Taking heaven by storm

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Randall Balmer

This book takes us on an insightful and engaging journey into the world of conservative Christians in America. Originally published fifteen years ago and the basis for an award-winning PBS documentary, this timely new edition arrives just as recent elections have left an ever-growing number of secular Americans wondering exactly how the other half thinks. From Oregon to Florida, and from Texas to North Dakota, Balmer offers an immensely readable tour of the highways and byways of American evangelicalism. We visit a revival meeting in Florida, an Indian reservation in the Dakotas, a trade show for Christian booksellers, and a fundamentalist Bible camp in the Adirondacks. For this fourth edition, Balmer adds two chapters, one on the phenomenally popular "Painter of Light," Thomas Kinkade, and one on Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life. Through the eyes of these and other people Balmer meets on his journeys, we arrive at a more accurate and balanced understanding of an abiding tradition that, as the author argues, is both rich in theological insights and mired in contradictions. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory offers readers a genuine insight into the appeal that the evangelicals movement holds for thousands of Americans.

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compiled and edited by Kenneth J. Zanca

This work brings together in one place primary material dealing with the issue of American Catholics and slavery. The anthology is organized in three parts. Each part is preceded by an introduction offering an overview of the section and each of the one hundred documents. Part I contains documents which established the Roman Catholic position on the morality of slave and slave-holding. Part II focuses on the context of the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries in which the Roman church existed. Part III presents documents generated by Catholics themselves specifically relating to slavery.

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Paul Barnett

Paul Barnetts title Finding the Historical Christ is a calculated jab against the popular dichotomy between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. In this book Barnett seeks to establish that the two figures are, in fact, one and the same. / The culmination of Barnetts After Jesus trilogy, Finding the Historical Christ carefully examines the ancient sources pertaining to Jesus, including writings by historians hostile to the Christian movement (Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny), the summarized biographies of Jesus in the book of Acts, and especially the four canonical Gospels. Based on compelling historical evidence, Barnett maintains that Jesus of Nazareth regarded himself as the prophesied Christ, as did his disciples before Jesus died and rose again. This is the only way to explain the phenomenon of the early church worshiping Jesus. - from back cover.

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James D. Bratt

"This book samples the rich variety of worship practices in American history to show how worship can be a fruitful subject for historians to study and, alternatively, how past case studies can enrich our understanding of worship today. By the Vision of Another World gathers highly regarded historians and other scholars who usually are not read together because of the widely different subject areas in which they typically work. Yet their essays all fit together here as they address how worship, work, and worldview converge and reinforce each other no matter what particular place, era, denomination, or ethnic group is under consideration. The variety of methodologies and voices will appeal to a breadth of critical interests, while the consistently high quality of historical narrative will keep readers engaged." -- Publisher's description.