THE DEPTH AND DESTINY OF WORK: ANAFRICAN THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION. ByNimi Warikobo. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008.Pp. v + 274. Paper, $29.95.

Warikobo undertakes an important project in this bookand executes it well. The book offers perspectives on whathe calls the “ontological underpinnings” of the terms inwhich work is conceived and its meaning is articulated.Warikobo carries this out by examining the telos of work ina global context and a relational context that he describes asdepth. Drawing from Kalabari concepts, Warikobo exploreswork as divine creativity to which humans are invited toparticipate as individuals and communities in expandingand improving the cosmos. Warikobo writes with a socio-critical voice, so he also offers critical assessments of thosecapitalist perspectives on work that lack solidarity andresponsibility while promoting an isolation that precludesan I–Thou relationship. This book offers a rich discussion ofthemes like God, the nature of reality, community, person-hood, moral identity, human creativity, and globalizationand economic development. Warikobo draws from philo-sophical, ethical, and theological ideas from the Kalabaricontext, which emphasizes achieving self-transcendence aspart of being in communion with others in a system thatpromotes communality, participation, and recognition ofpossibilities. This book is a readable account that opensmany windows for reflection and offers several local ideasand ideals for further analysis.

Elias K. BongmbaRice University

READING OTHER-WISE: SOCIALLY ENGAGED BIB-LICAL SCHOLARS READING WITH THEIR LOCALCOMMUNITIES. Edited by Gerald O. West. Atlanta, GA:Society for Biblical Literature, 2007. Pp. v + 170. Paper,$24.95.

West and the authors reflect on reading the Bible byscholars and “ordinary” readers, people who read the biblefrom a non-scholarly perspective. The book is a scholarlyprobing of a socially engaged collaborative reading of textsthat underscores the contextual realities of the readers. Theauthors discuss Bible reading in a variety of social locations,offering an interpretive perspective that considers popularculture, poverty, urban and rural dwellers, and those wholive on the margins. Among the many biblical and localscenarios discussed, the story of Hagar is interpreted differ-ently by women who sympathize with Sarah and those whosympathize with Hagar. Looking at the text from a non-scholarly perspective reveals that the readers of a text canfocus on different issues such as marital, sexual, and thepolitics of mothering. Readers also draw from the text ideasabout global economic and migration issues. The groupengaged in collaborative readings is described by Kahl as“intuitive readers,” who depend on one another to decipherthe meaning of the text. The scholars provide new and com-

pelling ways of reading the Bible that all interested in theplace of the Bible today should explore and embrace.

Elias K. BongmbaRice University

The Americas: Central andSouth AmericaTHE HISTORY AND POLITICS OF LATIN AMERI-CAN THEOLOGY. By Mario Aguilar. 3 volumes. London:SCM/Canterbury Press, 2008. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2008. Pp. Vol. I, vi + 218; Vol. II, viii + 248;Vol. III, viii + 232. $45.00 each.

Professor M. Aguilar has provided students and scholarsof Latin American theology with a comprehensive yetconcise history of the subject, specifically as to how it isrelated to the political. This is achieved through focusing onthe emergence of varied forms of liberation theology fromthe 1950s through to the present. The first volume sets outthe parameters of the study, looking first at the ecclesialtheologies of E. Dussel, G. Gutiérrez, and M. Bonino; thetheological challenges confronted in the 1980s; and thefuture challenges and perspectives. The second volume, sub-titled “Theology and Civil Society,” takes the same threefolddivision as it examines the gross human rights abusesduring the twentieth century. The third volume, subtitled “ATheology at the Periphery,” focuses on the fringes of societywhere, typically, liberation theologies have found their loca-tion, and, rather than tracing individual theologians, trackssome themes that remain to be explored in the ongoinghistory of Latin America as a continent and as individualnations. An important survey and admirable synthesis of thecentral themes of Latin American liberation theologies, thiswork offers insight into how theology can address changingsituations in the history of specific nations.

Iain S. MacleanJames Madison University

The Americas: USARELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE IN THE MIDDLEATLANTIC REGION: THE FOUNT OF DIVERSITY.Edited by Randall Balmer and Mark Silk. Walnut Creek, CA:Alta Mira Press, 2006. Pp. 178. Paper, $21.95.

