Books by Martin Marty

An Annotated Bibliography

 

Babylon by Choice
New York: Friendship Press, 1964.
The Colliver Lectures; a short book on Christianity and urbanization.

Baptism
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1962; reprinted 1977.
One in a series of three books (including The Lord’s Supper and Grace) on the means of grace; discusses how baptism, including infant baptism, relates to the life of faith.

Being Good and Doing Good 
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.
A short essay on ethics.

By Way of Response
Nashville: Abingdon, 1981.
A short spiritual autobiography.

Christian Churches in the United States, 1800–1983
Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1984; 2nd edition, 1987.
An illustrated book for teenagers that “maps” the denominations; concentrates on religion in the post-colonial period.

Christianity in the New World
Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1984.
Companion volume to Christian Churches in the United States, 1800–1983; also illustrated; shows what shapes Christian churches took in the Western hemisphere.

Church Unity and Church Mission 
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1964.
Was to have been a pro-conciliar ecumenical statement and address to the anti-ecumenism of neo-evangelicalism in the period; Carl F. H. Henry was to have written the counterpart.

A Cry of Absence: Reflections for the Winter of the Heart
San Francisco: Harper, 1983; revised edition 1993; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997.
Written after the death of his first wife, Elsa; a reflection, based on Psalms, about the spiritual life in a time of death, alienation, separation, or distance.

Education, Religion, and the Common Good
Written with Jonathan Moore. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
The second of two volumes (the other Politics, Religion, and the Common Good) written as part of the Public Religion Project.

The Fire We Can Light: The Role of Religion in a Suddenly Different World
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1973.
An early reflection on the drastic changes in religion in the late sixties and early seventies: New Age, spirituality, mainline charismatic movements, etc., make their appearance.

Friendship
Allen, Tex.: Argus Communications, 1980.
By the publisher of You Are Promise; directed at young adults but suited for people of all ages.

Good News in the Early Church
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976.
Part of a series of short New Testament commentaries by nonspecialists for popular audiences.

Health and Medicine in the Lutheran Tradition: Being Well
New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1983.
Beginning of a series designed to help medical professionals (as well as religious and academic professionals) be more aware of religious resources and restrictions.

The Hidden Discipline
St. Louis: Concordia, 1963.
A congregation-based interpretation of the Christian faith, in the form of a commentary on passages in Martin Luther’s Large Catechism.

The Improper Opinion
Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961.
Part of a series on Christian communication; an early statement on the relation of mass media to Christian faith and community.

The Infidel: Free Thought and American Religion
Cleveland: Meridian-World, 1961.
Marty’s 1956 Ph.D. dissertation, greatly revised; discusses how religious figures used antireligious movements and expressions to advance their own cause.

Invitation to Discipleship
Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986.
Used in adult membership classes. A guide for life in the church.

The Lord’s Supper
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.
Second in a three-part series (includes Baptism and The Word) on the means of grace; widely used in parishes.

The Lutheran People
Cathedral Publishers, 1973.
A very short introduction Lutheran practice (rather than Lutheran teaching); used by parishes in instruction.

Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers
Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2007.
“Brief but complete” answers to the most frequently asked questions on important topics for Lutherans and about Lutheranism.

Lutheranism: A Restatement in Question and Answer Form
Cathedral Publishers, 1975.
A small companion book to The Lutheran People; a popular explanation of Lutheran teaching and practice.

Martin Luther
New York: Penguin, 2004 (Part of the Penguin Lives series)
A biography dealing in rather short compass with the main themes in the life of Luther.

Modern American Religion: Volume 1: The Irony of It All, 1893–1919 (1986)
Modern American Religion: Volume 2: The Noise of Conflict, 1919–1941
(1990)

Modern American Religion: Volume 3: Under God, Indivisible, 1941–1960 (1996)
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
Pioneering synthetic work on American religion over the period usually called “modern”; every paragraph is numbered and there are footnotes to provide readers easy access to primary sources.

The Modern Schism: Three Paths to the Secular
New York: Harper, 1969.
Reflects Marty’s interest in a field in which he taught: “North Atlantic” culture and religion—the British, Continental, and North American contrasts.

The Mystery of the Child
Grand Rapids, Eerdmans. 2007.
This book encourages the thoughtful enjoyment of children instead of the imposition of adult will and control.

