tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post549010862101662139..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: What Would Jesus Read?Paul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-14542666760853395372015-05-20T21:46:17.023-06:002015-05-20T21:46:17.023-06:00Elesha, I know your question was for Kyle but I th...Elesha, I know your question was for Kyle but I thought I'd jump in since I've had a chance to read the book as well. I think your description has it about right: both Smith and Hedstrom are usuing similar concepts, particularly the notion of middlebrow religious reading. But Hedstrom connects those notions to liberal Protestantism and institutions like the Religious Book Club, aiming to trace change over time within the frame of liberal Protestantism and its relationship with American culture. Smith, on the other hand, suggests that the middlebrow reading habits (pragmatic, therapeutic, etc) transcended liberal Protestantism and in fact can be found among nearly all religious traditions and theological persusasions. And, rather than the change-over-time angle, Smith structures her book as a series of case studies (stretching from the social gospel novels in the late-nineteenth-century, to more recent fare like Da Vinci Code and Left Behind), showing how in disparate historical moments and communities, middlebrow religious reading habits were used. In terms of content overlap, it is heaviest in their treatment of the 1920s. Both Smith and Hedstrom cover Bruce Barton, the Religious Books Club, etc. Smith also copiously cites Hedstrom in that section. But other than the 1920s overlap, and a bit of post-WWII overlap (both bring Fosdick and Leibman in for ananlysis), they are working with different material. Smith, for example, skips over the 1930s and WWII, both of which are major areas of analysis for Hedstrom.Paul Putzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03368132863337360831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-36902551815544089512015-05-20T09:49:11.395-06:002015-05-20T09:49:11.395-06:00Welcome, Kyle, and thanks for this helpful review!...Welcome, Kyle, and thanks for this helpful review! Could you put Smith's book in dialogue with Matt Hedstrom's Rise of Liberal Religion? Smith looks at a wider range of books but perhaps comes to similar conclusions about the therapeutic and pragmatic uses of religious books. Eleshahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03764991021577652939noreply@blogger.com