progressed. Naturally, not all historians of American religion will agree with his particular interpretations. For example, his pitting of revivalistic Protestantism against the Enlightenment tradition would seem to underestimate the extent to which even democratic evangelicalism implicitly embraced certain of the presuppositions of one form or another of the Enlightenment. Still, such arguments indicate that while once only a chronicler of the "recovery of American religious history" (the title of his seminal essay of 1964), Henry May became, and remains, a major contributor to it.

Awash in a Sea of Faith explores the religious history of the United States, examining the impact of religion on American culture and society.

Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People . By Jon Butler. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990. xii + 360 pp. $29.50.

Key Takeaway: Awash in a Sea of Faith explores the religious history of the United States, examining the impact of religion on American culture and society.