Pilgrims in Their Own Land; 500 Years of Religion in America

Through 20 chapters and 500 pages of PILGRIMS IN THEIR OWN LAND, Professor Martin Emil Marty reviews leading personalities and trends among American religions from prehistoric days into the early 1980s. His unifying concept is that of "pilgrimage," a journey toward a holy destination for the purpose of drawing closer to God. This organizing image Marty lifts from a 1958 book, REFLECTIONS ON AMERICA, by French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain. In it Maritain is quoted as writing: "Americans seem to be in their own land as pilgrims, prodded by a dream. They are always on the move ... , not settled, installed" (Marty Ch. 19, 431). ***** In other lands, in other times, nation-states have compelled (or tried to compel) subjects to adhere to one religion, often with more lasting success than was ever likely in America. To this day most Americans settle in for a lifetime to one of dozens of mainline faiths inherited from their parents. But the American religious marketplace is highly competitive. Religious eekers can and do pick and choose among Catholics, Mormons, Bahai, and on and on. Or they can concoct their own personal religion. Americans now sense that religion or spirituality is larger than church religion. They can point to Abraham Lincoln, who never became a church member. Or they can opt for what John Courtney Murray, S. J., styled "secular humanism." With Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and others they also can work to spread a public religion or Americanism as a great idealistic albeit nationalistic religion. ***** The subtitle of PILGRIMS IN THEIR OWN LAND is 500 YEARS OF RELIGION IN AMERICA. The book abounds in helpful black and white photographs and drawings. At its close there is a long section of paragraphs with bibiliography for each of the 20 chapters. There is a short index. ***** Martin E. Marty writes well. He clearly knows far more of his subject than any general reader is likely to. He selects his human subjects well and for good reasons, from Malcolm X backward through Mary Baker Eddy to Christopher Columbus. Often amusing. More often ironic, even paradoxical. Not a bad way to spend a couple of days curled up by the fire. -OOO-