George M. Marsden Books

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) is a towering figure in American history. A controversial theologian and the author of the famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he ignited the momentous Great Awakening of the eighteenth century.In this definitive and long-awaited biography, Jonathan Edwards emerges as both a great American and a brilliant Christian. George Marsden evokes the world of colonial New England in which Edwards was reared—a frontier civilization at the center of a conflict between Native Americans, French Catholics, and English Protestants. Drawing on newly available sources, Marsden demonstrates how these cultural and religious battles shaped Edwards’s life and thought. Marsden reveals Edwards as a complex thinker and human being who struggled to reconcile his Puritan heritage with the secular, modern world emerging out of the Enlightenment. In this, Edwards’s life anticipated the deep contradictions of our American culture.Meticulously researched and beautifully composed, this biography offers a compelling portrait of an eminent American.

Only a century ago, almost all state universities held compulsory chapel services, and some required Sunday church attendance as well. Today the influence of religion in the intellectual and cultural life of America's preeminent colleges and universities has all but vanished. Marsden explores how, and why, these dramatic changes occurred.

In this thought-provoking book George Marsden, a leading historian of American religion, engagingly tells the story of the paradoxical relationship between religion and American culture. Surveying the historical landscape from colonial America onward up to the present, Marsden here offers the kind of historically and religiously informed scholarship that has made him one of the nation's most respected and decorated historians. Book jacket.

A best-selling text thoroughly updated, including new chapters on the last 30 years "An excellent study that will help historians appreciate the importance of Christianity in the history of the United States and Canada." - The Journal of American History "Scholars and general readers alike will gain unique insights into the multifaceted character of Christianity in its New World environment. Nothing short of brilliant." - Harry S. Stout, Yale University "A new standard for textbooks on the history of North American Christianity." - James Turner, University of Notre Dame Mark Noll's A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada has been firmly established as the standard text on the Christian experience in North America. Now Noll has thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded his classic text to incorporate new materials and important themes, events, leaders, and changes of the last thirty years. Once again readers will benefit from his insights on the United States and Canada in this superb narrative survey of Christian churches, institutions, and cultural engagements from the colonial period through 2018.

This new edition of a bestselling textbook isolates key events that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity.

America's Book shows how the Bible decisively shaped American national history even as that history decisively influenced the use of Scripture.

An illuminating Look at who evangelicals are, how evangelicalism has changed over time, and How Evangelicalism Continues to Develop in surprising ways Book jacket.

A comprehensive history of worldwide evangelicalism in the later 19th century.

Religion has been a powerful political force throughout American history. When race enters the mix the results have been some of our greatest triumphs as a nation - and some of our most shameful failures. This book traces the explosive political effects of the religious intermingling with race.

Fundamentalism and American Culture has long been considered a classic in religious history, and to this day remains unsurpassed. Now available in a new edition, this highly regarded analysis takes us through the full history of the origin and direction of one of America's most influential religious movements. This new edition brings the story of American fundamentalism up through the end of the Trump administration. A new concluding chapter reflects onthese intriguing developments in light of the earlier history.