If you still hold the notion that the fifties were the "good old days,"  blessed with incomparable social affluence and widespread family unity,  all buttressed by a strong, unconflicted spirituality, then look again.  In this compelling narrative of religion in a decade still embraced by  an indefatigable nostalgia, Robert Ellwood interrogates the notion of  the fifties as an era of normalcy, and proves it to be full of spiritual  strife.A companion to his Sixties Spiritual Awakening, Ellwood  explores the major Catholic-Protestant tensions of the decade, the  conflict between theology and popular faith, and the underground forms  of fifties religiosity like "Beat" Zen, UFO contactees, Thomas Merton  monasticism, and the Joseph Campbell / Carl Jung revival of mythology.  Ellwood frames his detailed and lively account with the provocative idea  of the fifties as a "supply-side" free enterprise spiritual  marketplace, with heady competition between religious groups and  leaders, and with church attendance at a record high.In addition to  challenging an idealistic fifties cultural milieu, the book analyzes  American religious responses to key historical events like the Korean  War, McCarthyism, and the civil rights movement, turning a religious  lens on the cultural history of the United States.

The fifties spiritual marketplace: American religion in a decade of conflict PDF

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