Product Description

National polls show that approximately 50 million adult Americans are born-again Christians. Yet most Americans see their culture as secular, and the United States is viewed around the world as a secular nation. Further, intellectuals and journalists often portray born-again Christians, despite their numbers, as outsiders who endanger public life. But is American culture really so neatly split between the religious and the secular? Is America as "modern" and is born-again Christian religious belief as "pre-modern" as many think?

In the 1980s, born-again Christians burst into the political arena with stunning force. Gone was the image of "old-fashioned" fundamentalism and its anti-worldly, separatist philosophy. Under the leadership of the Reverend Jerry Falwell and allied preachers, millions broke taboos in place since the Scopes trial constraining their interaction with the public world. They claimed new cultural territory and refashioned themselves in the public arena. Here was a dynamic body of activists with an evangelical vision of social justice, organized under the rubric of the "Moral Majority."

Susan Harding, a cultural anthropologist, set out in the 1980s to understand the significance of this new cultural movement. The result, this long-awaited book, presents the most original and thorough examination of Christian fundamentalism to date. Falwell and his co-pastors were the pivotal figures in the movement. It is on them that Harding focuses, and, in particular, their use of the Bible's language. She argues that this language is the medium through which born-again Christians, individual and collective, come to understand themselves as Christians. And it is inside this language that much of the born-again movement took place. Preachers like Falwell command a Bible-based poetics of great complexity, variety, creativity, and force, and, with it, attempt to mold their churches into living testaments of the Bible. Harding focuses on the words--sermons, speeches, books, audiotapes, and television broadcasts--of individual preachers, particularly Falwell, as they rewrote their Bible-based tradition to include, rather than exclude, intense worldly engagement. As a result of these efforts, born-again Christians recast themselves as a people not separated from but engaged in making history. The Book of Jerry Falwell is a fascinating work of cultural analysis, a rare account that takes fundamentalist Christianity on its own terms and deepens our understanding of both religion and the modern world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #627337 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Ronald D. Elving, Washington Post
Harding's . . . exuberance propels [the book] and carries us deep into the mind and heart of a subculture that is increasingly mainstream.

Ronald D. Elving, Washington Post
Harding's . . . exuberance propels [the book] and carries us deep into the mind and heart of a subculture that is increasingly mainstream.

Review
Harding has brought the finely tuned eyes and ears of an anthropologist to her research inside Falwell's fundamentalist Baptist community. Her analysis is incisive and empathetic.
(Linda L. Giedl The Christian Science Monitor )

This is a highly readable book. . . .
(Library Journal )

Harding's central subject is the rhetoric of fundamentalism, the language of its persuasion. But she also explains how Falwell, and others like him, have brought the fundamentalist community into politics . . . Harding's headlong exuberance propels [the book] and carries us deep into the mind and heart of a subculture that is increasingly mainstream.
(Ronald D. Elving Washington Post )

An eloquent and incisive study of religious fundamentalism in the United States. . . . [A] theoretically rich and highly original work.
(Jeremy Stolow Sociology of Religion )

Harding's own mastery is on display throughout her book. . . . By the end . . . she has skillfully shown the myriad ways in which fundamentalist rhetoric created and transformed both the fundamentalist community itself and the wider American culture. Her work should be required reading not only for students of American religion, but for anyone who wishes to study sympathetically and fruitfully a different religious culture.
(Jonathan Moore Christian Century )

So much has been written about resurgent Christian fundamentalism that it is difficult to imagine that someone might find something fresh to say about it. Yet Susan Friend Harding gives us some amazing glimpses into contemporary fundamentalism's heart and soul. . . . [A] bold, artful, and largely convincing book.
(Joel Carpenter Journal of Religion )

Customer Reviews

A good mix of history and cultural study.
This book offers a survey of Fundamentalist politics from the perspective of the fundamentalist leader Jerry Falwell. Harding weaves together historical analysis with anthropological commentary whilst also letting the subjects speak for themselves through the inclusion of lengthy quotes from fundamentalist preachers.

One of Harding's main comments is on the often misunderstood rehetorics of fundamentalist political language and she explains how they what fundamentalists hear when Falwell speaks is often different to how other hear the same words. The book is divided into chapters (obviously!) with each dealing with a different topic (eg abortion, creationism etc). The strength of this book is that it gives a context through fundamentalist history of contemporary positions. The end result is a very readable fairminded glimpse into the different world that is christian fundamentalist politcs and one that is recommended for those interested in the subject.

My one major criticism is that their is often a lack of theological grasp of some of the issues involved which of course you cannot particularly blame Harding for (she is an anthropologist). This is a book that would have benefitted from a co-author (Mark Noll immediately springs to mind).

Overall though this is definitely recommended.