The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805 - 1900
As the first entry in a projected three-volume series on  American liberal Christianity, this masterfully written work  offers a biographical narrative of the 19th-century figures who,  while influenced by English and German ideas, shaped an  indigenous theology. Writers such as William E. Channing, Ralph  Waldo Emerson, Horace Bushnell, Henry Ward Beecher, Elizabeth  Cady Stanton, Charles Briggs, and Borden Parker Bowne are all  featured here. These thinkers developed modernist schools that  sought to find a middle ground between orthodoxy and  rationalism, claims Dorrien (The Barthian Revolt in Modern  Theology). A significant feature is the author's coverage of the  divinity schools at Harvard, Boston, Yale, and Chicago  universities; surprisingly, he finds the most consistent  theological liberalism at Boston University. He also describes  the controversies these liberals engendered in the churches and  the resulting heresy trials. Highly recommended for public and  academic libraries.AJames A. Overbeck, Atlanta-Fulton P.L., GACopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.