Grant Us Courage: Travels Along the Mainline of American Protestantism

Balmer, professor of religion at Columbia, is best know as the personable and insightful host of the PBS Series, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, and author of the 1994 book by the same name. Balmer once again crisscrosses America, this time to revisit the 12 churches that, in 1950, were chosen by the readers of Christian Century magazine as America's ``great'' mainline Protestant congregations. In so doing, the author provides his 1995 readers with 12 vivid snapshots of the tremendous changes in American religious life. He concludes that while several of the 1950 12 still have remarkable life, none would now be known as ``great.'' (In 1950, for instance, one of the ``powerful'' churches reported that nearby schools all checked its calendar before making up theirs; the reverse is now true.) From their position of overweening confidence in 1950, most of the 12 have now been marginalized by the surrounding culture. Balmer is an engaging and challenging commentator with a sprightly style, and his concluding essay on the state of the American church is absolutely penetrating. (Nov.)