This is the first significant book-length biography in over 50 years of Washington Gladden, a minister, journalist, and reformer whose message of religious liberalism came to define modern Protestantism in the United States. Although largely forgotten today, Gladden was one of the most well-known pastors of his time and a leader of the social gospel and progressive movement. Mislin chronicles Gladden’s early years bristling against the culture of a pious small town in upstate New York, his...

In Saving Faith**, David Mislin chronicles the transformative historical moment when Americans began to reimagine their nation as one strengthened by the diverse faiths of its peoples.** Between 1875 and 1925, liberal Protestant leaders abandoned religious exclusivism and leveraged their considerable cultural influence to push others to do the same. This reorientation came about as an ever-growing group of Americans found their religious faith und...

Three hundred and fifty years ago, Roger Williams launched one of the world’s first great experiments in religious toleration. Insisting that religion be separated from civil power, he founded Rhode Island, a colony that welcomed people of many faiths. Though stark forms of intolerance persisted, Williams’ commitments to faith and liberty of conscience came to define the nation and its conception of itself. Through crisp essays that show how Americans demolished old prejudices while invent...