A Nation of Behavers
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
Phenomenologically based classification of American religious emphases; solicited for the national bicentennial.

The New Shape of American Religion
New York: Harper, 1959; Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978.
An analysis of religion in the Eisenhower-era religious revival times; shows concern that “religion-in-general” was eroding vital religious movements and expressions.

October 31, 1517: Martin Luther and the Day that Changed the World
Paraclete Press, 2016.
With a foreword by James Martin, S.J., this compact reader on the Reformation by addresses the question: Why is the Reformation relevant today? 

The One and the Many: America’s Struggle for the Common Good
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997.
A search for common themes and aspirations in American group life.

Pilgrims in Their Own Land: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America
Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, 1984.
A narrative that is one of Marty’s most popular books.

Politics, Religion, and the Common Good
Written with Jonathan Moore. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
One of two volumes (the other Education, Religion, and the Common Good) that grew out of the Public Religion Project.

The Pro and Con Book of Religious America: A Bicentennial Argument
Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1975.
Commissioned for the national bicentennial; the same themes appear in both halves of the book, to show paradox in American culture.

The Promise of Grace
Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2004.
The history of the parish Marty served at the beginning of his pastoral ministry, Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Illinois.

The Protestant Voice in American Pluralism
Athens, Ga.: University of George Press, 2004.
Three lectures, connected and expanded.

Protestantism
New York: Holt, 1972.
One in a series on world religions; a synthetic treatment of Protestant themes rather than a work of history; widely used in classrooms.

The Public Church: Mainline, Evangelical, Catholic
New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1981.
Develops a typology for “the public church” at the point where three forms of Christianity meet without disrupting denominational life and lines.

Religion and Republic: The American Circumstance
Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 1987.
The only collection of essays Marty has published; deals with a wide range of themes; united by some common emphases.

Religion, Awakening, and Revolution
Wilmington, N.C.: Consortium, 1977.
A discussion of the ways evangelical awakenings and public piety interacted.

Religious Crises in Modern America
Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 1980.
Grew out of a lectureship on American Protestant Fundamentalism in its second flowering.

Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America.
New York: Dial, 1970. Second revised published as Protestantism in the United States. New York: Scribner, 1986.
Won the National Book Award. Was to have been posed against or parallel to a volume on evangelicalism, so the Protestantism herein is what is not called mainstream.

The Search for a Usable Future
New York: Harper, 1969.
An attempt to make sense of pathways for the faiths in the turbulent 1960s.

Second Chance for American Protestants
New York: Harper, 1963.
A regrettably mistitled book (was to have been The Displaced Christian), it discusses how Christians in Christendom relied on “place” but could do so ever less.

A Short History of American Catholicism
Thomas More Press, 1995.
Part of a series by a Catholic publisher.

A Short History of Christianity
Cleveland: Meridian, 1959; 2nd revised edition, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987.
Marty’s first book; has appeared in numerous editions, revised with an added chapter in 1987; used both among readers-in-private and in classrooms.

Speaking of Trust: Conversing with Martin Luther about the Sermon on the Mount
Minneapolis: Augsburg 2003.
One in a series designed mainly for Lutherans who were trying to redefine faith and trust.

Varieties of Unbelief
New York: Holt, 1964.
A historical, not philosophical, study of modern, especially American, “practical unbelief.”

What a Catholic Believes, as Seen by a Non-Catholic
Thomas More Press, 1974.
Conclusion of a series on Catholic contemporary belief.

When Faiths Collide
Blackwell, 2005.
A fresh look at pluralism and culture in the twenty-first century.

The Word: People Participating in Preaching
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.
Third in the series of books on the means of grace (including Baptism and The Lord’s Supper.)

You Are Promise
Allen, Tex.: Argus Communications, 1974.
Part of a series of books for young people; presents practical guiding, theological reflections.

Youth Considers “Do-It-Yourself” Religion
New York: Nelson, 1965.
Part of a series for youth; thesis about “religion-in-general.”

 


 

Books Coauthored by Martin Marty

 

Faith and Ferment: An Interdisciplinary Study of Christian Beliefs and Practices
With Joan D. Chittister.
Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1983.
Chittister and Marty both comment on an extensive survey of religion in Minnesota.

