HISPANIC SUMMER PROGRAM
XXI SESSION
JUNE 13-26, 2009
PERKINS SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
Dallas, Texas
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Consensus, Discord, and Diversity:
A History of Evangelicals and Liberals in the United States
Edwin David Aponte, Ph.D.
Vice President of Academic Affairs & Dean of the Seminary,
Professor of Religion and Culture
Lancaster Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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Course schedule
2:00-5:00 pm
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I. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an examination of the varieties of “mainline,” “evangelical,” “progressive,” and “liberal” Protestantism since the early nineteenth century through the present, and therefore is a specialized consideration of the history of Protestantism in the United States. The course will integrate historical and cultural studies and current concerns with the objective of providing a better understanding of the actual denominational, cultural, and theological traditions and alternatives, issues at stake, and the problems and possibilities for religious dialogue. Special attention will be given to the role of Latina/o Protestantism in Christianity in the U.S.A. Three semester hour credits.
II. GOALS OF THE COURSE
It is hoped that at the end of this course of study the student will be able to:
1. define in her/his own historical, cultural and social contexts expressions of U.S. Protestantism that go by names of evangelical, liberal, conservative, progressive, mainline, fundamentalist, as well as others categories.
2. identify events, themes, and personalities that helped shape the development of the dominant bipolar paradigm of U.S. American Protestantism.
3. discuss other expressions of Protestantism in the United States that do not neatly fit into the evangelical/liberal bipolar paradigm.
4. test alternative explanations for the nature and history of Protestantism in the United States since 1865 to the present.
5. articulate an understanding of Latina/o Protestantism within U.S. Protestantism.
III. REQUIREMENTS and GRADING CRITERIA
This course will be conducted as a seminar with a combination of lectures and informed class discussions in which it is expected that all will participate. Assigned readings must be read prior to each session to obtain the maximum benefit. Students will be expected to turn in all assignments on the due date scheduled. The following is a list of the required course assignments and expectations:
A. Pre-HSP Assignments
1. Write your own short definition of “evangelical” and “liberal” (about a paragraph for each). This does not require any prior research.
2. Read Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture, pp. 3-101.
3. Read all of Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism.
4. Begin to think about a topic for the research paper (see below).
B. Reflection and Response Papers
Students are to submit a reflection paper in response to one of the assigned readings for that day as indicate on the course schedule below. Each paper is to be one (1), but no more than two (2) typed pages in length maximum with one-inch margins. This is not a book review, but rather a synopsis of the student’s reaction to a particular work and to be the basis for in-class participation and discussion. Together these short papers account for 30% of the final grade. See course schedule for specific due dates.
C. Research Paper
The student will write a research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the professor. The research paper is to be 20-25 typewritten pages, double-spaced, style and format in accord with that in Kate L. Turabian, et al, Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations (1996). The research paper accounts for 30% of the final grade and is due no later than Friday, July 10, 2009.
D. In-class Presentation
This will be an in-class presentation on the student’s chosen topic for her/his research paper. Additional guidelines will be provided. The In-class Presentation accounts for 10% of final grade and will take place on Thursday June 25, 2009.
E. Class Participation
Attendance and informed class participation will account for 30% of the final grade.
F. Doctoral (Ph.D., Th.D., D.Min.) Additional Assignments
Doctoral students have additional readings and the research paper the submit (see above) is to be 30-35 typewritten double-spaced pages.
G. Penalties for Late Work
If the student has difficulties in meeting a deadline, please discuss this with the professor. Unexcused late submission will result in a half-grade decrease for each day late.
IV. MANDATORY READINGS
A. Required for all students:
Aponte, Edwin David, ed. Consensus, Discord, and Diversity: Readings in the History of Evangelical and Liberal Protestantism in the United States. Excerpts from DRAFT book, under consideration for publication. Additional instructions will be given as to how to obtain this collection.