This work considers the phenomenon of religious plu-ralism in America through the lens of historical geography,that is, by considering it in that area of the country that hadthe greatest diversity in early America, the mid-Atlanticregion comprised of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Penn-sylvania, and Maryland. As such, it provides a contemporarysnapshot of the religious makeup of the region. Chapter 1provides an overview of the contemporary religious break-down along lines of race/ethnicity, country of origin,income/education, and state-by-state comparison, throughthe year 2000. Subsequent chapters look at the current

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status and makeup of the “major” American traditions: Prot-estantism, Catholicism, and Judaism. Beyond providing astatistical measure of these traditions, each chapter narratesa brief historical trajectory of these traditions. They alsoaddress the contemporary cultural and political influencesexerted by these traditions. The concluding chapter does thesame for immigrant religious traditions stemming fromLatin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. The value of thiswork is in the bringing together of a broad array of demo-graphic information on the region’s religious communities.The liability for such a study is that the information canquickly become dated, particularly when it comes to prog-nostication. Beyond this, while certainly helpful as trendmonitors, the essays are simply too brief to provide substan-tive analysis of the data, or of the cultural and politicalramifications they have for the region.

Robert E. BrownJames Madison University

THE NEW ORLEANS URSULINES, 1727-1760. Editedby Emily Clark. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UniversityPress, 2007. Pp. ix + 138. Cloth, $16.95.

Clark’s volume is a compilation of five letters written in1727 by Sister Marie Madeleine Hachard to her father,recounting the mission work of twelve Ursuline nuns inFrench Louisiana. The contents of the letters detail geo-graphical features, native lifestyles, religious conditions, theharshness of colonial settlements, and the relationshipsforged between the nuns and French colonial officials. Inaddition, the letters champion the order’s work amongCreole children, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans.Augmenting the letters is Clark’s valuable introduction,which examines the nuns’ control over their own financesand their participation in public processions with maleclergy, atypical experiences among colonial women. Inshort, Clark masterfully balances the missionary zealembodied in the letters with a discussion of the Ursulines’imperial contributions. To be sure, as agents of empire, thenuns welcomed the opportunity to promote French interestsabroad. Ursuline efforts to introduce discipline over themorals and lifestyles of subject peoples helped guarantee astable social order. Their unabashed involvement in slave-holding provided a reliable workforce in the colony, andtheir collaboration with French officials contributed to thestrengthening of Louisiana’s infrastructure. It is this moreinclusive profile, balancing both benevolence and empire,that contributes significantly to our understanding of colo-nial Catholic literature and history.

A. J. Scopino, Jr.Central Connecticut State University

CHRISTIANITY AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. ByHugh Heclo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,2007. Pp. ix + 299. $18.95.

This volume contains a revised version of Heclo’s 2006Tocqueville Lectures at Harvard University, along with

responses from M. J. Bane, M. Kazin, and A. Wolfe. Hecloargues that Christianity (not “religion in general”) helpedcreate American democracy by promoting a “Great Dénoue-ment” that ensured political freedom for the governmentfrom religious authorities and religious freedom for indi-viduals and groups. American Christianity’s pluralism andits focus on individual liberty encouraged these “twin tolera-tions,” according to Heclo. His essay focuses on the earlyrepublic and on the post-1960 period, when the alliancebetween Christianity and democracy began to “come apart.”As Kazin points out in his response, Heclo’s choice to elidenearly 150 years of history causes him to understate theconflict between Christianity and democracy in earlierperiods of American life. Both Bane and Wolfe highlight theways Heclo’s focus on Protestants obscures the more conten-tious relationship American Catholics have had with theirgovernment. But if Heclo’s generalizations overstate the con-sensus among Christians, and between Christianity andAmerican democracy, his essay also benefits from a broadview. Heclo adds yet another voice to the vast chorus exhort-ing social scientists and historians to account for religion’sinfluence in American life, and he provides those scholarswith a rich piece of writing outlining broad contours ofChristian influence on American political development.

Seth DowlandDuke University

THEM THAT BELIEVE: THE POWER ANDMEANING OF THE CHRISTIAN SERPENT-HANDLING TRADITION. By Ralph W. Hood, Jr. and W.Paul Williamson. Berkeley: University of California Press,2008. Pp. xvi + 301. Cloth, $60.00; paper, $24.95.

