Too long (ca. 600 p.) and too leisurely, this biography nonetheless
shares with its subject a certain mellow charm; and though
Fosdick's very long life (18781969) was short on drama, it serves
as a prism for displaying the spectrum of social, political, and
religious issues preoccupying 20th-century America. Miller
(History, UNC, Chapel Hill) never knew Fosdick or heard him preach
(he was generally acknowledged to be the prince of the American
pulpit, at least before the coming of Billy Graham), but he
obviously feels a strong affection for the genial, even-tempered,
supremely decent Fosdick. He finds much to admire in Fosdick's
liberal Christianity (he refused to recite the Nicene, or any
other, Creed), his campaign against the Fundamentalists in the
1920s, his hugely successful tenure at Riverside Church (1930-46),
his brave pacifist stance during WW II, his devoted, prolific
career as a seminary professor (Union Theological, 1908-46), author
(47 books), radio preacher, and spokesman for ecumenical
cooperation, civil rights, (moderate) feminism, labor, etc. At the
same time Miller carefully measures Fosdick's shortcomings: his
feeble ecclesiology, his ignorant dismissal of Freud, his lack of
originality (Fosdick himself confessed to having a "third-rate
mind"), his casual assumption of black cultural inferiority, his
fear of tarnishing his splendid public image. "One misses in his
life an element of Dionysian joy, a dash of wackiness, a touch of
spontaneity, a splash of vulgarity, a hint of casual disarray. One
doubts if he ever did anything for the hell of it." A sort of
minor-key Emerson, a prosperous (friend of John D. Rockefeller),
happy (perfect wife and daughters), late-Victorian WASP (educated
at Colgate and Columbia) whose heart and mind were big enough to
transcend, pretty much, his environment. A rambling, readable,
responsible account. (Kirkus Reviews)
Traces the life of Harry Emerson Fosdick, discusses the development
of his religious beliefs, and examines his influence on
Protestantism in America.
General
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