American Protestants and TV in the 1950s: Responses to a New Medium (Religion/Culture/Critique)

for their friendship and guidance. In Israel, I feel I have been especially lucky to join a wonderful extended family. My mother-in-law, Ruth Nevo, continues to inspire me with her day-to-day enthusiasm for art, literature, and family. I appreciate her living example, her generosity and kindness toward me, more than these words might convey. Special thanks likewise go to Ilana Pardes and Itamar Lurie for their unending patience, positivity and encouragement. Despite the fact that they are geographically remote, my brother Michael Rosenthal and his wife, Janelle S. Taylor, have remained close and I am thankful for their friendship and intellectual camaraderie. Likewise, I am grateful for close friends, thanks particularly to The Zimmers During The Early Years Of American Television, The Cultural Preeminence Of Mainline Protestantism Was A Given. Evangelicalism And Fundamentalism, If Acknowledged At All, Were Portrayed As Dinosaurs On Their Way To Extinction. Yet By 1980, The Equation Changed. Televangelists Eclipsed Mainline Broadcasters, Even Though The Latter Entered The Television Age With The Cultural And Economic Advantages. This Book Compares The Mainline And Evangelical Protestant Responses To Television, With An Eye Toward Understanding The Long-term Consequences In The Political, Cultural, And Religious Spheres.--jacket. Introduction: The Triumph Of Televangelism And The Decline Of Mainline Religious Broadcasting -- American Protestantism And The Television : A Paradoxical Relationship -- 'turn It Off' : The Liberal Protestant Critique Of Television -- Mainline Religious Broadcasting : A Failure? -- 'preserving Our American Heritage' : Television And The Construction Of Evangelical Identity -- 'the Age Of Space Requires Space Age Teaching Tools' : Technology On Evangelical Terms -- Protestants And The Television : The Paradox Reassessed. Michele Rosenthal. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [157]-170) And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: The Triumph of Televangelism and the Decline of Mainline Religious Broadcasting....Pages 1-5 American Protestantism and the Television: A Paradoxical Relationship....Pages 7-19 “Turn It Off!”: The Liberal Protestant Critique of Television....Pages 21-35 Mainline Religious Broadcasting: A Failure?....Pages 37-61 “Preserving Our American Heritage”: Television and the Construction of Evangelical Identity....Pages 63-84 “The Age of Space Requires Space Age Teaching Tools”: Technology on Evangelical Terms....Pages 85-107 Protestants and the Television: The Paradox Reassessed....Pages 109-116 Afterword....Pages 117-120 Back Matter....Pages 121-179 While television today is taken for granted, Americans in the 1950s faced the challenge of negotiating the new medium's place in the home and in American culture in general. Protestant leaders--both mainstream and evangelical--began to think carefully about what television meant for their communities and its potential impact on their work. Using the American Protestant experience of the introduction of television, Rosenthal illustrates the importance of the interplay between a new medium and its users in an engaging book suitable for general readers and students alike