Hood and Williamson’s book represents over fifteenyears of research among the Pentecostal serpent-handlingchurches of the Appalachian region. In addition to writingthis book, they have also established the Hood–WilliamsonResearch Archives, which houses their extensive data on thesubject. Employing quantitative and qualitative methods ofsociology, psychology, history, and anthropology, their eth-nography provides a multifaceted and comprehensive viewof the serpent-handling tradition. From biological explana-tions of snakes, to an analysis of church music, to the historyof Pentecostalism, to an investigation of near-death experi-ences, Hood and Williamson attempt to detail every aspect ofthis tradition, arguing that handling serpents is a legitimatereligious practice that has all too often been considered ille-gitimate or just plain bizarre. The authors seem to feel that itis their job to justify serpent handling to the academic world,and perhaps with good reason because there have been pastscholars who have maligned the tradition. Yet, in an effort todefend snake handlers, Hood and Williamson are rarelywilling to let their analysis go beyond what snake handlerssay about themselves. With much breadth and little depth,this book takes snake handlers literally at their word, inthe same way that snake handlers take the Bible literally.

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Unfortunately, such literal interpretations forgo the interest-ing in favor of the obvious.

Lauren Davis GrayFlorida State University

THE WORD AND ITS WITNESS: THE SPIRITUAL-IZATION OF AMERICAN REALISM. By Gregory S.Jackson. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2009.Pp. xiv + 409; illustrations. Cloth, $80.00; paper, $29.00.

This book is a timely reexamination of the relationshipbetween religion and literature in American history, asubject that is making a comeback in academic circles aftera prolonged absence in recent decades. Jackson, drawingupon his training in departments of English and AmericanStudies, argues convincingly that the innovations of aes-thetic realism emerged as much from evangelical Protestantheuristics as from secular ones. In observing the epistemo-logical continuities between spiritual and empirical forms ofpedagogical realism, this study seeks to locate America’shomiletic tradition (the history of which runs from thesermons of Jonathan Edwards and Henry Ward Beecherthrough nineteenth-century literary and visual realism tothe recent video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces) at theheart of American popular culture and media. Jackson’s sec-tions on the Social Gospel movement and C. M. Sheldon inparticular lend compelling evidence to his assertion that aProtestant hermeneutic courses throughout Americanrealism. This is a theoretically astute, well-researched, andultimately satisfying piece of scholarship. Jackson’s ambi-tious work will complement that of recent scholars in reli-gious studies, such as T. Fessenden, J. L. Modern, and others,who, in the last few years, have been arguing that Americansecularism is often just Protestantism under another name.

Daniel C. DillardFlorida State University

PARADE OF FAITHS: IMMIGRATION AND AMERI-CAN RELIGION. By Jenna Weissman Joselit. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2008. Pp. xi + 121. $12.95.

This volume on immigration and religion in the UnitedStates features case studies highlighting similarities anddifferences in the experiences of American immigrantssince the sixteenth century. Joselit convincingly argues thatimmigration changed the meaning of religion, both for immi-grant populations and for the United States. She brings tolight the link among social climate, political ideologies, andimmigrant communities’ versions of religious traditions orcustoms. Helpful features include excerpts from historicaldocuments at the end of each chapter, a section of pictures,a chronology, and suggested further reading categorized byreligious tradition. The book lacks greater attention to howsociopolitical factors also influenced religious theology, aswell as discussions of the American religious context beforethe European settlers and the influence of the indigenouscommunities on these later religions. Indigenous religionsand peoples occupy a liminal space as both nonimmigrant

and, sometimes, “foreign.” In addition, the wide variety ofthe groups immigrating in the twentieth century demands atleast another chapter to explain more fully the complexitiesof the many religious experiences. Supplementary readingfor religious history courses and at seminaries, the book alsoattracts ethnic studies enthusiasts, as it underscores theintersection among race, religion, and social location.

Deborah Hearn-Chung GinAzusa Pacific University

ACTS OF CONSCIENCE: CHRISTIAN NONVIO-LENCE AND MODERN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.By Joseph Kip Kosek. Columbia Studies in ContemporaryAmerican History. New York: Columbia University Press,2009. Pp. xii + 352; illustrations. Cloth, $55.00.

