Getting Religion: Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama Obama

Written by Kenneth L. Woodward

Narrated by Peter Altschuler

"In this thoughtful book, Ken Woodward offers us a memorable portrait of the past seven decades of American life and culture. From Reinhold Niebuhr to Billy Graham, from Abraham Heschel to the Dali Lama, from George W. Bush to Hillary Clinton, Woodward captures the personalities and charts the philosophical trends that have shaped the way we live now." –Jon Meacham, author of Destiny and Power

Impeccably researched, thought-challenging and leavened by wit, Getting Religion, the highly-anticipated new book from Kenneth L. Woodward, is ideal perfect for readers 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 readers 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 books that changes the way Americans think about belief, behavior and belonging.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9780735285408

Reviews for Getting Religion

[meandmybooks-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This examination of American religious culture, from, as the title says, “the age of Eisenhower to the era of Obama” is much more personal than the title suggests, and very engaging. Kenneth L. Woodward was, as the cover also notes, Religion Editor of Newsweek magazine from 1964 to 2002, and his telling of the trends, events, and personalities in American religion during those years is based in large part on the stories he wrote for that magazine. In researching his stories he traveled the country, interviewing people like the Dalai Lama, Billy Graham, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, etc. – the major figures. He does a very thorough job covering the changes in the Roman Catholic church during those years (he is Catholic himself, and he makes clear that his own faith is important to him), and also the changes within mainline Protestant denominations, the growth of Evangelicalism, and various movements such as Liberation Theology, feminist theology, etc. Judaism gets a friendly but more cursory treatment, and Islam isn't covered. Still, what he covers he presents in a lively, anecdotal way that suggests that he and the reader are sitting comfortably together while he relates some of the best stories gathered over a long and interesting career.

Two minor complaints. One is limited to the format of my copy – an audiobook read by Peter Altschuler. Altschuler reads well, and he has a very pleasant voice, but his persona – the “folksy, slightly curmudgeonly grandpa” – is overkill here. Woodward opens his book with a paean to the 50s of his youth, an idyllic world in which Father knew best, the nuns were wise and kind, and kids were polite and hardworking, and that era remains his touchstone, a golden age of faith and family. Altschuler's manner, coupled with Woodward's nostalgic tone, can get to be a bit much. The second complaint is related to the first, but concerns the Epilogue. While I felt like Woodward could be excused for his lengthy reminiscence of his Catholic youth in Ohio, the Epilogue is an irritable tirade on the many failings of “kids today” which fails to offer any insights into either religion or culture, and which ends the book on an unfortunately sour note. If I had quit listening/reading when I got to the Epilogue I'd have ended up liking the book better. Still, for the most part this is enjoyable, and the sections on Movement Religion and Liberation Theology, topics about which I knew little, were particularly interesting.