Pretentious, dated gobbledygook. There may be a good idea in here somewhere but damned if I could find it - made it through a hundred pages before brain spasms caused me a quit. One star for getting most of the historical dates right, for the sheer audacity of comparing Woodstock to Cane Ridge (the first religious camp meeting in 1801) and for hooking up Goldwater's running mate in 1964 with the apocalypse in 1843. Read it, or try to, if you dare, but don't expect much sense. ( )

In this fascinating work of religious criticism, Harold Bloom examines a number of American-born faiths: Pentecostalism, Mormonism, Seventh-day Adventism, Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Southern Baptism and Fundamentalism, and African American spirituality. He traces the distinctive features of American religion while asking provocative questions about the role religion plays in American culture and in each American's concept of his or her relationship to God. Bloom finds that our spiritual beliefs provide an exact portrait of our national character.

The American religion is not the original Christianity. The multitude of denominations and sects together share a common basis in gnosticism, with strong origins in the personal freedom so important in American culture. The Mormon and Southern Baptist organizations are forecast for future dominance. Bloom provides a concise history of religion in America and a thoughtful commentary on its meaning. ( )

I personally loved Harold Bloom's take on American Christianity (although he studies more than American Christian sects, his main look is at Southern Baptists, Mormons, etc.) and their gnostic characteristics and optimistic outlook.

Although Bloom is an outsider to all the faiths he looks at, and most orthodox readers would disagree with his overall thesis, he does engage the subject well and brings his famous criticism skills to the religion game very well. ( )

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