Kosek tells the story of the history, challenges, andachievements of Christian nonviolence (and pacifism) in theUnited States from shortly before World War I until 1967.The narrative is readily accessible and peppered with directquotes from the chief actors, many associated with the Fel-lowship of Reconciliation, including A. J. Muste, RichardGregg, Norman Thomas, Kirby Page, Bayard Rustin, Rein-hold Niebuhr (featuring his betrayal of pacifism), and JamesFarmer. Twentieth-century Christian nonviolence involvedfascinating encounters with Woodrow Wilson, Gandhi, labormovements, World War II, women’s suffrage and equality,Japanese internment; seductive temptations from Marxistanalyses, socialism, communism, international politics,realism, and unlikely successes in the American civil rightsmovements. With violence viewed as the problem of the twen-tieth century, liberal cosmopolitan Christians, appealing tothe life and teachings of Jesus, responded with absolute paci-fism, in some instances, and a pragmatic Gandhian nonvio-lence directed to effective social change in others. Shakycoalitions were formed, and principled and interpersonalcontroversies abound. Gandhi’s successes in India, trans-lated by Richard Gregg into a pragmatic nonviolent strategy,became both a practical model and an aspirational vision.Taking advantage of media coverage, the Christian nonvio-lents used acts of conscience as public performance (e.g.,conscription resistance, sit-ins, boycotts, marches) to stopviolence and disempower injustice.

William J. HawkJames Madison University

AMERICAN RELIGIOUS DEMOCRACY: COMINGTO TERMS WITH THE END OF SECULAR POLI-TICS. By Bruce Ledewitz. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007.Pp. vii + 242. $49.95.

Bruce Ledewitz contributes to the ongoing conversationon the relationship between religion and politics in contem-porary American life. He argues that in recent times, thepolitical climate of the United States has become increas-ingly religious in its orientation. More specifically, he makesthe claim that America’s once dominant secular democracyhas been in steady decline and is giving way to a form of

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democracy shaped by religious peoples with overtly reli-gious motivations and agendas. Ledewitz’s book attempts tomap the various dynamics of this new religio-political land-scape by addressing the perennial questions that surroundthe role of religion in the nation’s public sphere. Althoughacademically rigorous and clearly written, Ledewitz’s narra-tive does contain a noticeable flaw. He relies too heavily onpolitical theory and constitutional law, and does not payenough attention to the gradual historical changes in Ameri-can politics and American religion throughout the nine-teenth and twentieth centuries that set the stage for a“religious democracy” to emerge in the twenty-first century.In other words, his analysis seems to lack a solid historicalgrounding. Regardless of this apparent shortcoming, Lede-witz offers readers an engaging and thought-provokingaccount of the strong bond between religion and politics inmodern American culture.

Jonathan W. OlsonFlorida State University

IMMIGRANT FAITHS: TRANSFORMING RELI-GIOUS LIFE IN AMERICA. Edited by Karen I. Leonard,Alex Stepick, Manuel A. Vásquez, and Jennifer Holdaway.Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2006. Pp. 259. Cloth, $65.00;paper, $31.95.

Although the United States has long been a land ofimmigrants, the past half-century has witnessed great ethnicdiversity among immigrants. In addition to the usual eco-nomic, political, and social factors motivating immigration,there are new cultural, linguistic, and religious factors aswell. This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines theinteraction between religion and immigration from a varietyof perspectives: anthropology, history, sociology, as wellas religious studies. Correspondingly varied are the eightcase studies in this volume: Baptist outreach to African-Americans in North Carolina and Chinese immigrants inOregon in the late nineteenth century; the amazing career ofthe Cape Verdean immigrant, Daddy Grace (1881?–1960);the spirituality of Okinawan Americans; the preservation ofethnic identity by Korean Protestants and Indian Hindus; theflexibility of Cambodians in combining Buddhism and Chris-tianity; transnational religious ties exemplified by Chineseimmigrants from Fuzhou; the ever-fascinating practice ofvodou by Haitian immigrants; and the need of Mexicanimmigrants for a church where they “feel at home” as well assupport in their struggle for civil rights. Bookending theseeight studies are a discussion of the contribution of religiousstudies to immigration studies (Stepick) and the impact ofimmigration studies on religious studies (Vásquez). Cumu-latively considered, these studies highlight the pliable andpragmatic understandings of religion, point out transna-tional religious networks, and emphasize religion’s role inpreserving immigrants’ languages and cultural continuity.

John T. FordThe Catholic University of America

HONORING ELDERS: AGING, AUTHORITY ANDOJIBWE RELIGION. By Michael D. McNally. New York:Columbia University Press, 2009. Pp. 400. $84.50.

