Böcker av Howard Dorgan

In Giving Glory to God in Appalachia, Howard Dorgan explores the worship practices of Primitive, Regular, Old Regular, Union, Missionary, and Free Will Baptists. The worship practices of the denominations under consideration are varied and often exuberant, and Dorgan's writing is highly evocative, conveying in rich detail the joy and pathos of worship in these mountain churches.As Dorgan states in the introduction, he is less concerned with academic theorizing and more concerned with presenting a vivid, first-hand account of all that he has seen and heard. And in the nearly fifteen years he spent researching his book, Dorgan saw quite a lot: spirited, vociferous sermons, creek baptisms, foot washings, home comings, dinners on the ground, and evangelistic radio broadcasts. Dorgan's prose is at its most enchaining when he presents tableaus of these phenomena: a foot washing precipitates the erasure of interpersonal turmoil between two women; a preacher uses his lively mode of sermonic delivery to orchestrate the rapturous shouts and "hollers" of a group of women; a radio evangelist exhorts a recent widower to except salvation. The wonderful pictures interspersed throughout the book and the transcription of sermons help to further reify the worship scenes that Dorgan describes.At times, Dorgan's prose is intensely personal. Dorgan is always aware that he is writing about sets of shared values and worship practices that mean a great deal to the congregations he is studying, and Dorgan treats his subjects and their beliefs with tremendous sensitivity and respect. Ultimately, Dorgan is writing about people and the ways in which they invest their lives with meaning and purpose. This gives Giving Glory to God in Appalachia a universal appeal: even readers who find the religious settings in the book completely alien will be able to sympathize with the congregations' search for meaning.To sum up: Dorgan has written a beautiful, enthralling book. Don't think--just buy. And while you're at it, you might want to consider Airwaves Of Zion: Radio Religion In Appalachia(ISBN-10: 0870497979), also by Dorgan.

Throughout central Appalachia, small AM radio stations send forth a steady flow of country western and gospel music, regional farm and industry news, local advertising and public service information, and a Sunday morning (and sometimes afternoon) fare of locally produced live religious broadcasts Many of these "airwaves of Zion" programs have become part of the established cultural base of this region, having maintained their audiences for decades. Nevertheless, this genre is in danger of extinction as various social and economic forces combine with changes in the broadcast industry that threaten to drive these programs off the air. For over twenty years, Howard Dorgan has been listening to "airwaves of Zion" programs in the Appalachian regions of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Avoiding editorial judgment and academic theorization, The Airwaves of Zion is Dorgan's first-person report on his own reactions to the people and events he encountered during his years of research. This ethnographic study provides an overview of radio evangelism in Appalachia by identifying its characteristics and origins and analyzing its present status Dorgan trains his scholar's eye on four case studies within the genre, capturing not only the unique character of each of the respective programs and stations but a sense of the larger religious environments within which each case resides. This book preserves an endangered segment of the Appalachian religious experience, rich in the cultural values and evangelical traditions that make this region unique.