The republic of many mansions: Foundations of American religious thought

by Denise Lardner Carmody

244 pages - Behind the information bombardment of the media age of this media age of religion can be found a very few basic ideas about God, human nature, and worship...

Hardcover

First published November 1, 1990

Reviews

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book exemplifies nicely the main problem with multiculturalism and relativism: all the "minority voices" the authors talk about and their reactions to the three strands of American religious thought covered in the book remain "minorities" who are implicitly outside the supposed Protestant white majority. The elaboration of the three strands and their historical foundations (using the work of Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Jefferson and William James) is interesting and competently explained. But the refusal to engage more than passingly with the thoughts and traditions of non-Protestant and non-Christian American voices is a serious shortcoming, as is the conclusion that more prayer would make for a better American plurality of religious expression (except, presumably, for pragmatists of the James school? or how about atheists and agnostics?).