The Old Religion in a New World: the History of North American Christianity.

By Mark A. Noll. Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002. 340 pp.

Mark Noll, McManus Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, has written extensively on the subject of Christianity in America. In 1992, he produced a comprehensive textbook on the subject, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada. In 2002, he composed this new, shorter work, The Old Religion in a New World, in which he presents a chronological overview and an interpretive analysis of North American Christianity for curious students and lay readers. This latest book highlights lights "aspects of North American Christianity that set it apart from patterns of religious experience and organization more common in historic European Christendom" (p. x).

The book includes an introduction, seven narrative chapters, four thematic chapters, a short afterword, and two appendices. In the narrative chapters, Noll traces chronologically the development of United States from the colonial years up to the last years of the twentieth century. This overview included a look at the First and Second Great Awakenings, the separation of church and state, the diversity of the American religious landscape, the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement, and the influence of tumultuous political and social events of the 1960s and 1970s on Christianity.

The themes Noll addresses are theology, Christianity in Canada and Mexico, the fate of the European Lutheran and Catholic traditions, and day-to-day spirituality and the Bible. His appendices contain statistical information on church membership and its regional distribution in the United States and Canada and a chronology of significant events. Noll's bibliography lists some five hundred books and includes the most recent scholarship. Given the vast amount of materials used, Noll's writing is demonstrative of his exceptional ability to synthesize information and present it in a clear, accessible manner.

Noll once again has provided a well-written, thoroughly researched summary of Christianity in America. His treatment of the numerous diverse denominations and religious movements is balanced and fair. Regarding the role of Baptists in America, Noll skillfully wove into his narrative their work in revivals, contributions to religious liberty, and dominance in the South. He mentions notable Baptists such as Booker T. Washington and Isaac Backus. Noll also gives attention to notable Baptists in his chapter on the recent past, including Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter, and Jerry Falwell. Noll offers a brief explanation of the denominational controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention. He, of course, could not include each Baptist leader or discuss all Baptist contributions and activities; therefore a few significant personalities, including John Leland, and several significant Baptist happenings, including the Baptist disagreement over slavery and the resulting formation of the Southern Baptist Convention, are not discussed. Despite a few minor oversights, Noll's book is an excellent resource for Baptists. He has provided Baptists the opportunity to understand their history within the greater context of American Christianity.--Reviewed by Pamela Durso, associate director, Baptist History and Heritage Society.