1950: Crossroads of American Religious Life

By Robert S. Ellwood

Book Overview

The year 1950 saw the height of the postwar religious boom in America and also the depths of the Cold War. It was a year when religious enthusiasm and postwar affluence coexisted with anxiety about global communism and an ever-present nuclear threat. McCarthyism, the advent of the hydrogen bomb, and the onset of the Korean War provoked ardent and diverse responses from religious leaders and occasioned lively debate in flourishing religious journalism. Robert Ellwood's 1950 is a cultural time capsule, recovering the impetus for many of today's trends, remembering endings and beginnings, and documenting many other developments in American religious life of fifty years ago. It highlights the parallels and divergences between religious culture then and now.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0664258131
• ISBN13: 9780664258139
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Three hail Maries!

In his book, 1950: Crossroads of American Religious Life, Robert S. Ellwood writes about the religious revival that swept the country during the 1950's and it's relationship to the historical events of the time. Post war Americans were returning to their churches and synagogues, and attendance was up across the board. In fact, new members of Judaism, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism actually exceeded the real growth in the general population - Gloria in excélsis Deo. It was a time of great change, and organized religion was helping reshape American culture and preparing it for the challenges of a brand new future in the era of baby boomers, emerging technology, the Evil Empire and the hydrogen bomb. I found the book to be a very interesting read, and I am glad that I was around in the 1950's to witness some of those great changes. I give the book three Hail Maries

An important contribution to American religious history.

The 1950s saw new postwar religious booms in America, with the year being a focus on religion and communism alike. This provides a history of 1950 and shows how events of that year influence today's trends, providing a focus on the religious changes of the times. Essential for any studying American religious history.