The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York

Peter J. Paris, John W. Cook, James Hudnut-Beumler, Lawrence Mamiya

ISBN 10: 0814767133 / ISBN 13: 9780814767139

Published by New York University Press, US, 2004

About this Item

It was from the pulpit of the Riverside Church that Martin Luther King, Jr., first publicly voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War, that Nelson Mandela addressed U.S. church leaders after his release from prison, and that speakers as diverse as Cesar Chavez, Jesse Jackson, Desmond Tutu, Fidel Castro, and Reinhold Niebuhr lectured church and nation about issues of the day. The greatest of American preachers have served as senior minister, including Harry Emerson Fosdick, Robert J. McCracken, Ernest T. Campbell, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., and James A. Forbes, Jr., and at one time the New York Times printed reports of each Sunday's sermon in its Monday morning edition. For seven decades the church has served as the premier model of Protestant liberalism in the United States. Its history represents the movement from white Protestant hegemony to a multiracial and multiethnic church that has been at the vanguard of social justice advocacy, liberation theologies, gay and lesbian ministries, peace studies, ethnic and racial dialogue, and Jewish-Christian relations. A collaborative effort by a stellar team of scholars, The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York offers a critical history of this unique institution on Manhattan's Upper West Side, including its cultural impact on New York City and beyond, its outstanding preachers, and its architecture, and assesses the shifting fortunes of religious progressivism in the twentieth century.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780814767139

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York
• Publisher: New York University Press, US
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814767133
• ISBN 13: 9780814767139
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 612 grams

About this title

Synopsis

It was from the pulpit of the Riverside Church that Martin Luther King, Jr., first publicly voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War, that Nelson Mandela addressed U.S. church leaders after his release from prison, and that speakers as diverse as Cesar Chavez, Jesse Jackson, Desmond Tutu, Fidel Castro, and Reinhold Niebuhr lectured church and nation about issues of the day. The greatest of American preachers have served as senior minister, including Harry Emerson Fosdick, Robert J. McCracken, Ernest T. Campbell, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., and James A. Forbes, Jr., and at one time the New York Times printed reports of each Sunday's sermon in its Monday morning edition.
For seven decades the church has served as the premier model of Protestant liberalism in the United States. Its history represents the movement from white Protestant hegemony to a multiracial and multiethnic church that has been at the vanguard of social justice advocacy, liberation theologies, gay and lesbian ministries, peace studies, ethnic and racial dialogue, and Jewish-Christian relations.
A collaborative effort by a stellar team of scholars, The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York offers a critical history of this unique institution on Manhattan's Upper West Side, including its cultural impact on New York City and beyond, its outstanding preachers, and its architecture, and assesses the shifting fortunes of religious progressivism in the twentieth century.

About the Authors

Peter J. Paris is Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor of Christian Social Ethics, and liaison with the Princeton University Afro-American Studies Program, at Princeton Theological Seminary.

John W. Cook is a former president of the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc.

James Hudnut-Beumler is Dean of the Divinity School and Anne Potter Wilson Professor of American Religious History at Vanderbilt University.

Lawrence H. Mamiya is Paschall-Davis Professor of Religion and Africana Studies at Vassar College.