Product Description

Randall Balmer's Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory is an insightful and engaging journey into the world of conservative Christians in America. Originally published fifteen years ago and the basis for an award-winning PBS documentary, this timely new edition arrives just as recent elections have left an ever-growing number of secular Americans wondering exactly how the other half thinks.
From Oregon to Florida, and from Texas to North Dakota, Balmer offers an immensely readable tour of the highways and byways of American evangelicalism. We visit a revival meeting in Florida, an Indian reservation in the Dakotas, a trade show for Christian booksellers, and a fundamentalist Bible camp in the Adirondacks.
For this fourth edition, Balmer adds two chapters, one on the phenomenally popular "Painter of Light," Thomas Kinkade, and one on Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life. Through the eyes of these and other people Balmer meets on his journeys, we arrive at a more accurate and balanced understanding of an abiding tradition that, as the author argues, is both rich in theological insights and mired in contradictions. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory offers readers a genuine insight into the appeal that the evangelicals movement holds for thousands of Americans.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #556003 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The variegated forms of popular evangelicalism--fundamentalist, charismatic, Pentecostal--are investigated in this well-researched study. As Balmer, professor of religion at Columbia University, crisscrosses the country visiting a Dallas seminary, an Episcopal Indian settlement, a bible camp in the Adirondacks, an evangelical filmmaker, he explores not only the depth and variety of the appeal of American evangelicalism, but also his own ambivalence springing from his early grounding "in the protective cocoon of this subculture." A personal journal of discovery as well as a substantial social history, the book presents men and women who, in their stories, render a collage of a religious movement.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Balmer here presents a cross section of modern evangelical Christianity in America in 11 chapters, each sketching some aspect of this world from church camps and seminaries to missions and tent meetings. Every chapter is a narrative account of the author's experiences and conversations plus his own interpretations. Balmer (religion, Columbia Univ.) also gives historical and theological background when it is needed. Balmer grew up in the evangelical world, but his presentation is very even-handed; he is neither defending nor vilifying. Rather, he is trying to give his readers a feel for this very American tradition with a look at both the insights and problems that make this subculture so fascinating. Recommended for public libraries.
- C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A professor of American religious history at Barnard and Columbia, Balmer wrote this book because he had a 'suspicion that many Americans, and certainly the media, really did not have much of a clue about who evangelicals were, what they believed, or what motivated their forays into the political arena.' Fifteen years after the book was published, and with the gap between evangelicals and other Americans still yawning, the book offers a tour of evangelical enclaves throughout the country."--The Washington Post

"Randall Balmer takes readers through evangelical America, and it's a surprisingly lively and light ride. Balmer isn't a preacher, but a fine reporter, curious and respectful about the vitality and diversity of evangelicalism."--The New York Daily News (on previous edition)

"A sensitive, informed, often moving account of lifestyles and belief systems that coexist with--but are usually set apart from--secular mainstream America.... Provides a carefully crafted portrait of religious diversity that is both generous and critical but never patronizing.... We can all read this book with profit."--Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (on previous edition)

"Fascinating.... This is a wonderful book.... Fair, insightful and respectful.... Balmer understands what he sees, but has enough distance from his subject to be analytical. Outsiders will learn much from his carefully nuanced insights; and insiders will frequently have to nod their heads in agreement: this man knows what he is talking about."--Church History (on previous edition)

"This compelling account makes Randall Balmer the William Least Heat Moon of American evangelicalism. Just as Blue Highways opened up an ordinary America beyond the bright city lights, so Balmer goes beyond media stars like Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, and Jimmy Swaggart to illuminate the local realities of evangelical life. The worlds of Protestant conservatives are complex--filled overfull with the eccentric and the authentic, locked tightly in the grip of kitsch as well as the grip of grace. In describing that world from Oregon to New Hampshire, Des Moines to Phoenix, Mississippi to North Dakota--Balmer doesn't miss a nuance or a beat."--Mark A. Noll, Wheaton College

"Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory is a book about the sawdust trail that glitters like angel dust. It is witty, lively and richly informative--written with real style and sophistication, and a delight to read."--Frederick Buechner

"Easily the best participant-observer study of the evangelical landscape in contemporary America. He combines the insight of the trained historian with the deft instincts of the birthright insider. The product is at once a critical, painfully funny, warmly sympathetic exploration of the multiple subcultures of a sprawling religious tradition that is all too easily stereotyped--and dismissed--as monolithic fundamentalism."--Grant Wacker, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

