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. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction: The Triumph of Televangelism and the Decline of Mainline Religious Broadcasting......Page 14 1 American Protestantism and the Television: A Paradoxical Relationship......Page 20 2 “Turn It Off!”: The Liberal Protestant Critique of Television......Page 34 3 Mainline Religious Broadcasting: A Failure?......Page 50 4 “Preserving Our American Heritage”: Television and the Construction of Evangelical Identity......Page 76 5 “The Age of Space Requires Space Age Teaching Tools”: Technology on Evangelical Terms......Page 98 6 Protestants and the Television: The Paradox Reassessed......Page 122 Afterword......Page 130 Notes......Page 134 Bibliography......Page 170 B......Page 184 C......Page 185 F......Page 186 I......Page 187 M......Page 188 P......Page 189 S......Page 190 U......Page 191 W......Page 192 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.