Review by Choice Review
Watt (history, Temple Univ.) presents a very brief, comparative fieldwork study of three Philadelphia churches: an independent fundamentalist church, a Mennonite fellowship, and a branch of the International Churches of Christ (ICC). Suggesting that Evangelical Protestant churches shape many Americans' political assumptions, he examines what forms of unequal power relations such groups view as natural. Watt finds that all three churches interpreted their Bibles in ways that sanctified heterosexuality and upheld patriarchal family structures. Although the ICC group sometimes questioned the government's authority, Watts finds that both the independent fundamentalist and ICC congregations positively linked American patriotism, capitalism, and faith. The Mennonites read the Bible in ways that made them suspicious of the state and for-profit corporations. Although Watt poses important questions, his book lacks a theoretical framework to interpret why some Bible-carrying Christians read their scripture in ways that decrease the legitimacy of state and corporate authority, whereas many more do not. How do variables like class, education, race, age, region, and gender factor into these biblical interpretations? Watt leaves this question unanswered. Some readers will miss a clearly articulated thesis and more detailed ethnographic descriptions. Suitable for general readers and undergraduates. S. McCloud Central Michigan University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