"American evangelicalism is as diverse as the nation's landscape. Balmer's book is an extraordinary religious travelogue through that complicated subculture....After reading [his] book, popular stereotypes of 'evangelicals' and 'fundamentalists' will never again be quite so clearly focused."--David E. Harrell, Jr., University of Alabama, Birmingham

"A powerful examination of those ingredients hat constitute the very essence of the phenomenon called American evangelicism. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory is absolutely essential for anyone who wishes to understand the religious landscape of contemporary America."--Lewis V. Baldwin, Vanderbilt University

Customer Reviews

I liked Mine Eyes
This is a great, affirming book. It's really about a spiritual search, and the author does a great job relating the conflicting passions of modern evangelicals (desire for safety, certainty, security, in a rapidly changing and apparently [to them at least] amoral world) and, in the final chapter relates them to the original protestant vision articulated by Luther and others and to his own struggles with the culture. As he points out through interviews "it's really a lover's quarrel," but one with profound implications for day to day religious belief.

Somewhat Dated Now
In this book, Balmer chronicles his journey across America encountering various Christian evangelicals. Each chapter describes a specific encounter such as a Billy Graham crusade, a visit to Jimmy Swaggart's ministry, the artwork of Thomas Kinkade, the Christian Booksellers Association convention, etc.

This book gives interesting perspectives on the evangelical movement, and perhaps allows evangelicals themselves to see how the rest of the world perceives their witness. However, much of the book was written in the 80's and early 90's and so now is somewhat dated, more of a historical retrospective than a description of the current evangelical movement.

The History and Diversity of a Major Force in America Today
Randall Balmer's widely recognized (in its fourth printing) "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" lives up to its well-earned reputation. In this excellent book, Balmer takes the reader on a tour of US Evangelism with visits to or with:

* The Calvary Chapel (Santa Ana, CA.), the home of Chuck Smith who revolutionized evangelism by reaching out to the "disillusioned of the 1960s
* The Dallas Theological Seminary, a fortress of evangelical and fundamentalist orthodoxy, and Darby's rapture
* Filmmaker Donald Thompson, maker of Christian Films
* The Capstone Cathedral (Phoenix, AZ.), the home of evangelist and healer Neal Frisby
* The Word of Life Fellowship youth camp, home of Adirondack Fundamentalism
* The Church of the King (North Valdosta, GA), a charismatic church that merged with the Episcopal Church, starting a charismatic renewal
* The Multnomah School of the Bible (Oregon) and its doctrine of the end times
* The Right to Life movement in Iowa
* John Perkins, founder of Mendenhall Ministries, who returned to his native Mississippi to break the cycle of poverty, despair, and oppression of blacks
* The Christian Booksellers Association's annual convention (Bibles are a big business)
* Father Innocent Good House, a Sioux Indian, and pastor of St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Fort Yates, ND) on the resistance of evangelicals to the integration of Christianity with the Indian's native religions
* Camp Freedom, an adult faith camp (St. Petersburg, FL.) and the holiness tradition.
* The Billy Graham Crusade in New York City
* The Oregon Extension of Trinity College (Klamath Falls, OR) and the misuse of the Bible by evangelicals
* Jimmy Swaggart, since his fall, at his Family Life Center (Baton Rouge, LA)
* Thomas Kinkade and his world vision
* The purpose driven megachurches - Willow Creek (Chicago) and Saddleback (Lake Forest, CA)

In "My Eyes Have Seen," Balmer conveys the multiplicity, diversity, and complexity of Evangelicalism in the US today highlighting its folk appeal and grass roots character. Evangelicalism is quintessentially American - a free market religion which has churches competing with one another for popular followings, providing a unmistakable populist cast to religion. "Evangelicals generally galvanize around a personality who articulates - and even defines - the faith of his followers according to his own idiosyncratic reading of the Bible.

Balmer feels that Evangelicalism will persist because of its timeless appeal, promising intimacy with God, a support community, an unambiguous morality, and answers to the riddles of eternity.

"My Eyes Have Seen the Glory" is the perfect reference book for those interested in in the history and many faces of American Evangelicalism. It is a not only a "must" for anyone involved in religious ministry, but also for most Americans as Evangelicalism is major force in our society society. It cannot be easily dismissed.