Randall Balmer has narrated 2 audiobooks on Listento.it by 1 author. The most-rated is Solemn Reverence.
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
Summary
Randall Balmer's Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory is an insightful and engaging journey into the world of conservative Christians in America. Originally published 25 years ago and the basis for an award-winning PBS documentary, this timely new edition arrives just as recent elections have left an ever-growing number of secular Americans wondering exactly how the other half thinks. From Oregon to Florida, and from Texas to North Dakota, Balmer offers an immensely readable tour of the highways and byways of American evangelicalism. We visit a revival meeting in Florida, an Indian reservation in the Dakotas, a trade show for Christian booksellers, and a fundamentalist Bible camp in the Adirondacks. For this fourth edition, Balmer adds two chapters, one on the phenomenally popular "Painter of Light", Thomas Kinkade, and one on Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life. Through the eyes of these and other people Balmer meets on his journeys, we arrive at a more accurate and balanced understanding of an abiding tradition that, as the author argues, is both rich in theological insights and mired in contradictions. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory offers listeners a genuine insight into the appeal that the evangelicals movement holds for thousands of Americans.
©1989, 1993, 2000, 2006 Oxford University Press, Inc. (P)2015 Audible Inc.
Solemn Reverence
Summary
"A slender but thoroughly argued case for reinforcing the wall between church and state.... A stern warning that those who push for the intrusion of religion into public life do so at the peril of both." (Kirkus Reviews) The First Amendment to the US Constitution codified the principle that the government should play no role in favoring or supporting any religion, while allowing free exercise of all religions (including unbelief). More than two centuries later, the results from this experiment are overwhelming: The separation of church and state has shielded the government from religious factionalism, and the United States boasts a diverse religious culture unmatched anywhere in the world. In Solemn Reverence, Randall Balmer, one of the premier historians of religion in America, reviews both the history of the separation of church and state as well as the various attempts to undermine that wall of separation. Despite the fact that the First Amendment and the separation of church and state has served the nation remarkably well, he argues, its future is by no means assured.
©2021 Randall Balmer (P)2021 Truth to Power