Abstract
This monograph examines the specific role that Christianity played in shaping America. Kidd is ‘primarily concerned with the fate of Protestantism in America which is her ‘most powerful religious strain since the beginning of the British colonies in the early 1600s’ (p. 11). Kidd suggests that religious vitality and violence have always co-existed in establishing religious history. He illustrates this by introducing the reader to the Gnadenhutten massacre which describes the killing of nearly a hundred pacifist Moravian Christian Indians by American militia. This example helps the reader realize that religious vitality and conflict are major themes of Christian expansion in America among diverse people. Kidd seeks to ‘account for the remarkable diversity’ in the construction of America’s religious history (p. 11).
Kidd offers a comprehensive account featuring a various array of minoritized narratives and characters that contribute to America’s religious history. Instead of retelling the careers of white male Protestants, he inserts diversity by telling the stories of African Americans, Native Americans, women, and other minorities. Protestantism in America had a specific interpretation that did not consider the view of minorities. He surmises that new movements and churches were established due to ‘ethnic groups settling in America’ (p. 65). He highlights the narratives of African Americans and how they were a viable part of this history. Kidd dedicates some chapters to slave religion and the slavery controversy which provides a fuller picture of diversity of the historical narrative. These chapters include stories about African American’s plight against slavery and their struggle against White critics who feared Christianizing African Americans ‘especially slaves’ (p. 111). Kidd incorporates African American religious history into Protestantism by including key African Americans such as Jarena Lee, Lemuel Haynes, Denmark Vessey, Nat Turner, Booker T. Washington, David Walker, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm-X, because they had a different interpretation of their social circumstances. Kidd manages to bring a healthy balance to America’s religious history by highlighting the rich experiences of African Americans and the effects their stories had on shaping religious America.
Kidd’s study stresses the importance of religious diversity by including the stories of minorities into the master narrative of religious history. His book encourages the reader to appreciate the significance of minorities and how religious diversity results in conflict and change. The author does not include footnotes in his chapters but closes them with a works cited and further reading list. Kidd provides a great introductory text to those who want to study ethnic groups’ contribution to America’s religious history.