Liberalism without Illusions: Renewing an American Christian Tradition

Selected Bibliography

 193 Selected Bibliography Primary Sources Choosing a list of primary sources for American Christian liberalism depends, in large measure, upon one’s interests. What I have presented here is a cross section of significant primary (and in some cases secondary) works on Christian liberalism, especially corresponding to the historical and theological themes discussed in chapters 2 through 5 in this volume. While not an exhaustive bibliography, it can serve as a good overview of liberalism’s role in the history of American Christianity, as well as a useful guide for further study by students , scholars, and church leaders. Early to Middle Nineteenth Century (American Foundations) One of the best starting points for understanding the rise of American theological liberalism is Sydney Ahlstrom and Jonathan Carey’s anthology, An American Reformation: A Documentary History of Unitarian Christianity (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1985). The book contains primary sources from the major figures associated with early New England Unitarianism, including William Ellery Channing and Henry Ware (whose appointment to the faculty of Harvard Divinity School in 1805 was a catalyst to the founding of Andover Seminary). If any theologian deserves the label of being the father of American liberalism , it is Horace Bushnell. Yet as one scholar noted, Bushnell tends to be a figure that more people have read about than to have actually read. Before reading Bushnell, a reader might first want to consult Robert Bruce Mullin’s biography, The Puritan as Yankee: A Life of Horace Bushnell (Grand 194 Liberalism without Illusions Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), to appreciate Bushnell’s historical context and the nuances of his thought. Two of Bushnell’s most important books are Nature and the Supernatural (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,1858), and Christian Nurture (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,1860). These works reflect upon key concepts critical to the later rise of American liberalism , specifically, the metaphorical nature of theological language and a mediating view of Christianity. Mid- to Late Nineteenth Century (Theological Transitions, “New Theology” Liberalism) After Bushnell, Theodore Munger represents perhaps the most wellknown representative of what was called “the New Theology.” A good overview of his thought can be found in his book, The Freedom of Faith (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1883). Munger’s work paralleled many other prominent ministers of that era who were widely published in their lifetimes, including George Gordon and Newman Smyth. William R. Hutchison’s work The Modernist Impulse in American Protestantism (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976) remains a superlative treatment of liberalism’s late nineteenth-century rise, especially its shift from churches to the academy. An anthology that shows useful connections between various strands of nineteenth-century liberalism and the legacies of the social gospel is Ronald White and Charles Howard Hopkins, eds., The Social Gospel: Religion and Reform in Changing America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1976). Daniel Day Williams’ account of liberalism’s ascendancy at Andover Seminary in the 1880s, The Andover Liberals: A Study in American Theology (New York: King’s Crown Press, 1941), provides readers a view, in microcosm, of liberalism ’s ascendancy within a seminary that prided itself as caretaker of an earlier New England Calvinist heritage. Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century (Evangelical and Modernist Liberalism) Although scholars frequently differentiate between evangelical and modernist schools of liberalism, many figures within these traditions often shared strong affinities with one another. Of all the church leaders associated with the rise of Christian liberalism at the end of the nineteenth century, few could match the impact of William Newton Clarke. His major work, An Outline of Christian Theology (New York: Charles Scribner ’s Sons, 1898), represents a summation of key tenets of evangelical Selected Bibliography 195 liberalism’s beliefs in God, Christ, the atonement, and the nature of Christian mission that guided many liberal movements well into the twentieth century. The period around the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is frequently seen as a time of theological schism between Christian conservatives and liberals. Two works written by liberals that give the reader a unique glimpse into this historical period are Washington Gladden, Recollections (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1909), and Gaius Glenn Atkins, Religion in Our Times (New York: Round Table Press, 1932). These books recount some of the major heresy incidents of the late nineteenth century , as well as how liberalism developed on both an institutional and, to a degree, a popular level in American Protestantism. Although Shailer Mathews would be...