Books: Fundamentalism and American Culture and Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory

I've just completed teaching a course on American Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism at Eden Seminary. These were a couple of the books I assigned.

Marsden's Fundamentalism and American Culture is the classic treatment of the roots of fundamentalism as well as the eventual conflict in the 1920s between fundamentalists and liberals in U.S. Protestant churches. I love this book. Marsden's writing is clear and thought-provoking, and he makes the kind of argument that I always appreciate: ideas matter to people.

Balmer's book, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, is a sort of travelogue through various expressions of evangelical life in the late 20th century. He does a fantastic job of showing the breadth of evangelical experience, from strict dispensationalists to Pentecostal faith healing to megachurch generic pietism. This book is the rare scholarly book that would also make enjoyable vacation reading.