McNally’s book is a study of age as a source of powerand knowledge among Elders of the Anishinaabe. Settingaside the bulk of anthropological research, which posits thatthe authority of elders derives from dream power, McNally’sinsightful analysis shifts the focus back to age, arguing thatage is just as relevant for authority as shamanic dreampower. Using Bucko’s understanding of tradition as a dialec-tic between past and present, McNally examines the roles ofAnishinaabe Elders in shaping community identity and tra-dition. Beyond using this dialectic to argue that tradition iswhat Elders say it is, McNally never explores whether theAnishinaabe people would recognize or agree with this dia-lectical understanding of tradition or understand it differ-ently. Fortunately, he avoids the trap of romanticizingeldership by showing that their authority is not absolute, asdemonstrated by the intergenerational tensions that arisewhen the elder’s understanding of the world fails to changeto reflect modern developments. Methodologically, this bookprovides an excellent combination of archival research, eth-nography, and fieldwork with traditional Aboriginal sourcesof knowledge such as oral tradition and storytelling toprovide some exciting observations and research. This bookis too focused for use in the classroom but will make anexcellent resource for scholars studying aging, eldership, orthe Anishinaabe people.

Shelly E. V. NixonUniversity of Ottawa

THE SOUTH’S TOLERABLE ALIEN: ROMANCATHOLICS IN ALABAMA AND GEORGIA, 1945-1970. By Andrew S. Moore. Baton Rouge: Louisiana StateUniversity Press, 2007. Pp. xii + 216. Cloth, $35.00.

Moore’s work examines the struggle of the CatholicChurch in Alabama and Georgia to desegregate in the post-World War II era. Existing on the margins of social accept-ability, by the 1940s southern Catholics edged toward themainstream through civic involvement. When the churchdeclared segregation a moral wrong in 1958, northernpriests, nuns, and laity journeyed to the south to challengesegregation. Their actions threatened to destroy the stablebut tenuous relationship that southern Catholics maintainedwith their Protestant neighbors. After a tumultuous period,by 1970, the church had integrated its institutions. Moore’sbook provides an excellent account of how Catholics in twosouthern states approached the civil rights movement. Theseexperiences illustrate a gradualist position taken by bishopsand clergy, and a trenchant resistance to bridge the racialdivide on the part of the laity. Moore’s book confirms therecent findings of R. Bentley Anderson on Catholics in NewOrleans and Clive Webb on southern Jews: Irrespective ofreligion, white southerners overwhelmingly made alliancesor cooperated in some measure to maintain racial bound-aries. An excellent study, the book contributes to scholarly

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understanding of how the church struggled to garner socialacceptance and promoted the dismantling of Jim Crow.

A. J. Scopino, Jr.Central Connecticut State University

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN AMERICA: THE FIRSTAMENDMENT IN HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPO-RARY PERSPECTIVE. By Bruce T. Murray. Amherst: Uni-versity of Massachusetts Press, 2008. Pp. xvi + 213. Cloth$80; paper, $19.95.

Religious Liberty in America is written by a journalist forjournalists, students, and the general public. It is not a schol-arly investigation but a topically arranged conversationabout and foray into religious liberty issues. The text iscarried by quotes and anecdotes pertinent to the predomi-nantly religious temperament of Americans, the stereotypesof persons of religious faith, American civil religion, reli-gious tensions in the early colonies, conflicts over religion inthe public schools, President Bush’s faith-based initiatives,and the “wall of separation” in the Supreme Court. Quotesand observations from America’s founders (especially Jeffer-son and Madison), Alexis de Tocqueville, Supreme Courtopinions, M. Marty, and R. Bellah provide both the points ofdeparture and, in some instances, substantive gist on anumber of religion and government themes. The specificcontroversy involving the attempt to establish religion in thecolonies by John Winthrop and the toleration policy of RogerWilliams makes for interesting reading. The text is conver-sational, topical, and somewhat impressionistic, permittingthe reappearance of issues such as prayer in schools, “underGod” in the pledge, the Ten Commandments displayed in anAlabama courthouse, and scholarly opinions, especiallythose of C. C. Haynes and R. A. Sherrill. Religious studies andconstitutional scholars will find little new here; it is not forthem.

William J. HawkJames Madison University

THE NEW SHAPE OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY:HOW AMERICAN EXPERIENCE REFLECTSGLOBAL FAITH. By Mark A. Noll. Downers Grove, IL: IVPAcademic, 2009. Pp. 212. $25.00.

