DRUMMOND, ANDREW LANDALE. Story of American Protestantism. Pp. xii, 418. Boston: Beacon Press, 1950. $6.00
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625127400192 |
| Author | William Warren Sweet |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
257
Dr.
Kresge
is
professor
emeritus
of
phi-
losophy
and
ethics,
Franklin
and
Marshall
College,
Lancaster,
Pennsylvania.
In
the
preface
Dr.
Kresge
states
his
purpose:
&dquo;During
the
busy
years
of
my
teaching
I
felt
a
constant
urge
to
attempt
a
sum-
mary,
in
simple
language,
of
the
basic
prin-
ciples
and
ideals
in
the
long
and
eventful
quest
by
the
great-
ethical
teachers
for
a
satisfactory
way
of
life.
After
my
retire-
ment
in
1945
I
undertook
the
job,
and
this
volume
is
the
result.
The
book
is
intended
for
general
reading,
for
serious-minded
per-
sons
who
have
not
had
access
to
the
source
material
in
ethics,
nor
to
the
more
aca-
demic
treatises
on
the
subject.&dquo;
The
Search
for
a
Way
of
Life
accomplishes
this
purpose
very
well.
It
is
to
be
hoped
that
the
clamor
of
the
times
has
not
deafened
those
for
whom
the
book
is
written.
After
an
introduction
on
the
meaning
and
scope
of
ethics,
Part
I
of
the
book
deals
with
the
intuitionist-idealist
type
of
ethical
system,
Part
II
with
hedonism,
Part
III
with
ethical
humanism;
Part
IV
then
applies
the
viewpoints
of
the
preced-
ing
traditions
to
such
topics
as
the
state
and
the
individual,
democracy
and
totali-
tarianism,
capitalism
and
communism.
And
without
any
beating
of
drums.
Dr.
Kresge,
in
common
with
John
Dewey,
regards
the
moral
conception
of
democracy
as
its
basic
core.
He
favors
&dquo;economic
se-
curity
for
all
with
the
loss
of
personal
free-
dom
for
none&dquo;
(p.
417).
He
discusses
England,
India,
Sweden,
and
the
co-opera-
tive
movement
as,
attempts
to
find
this
middle
way.
He
believes
a
mixed
economy
has
become
necessary,
and
some
form
of
global
government.
The
quiet
strength
of
The
Search
for
a
Way
of
Life
rests
in
the
devotion
to
human
values
which
dominates
the
entire
Western
ethical
tradition.
We
neglect
this
tradition
at
our
peril.
CHARLES
MORRIS
University
of
Chicago
DRUMMOND,
ANDREW
LANDALE.
Story
of
American
Protestantism.
Pp.
xii,
418.
Boston:
Beacon
Press,
1950. $6.00.
Since
the
close
of
World
War
II
there
has
been
an
increasing
concern
both
among
British
and
European
Protestants
for
a
better
understanding
of
the
American
re-
ligious
scene.
This
is
evidenced
by
the
ap-
pearance
within
the
past
five
years
of
three
books
published
in
England
attempting
to
explain
the
American
churches
to
the
Brit-
ish
people.
The
first
two
were
written
by
Americans;
the
present
volume
is
the
first
attempt
by
a
Britisher
to
perform
that
service.
All
three
books
have
appeared
in
an
American
edition.
There
have
also
ap-
peared
German
translations
of
two
other
books
of
like
nature,
in
response
to
a
simi-
lar
demand
in
German
Protestantism.
The
author
of
the
present
volume
states
in
his
Preface,
&dquo;It
is
important
that
British
readers
should
come
to
a
better
under-
standing
of
the
place
Protestantism
plays
in
American
life,&dquo;
and
he
approaches
his
subject
historically
since
he
believes that
the
historical
approach
is
the
best
gateway
to
understanding.
First
published
in
Edin-
burgh
in
1949,
the
volume
has
now
made
its
appearance
in
a
handsome
American
edi-
tion.
It
is
unfortunate,
in
the
opinion
of
this
reviewer,
that
the
author
did
not
em-
brace
the
opportunity
of
correcting
in
the
American
edition
the
many
errors
both
of
fact
and
interpretation
which
appeared
in
the
British
edition.
In
spite
of
this
fail-
uie,
however,
the
book
makes
a
valuable
contribution,
and
we
are
grateful
to
the
author
for
the
many
keen
insights
pre-
sented.
The
author
is
often
critical,
but
he
is
always
a
friendly
critic;
indeed
praise
and
blame
are
about
equally
balanced.
The
author’s
Presbyterian
background,
both
of
birth
and
training,
together
with
the
fact
that
he
spent
enough
time
in
America
to
acquire
a
Master
of
Theology
degree
at
Hartford
Theological
Seminary
in
Connecticut,
where
for
a
time
he
served
a
Congregational
parish,
is
doubtless
re-
sponsible
for
a
distinct
bias
in
his
treat-
ment
of
the
great
popular
churches,
par-
ticularly
the
Baptists
and
the
Methodists.
It
also
accounts
for
the
large
amount
of
space
given
to
Presbyterian
and
Congrega-
tional
matter,
though
he
tends
to
be
criti-
cal
of
the
American
brand
of
Presbyterian-
ism.
His
two
chapters
on
New
England
Congregationalism
are
brilliant
condensa-
tions,
in
which
he
has
been
able
to
catch
the
flavor
of
colonial
New
England
re-
ligious
life,
with
a
minimum
of
facts.
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