God-Optional Religion in Twentieth-Century America: Quakers, Unitarians, Reconstructionist Jews, and the Crisis Over Theism. By Isaac Barnes May

Nova Religio 116 Copyright © 2024 Association for the Academic Study of New Religions, Inc. bandwagon of the movement of positive thinking that developed in the late nineteenth century, providing the foundation for the prosperity gospel so popular today. The prosperity gospel flourished after World War II and was eagerly embraced by business leaders for its defense of wealth and the implicit assumption that poverty was a mark of individual moral failure rather than collective social injustice. Root makes the persuasive case that in major respects the prosperity gospel was responsible for Roberts' eventual downfall. Born into an impoverished family, Roberts took his own personal and financial success as a mark of his self-­ worth. But one successful venture was never enough to give him a sense of security. His obsession with raising money to build ever more elaborate institutions led to fantasies about frequent meetings and long conversations with Jesus and God, which eventually alienated his admirers and backers. Things came to a head on 4 January 1987, when Roberts told supporters about a recent encounter with God: He had promised to raise eight million dollars for a medical missionary program, but he was 4. 5 million short. If he failed, God would "call him home. " Roberts pleaded with viewers to extend his life by opening their pocketbooks once again. Roberts' embrace of the prosperity gospel had a further significant consequence. As Root points out, prosperity preachers like Roberts harbor a sense of invincibility and an aversion to facts. Any failure created a crisis for Roberts because it was impossible for him to admit he had "either misheard God's command or was lying about hearing from God in the first place" (204). We now see how this way of thinking has contributed to a world in which "alternative facts" undermine the notion of a common good and the need for political and cultural consensus and compromise. Jonathan Root has written an important book about a largely forgotten figure. By bringing Oral Roberts back to life, he paints a vivid picture of the way evangelical Christianity has been coopted and corrupted by crass materialism, along with the racism and sexism implicit in the worship of money and power. Anyone concerned with the moral quagmire we find ourselves stuck in today will want to read this book. Allison Coudert, University of California, Davis God-­ Optional Religion in Twentieth-­ Century America: Quakers, Unitarians, Reconstructionist Jews, and the Crisis Over Theism. By Isaac Barnes May. Oxford University Press, 2022. 344 pages. 83. 00 hardcover; ebook available. The processes of secularization that occurred during the twentieth century were many and varied, and can be charted in a multitude of ways. In God-­ Optional Religion in Twentieth-­ Century America, Isaac Barnes NR-27-4Text. indd 116 NR-27-4Text. indd 116 5/9/24 3: 33 PM 5/9/24 3: 33 PM Reviews Copyright © 2024 Association for the Academic Study of New Religions, Inc. 117 May explores one facet of this growing secularization by tracing the theological shifts allowing for certain liberal denominations "to permit their members a broad leeway in what they chose to believe about God" (2). These beliefs ranged from deism and pantheism to agnosticism and atheism. Such ideas, of course, had been noticeably present on the American religious scene since the nineteenth century, but by the early twentieth century, the principle of open theological choice was beginning to find denominational homes. May focuses on three of these denominations that were particularly influential in this shift: liberal Quakerism, Unitarianism, and Reconstructionist Judaism. Each of these denominations was fortunate in drawing to their ranks powerful thinkers whose works reached beyond the pews and found a receptive audience among other liberal, yet more mainstream denominations, not to mention the public at large. Thus, despite their small numbers, May argues, each of these religious groups was "instrumental in reconceptualizing what it meant to be part of a religious organization in America" by "decoupling. . . religious belonging from. . . specific religious beliefs" (3). By the 1960s, the growing acceptance of this decoupling would spur the evolution of the legal definition of religion, just in time to accommodate—or perhaps catalyze —the radical religious diversification of this country. . .