The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond

"Four turning points. Four critical junctures in the formation of American evangelicalism. Four times when, in Robert Frost's memorable words, 'two roads diverged in a yellow wood.' Each of these junctures - the transition from Calvinist to Arminian theology in the embrace of revivalism, the shift from postmillennialism to premillennialism, the retreat into a subculture, and the rise of the Religious Right - invites counterfactual speculation. What if evangelicals had gone another way, had taken a different road back there in Robert Frost's woods? Might history have been different? Might evangelicals had been more faithful to the gospel they espouse had they chosen a different course?"

―excerpted from the Introduction

With impressively clear prose and a superb command of history, best-selling author Randall Balmer offers a spirited history of evangelical Christianity in the United States. Effortlessly situating developments in evangelicalism in their wider historical context, he demonstrates the ways American social and cultural settings influenced the course of the evangelical tradition. By revealing the four key moments in the movement's history, he ably demonstrates how American Evangelicalism is truly American. Concluding with a manifesto directing where evangelicalism must go from here forth, Balmer's The Making of Evangelicalism will interest every reader―evangelical, mainline, secular―who wants to better understand evangelicals today.