After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Protestant Liberalism in Modern American History

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The role of liberalized, ecumenical Protestantism in American history has too often been obscured by the more flamboyant and orthodox versions of the faith that oppose evolution, embrace narrow conceptions of family values, and continue to insist that the United States should be understood as a Christian nation. In this book, one of our preeminent

Reviews

"The intensely autobiographical essays of this book add luster but also complexity to David Hollinger's reputation as one of the most noteworthy historical essayists of his generation. The luster comes from the coruscating flow of insight he communicates about the larger meaning of liberal or mainline Protestantism in recent American history. The complexity arises from the book's tight interweaving of personal biography and historical analysis."--Mark Noll, Intellectual History Review "In these tightly argued, elegantly written interlocking essays, Hollinger, one of America's premier historians, examines the career of liberal Protestantism in the United States."--Philip Jenkins, Christian Century "The erudition, insight, range, and quality of these essays cannot be captured in brief summary, but the contribution can. Simply put, no scholar of American religion, American intellectual life, or American politics can afford to ignore After Cloven Tongues of Fire. More than a book on liberal Protestantism, the essays here reshape our understanding of the very nature of modernity in America and what makes it unique."--Matthew S. Hedstrom, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "After Cloven Tongues of Fire succeeds in offering a nuanced and compelling interpretation of liberal Protestantism's engagement with the increasingly complex and diverse cultural and intellectual climate of the twentieth century. Hollinger's work offers much to historians and students of this era as well as to the study of Protestantism in the United States."--Jeffrey Williams, Catholic Historical Review

Author Bio

David A. Hollinger is the Preston Hotchkis Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former president of the Organization of American Historians. His books include Science, Jews, and Secular Culture: Studies in Mid-Twentieth-Century American Intellectual History (Princeton) and Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism.