The Rise of Liberal Religion: Book Culture and American Spirituality in the Twentieth Century. By Matthew S. Hedstrom. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. x + 278 pp. $55.00 cloth.

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)The Rise of Liberal Religion: Book Culture and American Spirituality in Twentieth Century . By Matthew S. Hedstrom . New York : Oxford University Press , 2013. x + 278 pp. $55.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesMatthew Hedstrom contributes to a growing body of recent work on American religious liberalism with his analysis of American Protestant book culture from 1920s through end of World War II. Focusing upon a range of literary campaigns conducted by liberal Protestant book clubs, and joined during World War II by joint publishing campaigns with Catholics and Jews, Hedstrom shows how an emerging book culture crafted a distinctive form of American popular religion that was geared toward a white, middle-class cultural center (what author refers to as middlebrow culture). He shows how desire of liberal Protestant leaders to forge a concerted campaign to promote religious literacy through books opened readers to a wider embrace of religious pluralism by middle of twentieth century. Increasingly this pluralism was defined not in terms of theological doctrines and beliefs. Rather the most critical of these new religious developments for twentieth-century religious liberalism were a renewed and transformed emphasis on mystical practice and experience, healing ministry known as mind cure, and rise of modern psychology (15). Ultimately, this religious quest through books opened new vistas of spirituality in latter half of twentieth century.An assistant professor of American Studies at University of Virginia, Hedstrom builds upon a spate of recent scholarship arguing that liberal Protestants were far more influential in shaping religious and cultural worldviews than often given credit. Building upon arguments from Leigh Eric Schmidt's Restless Souls (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2005), Hedstrom follows religious liberalism's impact beyond parameters of churches and denominations. Beginning with an examination of religious book clubs in 1920s, he discusses how these liberal Protestant endeavors lived in tension between a wish to preserve an older Protestant culture of privilege and a desire to capitalize upon a growing consumer demand for reading. Influenced by insights on religious experience articulated in early twentieth century by figures such as Rufus Jones and William James, emerging movement of book publishers promoted religious literacy while increasingly exposing Americans to intellectual currents that moved beyond exclusive domain of American Protestantism. While these initial efforts in 1920s and 1930s were often rooted in a hope to promote a vision of America as a Protestant Christian nation, increasingly these book clubs exposed readers to a wide range of religious traditions. This pattern is especially evident in author's discussion of Eugene Exman. The longtime religion editor at Harper & Brothers (including serving as Harry Emerson Fosdick's editor), Exman's expanding interest in Eastern religion helped foster a spate of works that both promoted core values of liberal Protestantism while also fostering a growing interfaith consciousness.By time of World War II, these earlier Protestant reading clubs joined forces with Catholic and Jewish publishing interests to promote reading in both American military and on home front. These wartime ecumenical-interfaith campaigns helped forge a distinctive vision of American religion (what would become commonly known in 1950s as the Judeo-Christian heritage). …