Henry, Carl F. H. The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2003. ISBN: 080282661X
Maldonado, Jr., David, ed. Protestantes/Protestants: Hispanic Christianity within Mainline Traditions. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999. ISBN: 0-687-05509-1
Marsden, George M. Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925, Revised Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 0195300475
B. Additional Required Text for Doctoral Students
Sánchez-Walsh, Arlene. Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
V. RECOMMENDED READINGS
These are NOT required but may be helpful for pursuing the subject matter of the course beyond the HSP. See also the bibliography at the end of this syllabus.
Barton, Paul. Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists in Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.
Conde-Frazier, Elizabeth. Hispanic Bible Institutes: A Community of Theological Construction. Scranton, PA: University of Scranton Press, 2005.
Espinosa, Gaston and Mario T. Garcia, ed. Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture. Duke University Press, 2008.
Machado, Daisy L. Of Borders and Margins: Hispanic Disciples in Texas, 1888-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Martínez, Juan Francisco. Sea La Luz: The Making of Mexican Protestantism in the American Southwest, 1829-1900. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2006.
Watt, David Harrington. Bible-Carrying-Christians: Conservative Protestants and Social Power. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
VI. COURSE SCHEDULE
Dates / Assignments and Session TopicsPre-HSP / 1. Read Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture, pp. 11-54; For Doctoral Students read pp. 11-140
2. Read Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, pp. 1-89
3. Write your own definition of “evangelical” and “liberal” (about a paragraph for each)
Monday
June 15, 2009 / Topic: Introduction to the Course
· Review of the Syllabus
· What is meant by “evangelical” and “liberal”?
· Historical Contexts
· Nineteenth Century Evangelical Protestantism in the U.S.A.
Readings: Aponte Reader, “Blessed Assurance,” “O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee,” “The Christian Century,”
Written Assignment due today: Share your own definition of evangelical and liberal (one page)
Tuesday June 16 / Topic: Emergence of Parties and New Waves in U.S. American Protestantism
Readings: Aponte Reader, “Pentecost Has Come,” “Lift Every Voice;”
Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 21-37
Doctoral Readings: Sánchez-Walsh, Latino Pentecostal Identity, pp. 1-47
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #1
Wednesday June 17 / Topic: Battle Lines Are Drawn: The Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversy
Readings: Aponte Reader, “Introduction” and “Preface” from the Scofield Reference Bible, 1909, 1917; Selections from The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, 1909
Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 38-59
Doctoral Reading: Sánchez-Walsh, Latino Pentecostal Identity, pp. 48-86
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #2
Thursday June 18 / Topic: Battle Lines Are Drawn: The Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversy
Readings: Aponte Reader, Fosdick, “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” 1922; Machen, “Introduction” from Christianity and Liberalism, 1923
Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 60-84
Doctoral Reading: Sánchez-Walsh, Latino Pentecostal Identity, pp. 87-131
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #3
Friday
June 19 / Topic: Latina/o Protestants and Protestant Establishments
Readings: Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 85-103
Doctoral Readings: Sanchez-Walsh, Latino Pentecostal Identity, pp. 132-153
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #4
Monday
June 22, 2009 / Topic: Other Avenues: Neo-Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, Racial/Ethnic Communities
Readings: Aponte Reader, “Why ‘Christianity Today’?”; Ockenga, “Foreword” in Harold Lindsell, The Battle for the Bible, 1976
Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 107-139
Doctoral Readings: Sánchez-Walsh, Latino Pentecostal Identity, pp. 154-194
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #5
Tuesday
June 23 / Topic: Questions of Mainline, Mainstream, Identity, and Calling
Readings: Aponte Reader, King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,”; Aponte Reader, “El Grito de Riverside”/ “The Riverside Manifesto,”
Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 140-173
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #6
Wednesday
June 24 / Topic: Questions of Mainline, Mainstream, Identity, and Calling
Readings: Aponte Reader, Perkins, “Playing the Grace Card.”; Aponte Reader, Lovin, “Justice and Restraint”
Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 177-235
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #7
Thursday
June 25 / Topic: Re-Forming the Center?
