Public Pulpits: Methodists and Mainline Churches in the Moral Argument of Public Life

Abstract

Unlike some scholars who have authored very sizable books, Steven M. Tipton is actually more verbose in person than in print. He actually does have unpublished thoughts. Yet the ones that he publishes tend to become definitive treatments on bodies of research. His contributions as a coauthor of Habits of the Heart and The Good Society are widely known as landmarks in sociological analyses of spirituality and cultural values. His newest work, Public Pulpits: Methodists and Mainline Churches in the Moral Argument of Public Life, is another defining achievement. The first line in the first chapter establishes the terrain to be covered. “What is the role of religion in American public life?” Tipton asks. In the ensuing four-hundred-forty pages, plus ninety pages of footnotes, he answers the question. Only occasionally prescriptive, he is most significantly descriptive of the people and the institutions who have struggled not only to claim a role for religion in public life but to shape that role according to their theological and political preferences. Tipton gives an insightful, critical report on denominational agencies assigned to be their churches' public voice, on the ascent and decline of ecumenical bodies that were designed by mainline denominations to deliver a public word, and on a number of bodies peripherally related to the church that challenged denominational structures for influence in the public arena. Indeed, Tipton provides the finest, most detailed report available on the emergence of parachurch groups—particularly conservative ones—that became publicly powerful.