This book consists of three quite different sections.First, the “New Shape of World Christianity” is evident in thefact that at the beginning of the twentieth century over80 percent of Christians lived in Europe, Russia, and NorthAmerica; today, over 60 percent of Christians live in Africa,Asia, and Latin America. Second, the author argues that theway that Christianity developed in North America during thenineteenth century has been much more characteristic ofcontemporary world Christianity than the older forms ofEuropean Christendom; in other words, such Americanecclesial traits as volunteerism, evangelism, and denomina-tionalism have served as templates in the development ofThird World Christianity. The third section has three casestudies concerning the worldview of American evangelicals

in the nineteenth century, Korean Christians and Americanevangelical history, and East African evangelical revival.While each of the sections is well written and wellresearched—supported by ample data and illustrated byinteresting examples—the book as a whole is more a smor-gasbord than an integrated whole.

John T. FordThe Catholic University of America

FOUNDED BY FRIENDS: THE QUAKER HERITAGEOF FIFTEEN AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVER-SITIES. Edited by John W. Oliver, Charles L. Cherry, andCaroline L. Cherry. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2007.Pp. xxi + 290; illustrations. $38.50.

Following a brief introductory overview of Quakerinvolvement in American higher education, this book con-sists of historical profiles of fifteen Quaker colleges and uni-versities: Haverford, Guilford, Earlham, Swarthmore,Cornell, Wilmington, William Penn, Johns Hopkins, BrynMawr, George Fox, Whittier, Malone, Friends, Azusa Pacific,and Barclay. The individual histories are more narrativethan interpretive, but collectively, especially as they are con-textualized by the introductory and concluding essays, theygive a sense of how Quaker themes such as peace testimonyand social activism have shaped the evolution and characterof these institutions. The most appreciative and interestedaudience for this book will undoubtedly be those affiliatedwith the featured colleges and universities. It would be anexcellent addition to the libraries of these institutions, aswell as to public libraries and archival reference collectionsin the communities where they are located. Alumni/ae of theprofiled schools would likely also enjoy this volume.Depending on their specialties, scholars of American highereducation or Quaker history may find the book useful, espe-cially because each chapter includes endnotes, a bibliogra-phy, or a note about sources, but its relatively narrow focusplaces it outside the “must have” category for most libraryand personal collections.

Miranda BennettUniversity of Houston

THE FAITHFUL: A HISTORY OF CATHOLICS INAMERICA. By James M. O’Toole. Cambridge, MA: TheBelknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. Pp. 376.Cloth, $27.95.

O’Toole’s book seeks to broaden the discussion ofAmerican Catholicism beyond chronicles of the hierarchy toinclude discussions of the laity as well (the faithful of thebook’s title). This is an important project, and O’Toole is to beapplauded for undertaking it. Unfortunately, his reachseems to have exceeded his grasp, and the book is lesssatisfying than one might expect. O’Toole divides his subjectinto six eras, allotting a chapter to each. These periods arethematic rather than strictly chronological, and he is neverexplicit about where one period ends and another begins.Further, O’Toole argues that two themes have shaped the

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American Catholics’ experiences: reconciling themselves tothe “American experience” and their relationship with theVatican. While O’Toole is undoubtedly correct that these twothemes have shaped American Catholic identity to a certaindegree, he undermines his purpose by making so much ofthe book about Catholics’ interaction with the Church hier-archy. In other words, instead of revising the traditionalnarrative of American Catholicism, O’Toole’s book actuallystrengthens it. These concerns notwithstanding, O’Toole’sbook would be useful for either undergraduate or graduateclasses in the history of American Catholicism provided, inboth cases, that it was supplemented by some of the otherfine books on American Catholicism.

Paul KahanSlippery Rock University

THE WORD OF THE LORD IS UPON ME: THE RIGH-TEOUS PERFORMANCE OF MARTIN LUTHERKING, JR. By Jonathan Rieder. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 2008. Pp. x + 394. Hardback, $29.95.

In an analysis of King’s rhetoric and based on thoroughresearch, Rieder offers a sociological interpretation that con-tributes an intriguing addition to King scholarship. Riederexplains how King grounded himself in the African-American community and lived his life in “blackness” basedon his speeches, sermons, and private conversations. Thebook reminds scholars of King’s real person, not the mytho-logical personage of modern memory. Rieder places this inthe context of King’s faith, demonstrating how the clergy-man employed his Christianity in all that he did, especiallyincorporating it into his public comments. Rieder is at hisbest when examining sermons and speeches with an eyetoward religion’s centrality to King’s ideology. Yet, thisvolume needs more historical background. In his coverage ofhow King employed the Exodus story, a historical overviewof its slave origins would better account for King’s use of it;Rieder only analyzes its twentieth-century context. Rieder’sthesis gets lost in simple storytelling or overviewing. Thereis a tension between white and black that plays out in thismanuscript, but the reader seldom can discern whetherRieder sees King’s immersion into this friction as positive ornegative.

