The Protestant Paradox
What in God's Name Are Protestants Preaching Now?
J. Daryl Charles
October 1, 1995
All is Forgiven: The Secular Message in American Protestantism by Marsha Grace Witten (Princeton University Press, 1993), 179 pp. The last two decades have witnessed a growing interest among sociologists in the effects of secular culture on American religious expression. Sociologists have focused primarily on denominational growth and decline, church attendance, and religious demographics, as well as churches' involvement in framing public policy debates. Less often, in Marsha Witten's view, do sociologists investigate the role of language as a reflection of religious content. Witten, a professor of sociology at Franklin and Marshall College, writes in response to this gap. What is it about American Protestantism that is so intriguing from the standpoint of sociology of religion? For Witten, it is the paradox of American religious expression: "On the one hand, a radio station in a major city dramatizes the meaning of Good Friday by airing Bach's intensely spiritual rendition of the suffering and fallen Jesus, drawn in the stark words of Matthew's Gospel. On the other hand, a burgeoning church congregation in a suburb of that city times its mass mailing of a form letter and brochure to reach potential adherents on the same Christian holy day Mimicking the slick direct-mail solicitation of a credit card or insurance company the letter contains a cheerful, practical list of the social and psychological pleasures one might receive from affiliation within its church-with no mention whatsoever of faith or God, let alone of suffering or spiritual striving." For the author, these two forms of discourse appear incongruous. Taken together, however, they reveal much about the state of Protestant belief in American society. Walking curiously ...
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