Getting Religion: Faith, Culture & Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama
Written by Kenneth L. Woodward
Narrated by Peter Altschuler
5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Impeccably researched, thought-challenging and leavened by wit, Getting Religion, the highly-anticipated new audiobook from Kenneth L. Woodward, is perfect for listeners looking to understand how religion came to be a contentious element in 21st century public life.
Here the award-winning author blends memoir (especially of the postwar era) with copious reporting and shrewd historical analysis to tell the story of how American religion, culture and politics influenced each other in the second half of the 20th century. There are few people writing today who could tell this important story with such authority and insight. A scholar as well as one of the nation's most respected journalists, Woodward served as Newsweek's religion editor for nearly forty years, reporting from five continents and contributing over 700 articles, including nearly 100 cover stories, on a wide range of social issues, ideas and movements.
Beginning with a bold reassessment of the Fifties, Woodward's narrative weaves through Civil Rights era and the movements that followed in its wake: the anti-Vietnam movement; Liberation theology in Latin America; the rise of Evangelicalism and decline of mainline Protestantism; women's liberation and Bible; the turn to Asian spirituality; the transformation of the family and emergence of religious cults; and the embrace of righteous politics by both the Republican and Democratic Parties.
Along the way, Woodward provides riveting portraits of many of the era's major figures: preachers like Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell; politicians Mario Cuomo and Hillary Clinton; movement leaders Daniel Berrigan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Richard John Neuhaus; influential thinkers ranging from Erik Erikson to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross; feminist theologians Rosemary Reuther and Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza; and est impresario Werner Erhardt; plus the author's long time friend, the Dalai Lama.
For listeners interested in how religion, economics, family life and politics influence each other, Woodward introduces fresh a fresh vocabulary of terms such as "embedded religion," "movement religion" and "entrepreneurial religion" to illuminate the interweaving of the secular and sacred in American public life.
This is one of those rare audiobooks that changes the way Americans think about belief, behavior and belonging.
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Reviews for Getting Religion
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I picked up this book on account of the narrator; a thing I rarely do.
The book as well I liked very much. The author, as a reporter for Newsweek, describes five or so major religious occurrences of the past half century in their relation to the nation as a whole. although there may be a connection to either the causes or the results of these occurrences, one should listen without trying to hear a connection, as the author does not really make one. this can be seen as a positive as it leaves room for the readers own reflections without overlaying a theory, which however enlightened is nonetheless only a theory. This book is a personal view of the events.
Also, I personally found the lense through which the author shares his experience to be very congenial, and I ended up liking the author personally very much.
in conclusion, I read the book twice, which I also rarely do, and still feel I don't completely grasp the subject. there is much to think about.