David E. SettjeConcordia University Chicago

JOSEPH PRIESTLEY: SCIENTIST, PHILOSOPHER,AND THEOLOGIAN. Edited by Isabel Rivers and David L.Wykes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Pp. xii + 252.Hardback, $90.00.

Joseph Priestley (d.1804) is generally remembered fordiffering reasons in differing academic circles. He is remem-bered as a scientist who first described the properties ofoxygen and recognized carbon dioxide, and so invented sodawater. Yet, he was also a leading Unitarian minister andreformer who was infamous in his time for his radical politi-cal views. Indeed, his views were what forced him to flee

England and settle in the colonies, Pennsylvania to be spe-cific. This work, coedited by the two directors of the Dr.Williams Center for Dissenting Studies, is the center’s firstpublished work. It seeks to provide an overview, from allsources in the United Kingdom and the United States, ofPriestley’s contributions to chemistry, political philosophy,history, Unitarian theology, and religious philosophy. Theintroduction by the two coeditors is followed by seven chap-ters, each focusing on specific aspects of his life and work,and the final chapter is devoted to his decade in the UnitedStates. This is an excellent resource not only for informationon Priestley, but also for the state of current research on thesubject.

Iain S. MacleanJames Madison University

REPUBLICANISM, RELIGION, AND THE SOUL OFAMERICA. By Ellis Sandoz. Columbia: University of Mis-souri Press, 2006. Pp. xv + 230. Cloth, $44.95; paper, $24.95.

Sandoz’s book is part historical overview, part politicalphilosophy, and part jeremiad. The author, distinguishedprofessor at the Louisiana State University, provides anexamination of the ideological backgrounds and vision of theAmerican founders. This vision is mediated through thethought of political philosopher/scientist E. Voegelin. WhileSandoz provides an excellent survey of the various philo-sophical and theological foundations of important earlyAmerican elites, his chapters often seem unrelated or repeti-tive. Because of this, the main argument about “American-ism” gets lost in some of the middle chapters. In addition,some of his historical conclusions are questionable.Although Sandoz notes important scholarly works on thereligiosity of the founders and makes a strong case for theimpact of Protestant Christianity on early American thought,he often ignores (or disparages) the other conclusions ofsuch works. Sandoz makes a similar gloss in addressing theidea of “Americanism.” Although he argues for a unifiedconcept of “Americanism” in the early Republic, other his-torians have shown that many Americans had competingvisions of what “America” meant. This lack of historicalnuance plagues other parts of the work, making the bookimportant for its minor contributions and unsuccessful forits larger purposes.

Todd M. BrennemanVian, OK

THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS AFTER SEPTEMBER 11.Edited by Arvind Sharma. 4 volumes. Praeger Perspectives.Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009. Pp. Vol. I, x + 182; Vol. II, xii +282; Vol. III, xii + 257; Vol. IV, xii + 257. $400.00

This is a work that, in four volumes, gathers commen-tary from the world religions on the terror attack on theWorld Trade Center. This horrific event focused attention onreligion as a political and militant force, a dimension seem-ingly overlooked or ignored in an increasingly secularizedEurope and North America. A root source is perhaps the

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reaction of religious traditions precisely with the social andpolitical implications of such a Western modernity. This wasa major theme explored in the global congress on “TheWorld’s Religions after September 11,” held in 2006. Presen-tations from this congress have been selected and edited,gathered into four volumes addressing, in turn, the subjectsof “Religion, War, and Peace,” “Religion and Human Rights,”“The Interfaith Dimension,” and “Spirituality.” Each volumecontains contributions by Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu,and Buddhist scholars, each reexamining the tradition in thelight of September eleventh. Significant contributions comefrom immigrant ethnic communities in North America aswell as from Islamic scholars in Turkey and Lebanon.Though difficult to summarize, these volumes mark theprocess of reassessing religion as both private and public,personal and political, that needs to be faced more fully inthe West. A requirement for all libraries and for anyoneinterested in and examining the multiple relationshipsbetween religions and the political.