The Glory and the Power: The Fundamentalist Challenge to the Modern World
With R. Scott Appleby.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.
An illustrated book written to accompany a TV series; a means of accessing the work in the five-volume Fundamentalism Project, edited by Marty and Appleby.

Health/Medicine and the Faith Traditions: An Inquiry into Religion and Medicine
With Kenneth L. Vaux.
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982.
Initiated what became the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics.

Our Hope for Years to Come
With Micah Marty.
Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1995.
Second in a series of photo-text books. Meditations on hymn texts and photographs of Gothic church architecture in the United States, from large cathedrals to abandoned wooden churches of the Great Plains.

The Outbursts That Await Us
New York: Macmillan, 1963.
With a rabbi and a priest, written in a time of consensus that was also seen to be a time of impending crisis, or at least unease.

Pen-Ultimates
New York: Holt, 1963.
Collection of coauthored columns with editor Dean Peerman.

Places along the Way: Meditations on the Journey of Faith
With Micah Marty.
Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1994.
The first of four books combining photographs by Micah Marty with reflections by Martin Marty. Meditations take a tour through the Bible; photographs from the land of the Bible.

The Promise of Winter: Quickening the Spirit on Ordinary Days and in Fallow Seasons.
With Micah Marty.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997.
The third of four photo-text books with Micah Marty. Meditations based on Psalms paired with photographs of winter scenes.

Religion in America, 1950 to the Present
With Douglas W. Johnson and Jackson W. Carrol.
New York: Harper, 1979.
Uses maps—a kind of “geography of religion”—and is produced on the then-familiar tri-faith model.

The Religious Press in America
With others.
New York: Holt, 1963.
A minister-priest-rabbi book that views the religious press in their circles.

Vision of Utopia
With Edward Rothstein and Herbert Muschamp.
Oxford: New York, 2003.
Accompanied a New York Public Library program on Utopias.

What Do We Believe? The Stance of Religion in America
With Stuart E. Rosenberg and Andrew Greeley. Meredith, 1968.
Uses polls and survey data to come up with a picture of North American religious life.

When True Simplicity Is Gained: Finding Spiritual Clarity in a Complex World.
With Micah Marty. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1998.
Fourth photo-text volume with Micah Marty. Meditations draw on themes from classic prayers, paired with photographs from a Shaker community in Kentucky.

 


 

Some of the Books Edited by Martin Marty

The Death and Birth of the Parish
St. Louis: Concordia, 1964.

The Fundamentalism Project
Volume 1: Fundamentalisms Observed (1991)
Volume 2: Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and Education (1993)
Volume 3: Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance
(1993)
Volume 4: Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements
(1994)
Volume 5: Fundamentalisms Comprehended (1995)

All five books co-edited with R. Scott Appleby
Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Handbook of Christian Theologians
With Dean G. Peerman.
Cleveland: World, 1965; Nashville, Abingdon, 1980.

New Directions in Biblical Thought
Association, 1960.

New Theology, Numbers 1–10
Coeditor.
New York: Macmillan, 1964-73.

No Ground beneath Us
Methodist Student Movement, 1964.

The Place of Trust: Martin Luther on the Sermon on the Mount
Martin Luther.
New York: Harper, 1983.

Pushing the Faith: Proselytism and Civility in a Pluralistic World
With Frederick E. Greenspahn.
New York: Crossroad, 1988.

Our Faiths
Cathedral Publishers, 1975.

The Place of Bonhoeffer: Problems and Possibilities in His Thought
With Peter Berger.
Association, 1962.

Religion and Social Conflict
With Robert Lee.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964.

Religion, Ethnicity, and Self Identity: Nations in Turmoil
With R. Scott Appleby.
Hanover, N.H.: University of New England Press, 1997.

Religions of the World: The Illustrated Guide to Origins, Beliefs, Customs, and Festivals
New York: Facts on File, 1997.

The Unrelieved Paradox: Studies in the Faith of Franz Bibfeldt
With Jerald Brauer.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994.

The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
William James
New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

What’s Ahead for the Churches?
With Kyle Haselden.
Lanham, Md.: Sheed & Ward, 1964.

Where the Spirit Leads: American Denominations Today
Atlanta, Ga.: John Knox, 1980.

 

 

 

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