reminds us how important liberal Protestant ideas have been in advancing movements for social reform and in shaping our current self-understandings. And his account of the struggle of Christians with the Enlightenment is hugely instructive at a moment when all our faith traditions continue to confront the effects of the acids of modernity. In bringing together some of Hollinger's most important work, After Cloven Tongues of Fire is an exciting book that challenges many of the assumptions lurking behind our debates over religion's role in American public life."--E. J. Dionne Jr., author of Our Divided Political Heart and Souled Out

"This book by America's leading intellectual historian is essential reading for anyone who cares to understand the rise, decline, and enduring legacy of what was once our dominant religious tradition. David Hollinger's essays, always empathetic but never uncritical, treat the 'worldly' Protestants with the moral rigor they deserve."--Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation

"Hollinger's book will take its place as one of the most important works in modern American intellectual history published in recent decades. It shows this exemplary scholar practicing his craft at the highest level of scholarly excellence and deliberately and self-critically reflecting on his practice."--James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University

"A splendid book. Hollinger's trenchant, sweeping, and at times jolting essays pose critical questions about central issues in American religion, philosophy, and history with depth, insight, and understanding. After Cloven Tongues of Fire will attract a wide spectrum of readers."--Jon Butler, Yale University

"In these tightly argued, elegantly written interlocking essays, Hollinger, one of America's premier historians, examines the career of liberal Protestantism in the United States."--Philip Jenkins, Christian Century

"The erudition, insight, range, and quality of these essays cannot be captured in brief summary, but the contribution can. Simply put, no scholar of American religion, American intellectual life, or American politics can afford to ignore After Cloven Tongues of Fire. More than a book on liberal Protestantism, the essays here reshape our understanding of the very nature of modernity in America and what makes it unique."--Matthew S. Hedstrom, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"The intensely autobiographical essays of this book add luster but also complexity to David Hollinger's reputation as one of the most noteworthy historical essayists of his generation. The luster comes from the coruscating flow of insight he communicates about the larger meaning of liberal or mainline Protestantism in recent American history. The complexity arises from the book's tight interweaving of personal biography and historical analysis."--Mark Noll, Intellectual History Review0Preface ix
1. The Accommodation of Protestant Christianity with the Enlightenment: An Old Drama Still Being Enacted 1
2. After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Ecumenical Protestantism and the Modern American Encounter with Diversity 18
3. The Realist-Pacifist Summit Meeting of March 1942 and the Political Reorientation of Ecumenical Protestantism in the United States 56
4. Justification by Verification: The Scientific Challenge to the Moral Authority of Christianity in Modern America 82
5. James, Clifford, and the Scientific Conscience 103
6. Damned for God's Glory: William James and the Scientific Vindication of Protestant Culture 117
7. Communalist and Dispersionist Approaches to American Jewish History in an Increasingly Post-Jewish Era 138
8. Church People and Others 170
9. Enough Already: Universities Do Not Need More Christianity 190
10. Religious Ideas: Should They Be Critically Engaged or Given a Pass? 199
Epilogue: Reinhold Niebuhr and Protestant Liberalism 211
Index 227