Iain S. MacleanJames Madison University

AMERICA’S SPIRITUAL UTOPIAS: THE QUESTFOR HEAVEN ON EARTH. By David Yount. Westport,CT: Praeger, 2008. Pp. vii + 166. $44.95.

In America’s Spiritual Utopias, D. Yount offers a descrip-tive look at a variety of utopian groups in American history.Readers are introduced to the beliefs and practices of com-munities such as Puritans, Quakers, Shakers, Oneida Perfec-tionists, Mormons, the Amish, and even the Catholic WorkerMovement founded in the mid-twentieth century. Yount’sthorough examination of these individual groups serves tobuttress his overall argument. Simply stated, he suggeststhat utopianism was the defining characteristic of Americanidentity in the past and remains so today. In his words, theutopian vision has become, in American culture at least, a“perennial quest” to make the world “better for all of us.”Lamenting the rise of individual mobility and the decline ofthe community, Yount concludes the book by championingthe return to, and mainstreaming of, a communal lifestylethat is grounded in an optimistic view of humanity and theworld. Herein lies the weakness of his narrative. In an effortto make communal life sound appealing, he works hard tounderscore the personal and social benefits that come withascribing to such a lifestyle. In doing so, he omits any dis-cussion of the blatant conflict and brutal violence that hasaccompanied the formation of many of these communitiesthroughout history. This limitation notwithstanding, Yountprovides an informative overview of American utopianismthat serves as a good reference for those interested inthe topic. For this reason, America’s Spiritual Utopias is ahelpful piece of scholarship for casual and academic readersalike.

Jonathan W. OlsonFlorida State University

South AsiaJAINA EPISTEMOLOGY IN HISTORICAL ANDCOMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. Edited and translatedby Piotr Balcerowicz. Second revised edition. Delhi: MotilalBanarsidass, 2008. Two volumes. Pp. xli + 548. 112. Rs.1,595.

This revised Indian edition of a study earlier publishedin Stuttgart (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001; Alt- und Neu-Indische Studien 53, 1 and 53, 2) is Indological philology ofthe highest caliber. Balcerowicz, a leading scholar of Jainphilosophy, presents a critical edition and English transla-tion of one of the foundational texts of Jain epistemology,Siddhasena’s Nyayavatara (which he dates to between 620and 800 CE), along with the first commentary on it,Siddharsi’s

�early tenth-century CE Vivrti

�. His edition is

based primarily on four manuscripts from Patan, as well astwo previous printed versions. He includes in his notes por-tions of Devabhadra’s c. 1150 CE

�Tippana. Balcerowicz

observes in his introduction that the Nyayavatara“opens. . . a new era in the history of Jaina epistemology,”because the author brings the theories of the BuddhistsDinnaga� ¯ and Dharmakırti into Jain philosophy. At the sametime, in terms of any contribution to the fields of logic andepistemology in India, more generally, “the work seems tolose its flavour of originality and novelty.” Despite thiscaveat, this impressive publication is an important contri-bution to both Jain studies and the history of Indianphilosophy.

John E. CortDenison University

TALES OF ATONEMENT. Edited and translated byWillem Bollée. Pandit Nathuram Premi Research Series, 28.Mumbai: Hindi Granth Karyalay, 2009. Pp. 112. Rs. 300.

For much of its first century, Western Indology wasclosely tied to comparative folklore studies, as scholars ofSanskrit and Prakrit in Europe and North America duringthe nineteenth and early twentieth centuries focused onthe great narrative texts of South Asia. This work was foun-dational for the field of comparative folklore studies. In thetwentieth century, Indological scholarship has moved awayfrom this focus, but a handful of scholars have kept thefield alive. In this volume, Bollée, one of the leading schol-ars of Prakrit and Jain literature outside of India, presentsnarrative material first collected by the Swiss Sanskritist E.Leumann (1859-1931) but never published. Bollée providesa meticulous critical edition and English translation of pas-sages from the commentary of Malayagiri (thirteenth c. CE)on the Svetambara Jain canonical Vyavahara Sutra alongwith its earlier commentarial levels of the Niryukti and

¯Bhasya�

. The Vyavahara is a mendicant discipline, and so,as Bollée notes, “not very lively.” To illustrate the mendi-cant rules, therefore, the commentators (and, presumably,before them, the oral teachers) included hundreds of

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