In-Class Presentations on Paper Topics
Friday
June 26
One hour in morning / Topic: Re-Forming the Center & Final Ruminations
Readings: Maldonado, Protestantes/Protestants, pp. 293-303
Written Assignment due today: Reflection & Response Paper #8
Post- HSP / Readings: Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture, pp. 141-257
Research Paper Due no later than Friday, July 10, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.
The paper may be submitted as an e-mail attachment. Papers may also be mailed to the following address:
Dr. Edwin David Aponte
Lancaster Theological Seminary
555 West James Street
Lancaster, PA 17603
VII. Selected Bibliography
Ammerman, Nancy Tatom. Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987.
Andrews, Dee E. The Methodists and Revolutionary America, 1760-1800: The Shaping of an Evangelical Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Aponte, Edwin David and Miguel A. De La Torre, ed. Handbook of Latina/o Theologies. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2006.
Baer, Hans A. The Black Spiritual Movement: A Religious Response to Racism. Second edition. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2001.
Baer, Hans A. and Merrill Singer, African-American Religion in the Twentieth Century: Varieties of Protest and Accommodation. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992.
Balmer, Randall. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America. Revised. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Bawer, Bruce. Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity. New York: Crown, 1998.
Beale, David O. In Pursuit of Piety: A History of American Fundamentalism Since 1850. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1986.
Bebbington, David W. The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005.
Blumhoefer, Edith. Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody’s Sister. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993.
______. Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993.
Butler, Jon. Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.
Butler, Jon and Harry S. Stout, eds. Religion in American Histor : A Reader. New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.
Cannon, Katie Geneva. Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community. New York: Continuum, 1995.
Carpenter, Joel A. Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism. New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.
Crespo, Orlando. Being Latino in Christ: Finding Wholeness in Your Ethnic Identity. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
Cross, Carlene. Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister’s Wife Examines Faith. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2006.
Dayton, Donald W. and Robert K. Johnston, ed. The Variety of American Evangelicalism. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1991.
De La Torre, Miguel A. and Gastón Espinosa, ed. Rethinking Latino(a) Religion and Identity. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2006.
Detwiler, Fritz. Standing on the Premises of God: The Christian Right's Fight to Redefine America's Public Schools. New York and London: New York University Press, 1999.
Dodson, Jualynne E. Engendering Church: Women, Power, and the A.M.E. Church. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002.
Dorrien, Gary J. Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805-1900. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.
______.The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity: 1900-1950. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.
______. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity: 1950-2005. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.
Edwards, Wendy J. Deichman and Carolyn De Swarte Gifford. ed., Gender and the Social Gospel. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003.
Eslinger, Ellen. Citizens of Zion: The Social Origins of Camp Meeting Revivalism. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1999.
Espinosa, Gastón, Virgilio Elizondo, Jesse Miranda, ed. Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Evans, Christopher H. The Kingdom Is Always but Coming: A Life of Walter Rauschenbusch. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004.
Freedman, Samuel G. Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994.
Gamble, Richard M. The War for Righteousness: Progressive Christianity, the Great War, and the Rise of the Messianic Nation. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2003.
Griffith, R. Marie. God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.
Griffith, R. Marie and Melani McAlister. ed. Religion and Politics in the Contemporary United States. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Pres, 2008.
Hankins, Barry. God's Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
______. Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives and American Culture. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2002.
Harding, Susan Friend. The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Hart, D.G., ed. Reckoning with the Past: Historical Essays on American Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995.
Hatch, Nathan O. The Democratization of American Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
Heyrman, Christine Leigh. Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
Hutchinson, William R. Between the Times: The Travail of the Protestant Establishment in America. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Jacobsen, Douglas and William Vance Trollinger, Jr., editors, Re-Forming the Center: American Protestantism 1900 to the Present. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.