Religion Dispatches just posted Sarah Posner’s review of  two new books on American evangelism, both from NYU Press.  

Shayne Lee and Phillip Luke Sinitiere’s Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace looks at five celebrity evangelists: Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Paula White, Brian McLaren, and Rick Warren.   (The first three appear in Sarah’s p3 book, God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters.)  Sarah concludes that Lee and Sinitiere tell us a lot about why these five are successful but don’t put enough critical pressure on their personal narratives.

Jonathan Walton’s Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism focuses on Jakes, Eddie Long, and Creflo Dollar.  Dollar happens to be my personal favorite, along with Brother Price of the Crenshaw Christian Center.  (I once heard Price say, “I prayed for five hundred dollars lump sum, but I only had fifty-cent faith!”)  Walton’s purpose is to connect these preachers and their success with their historical antecedents, including Reverend Ike, whom I dimly remember.  Referring to his faith healings, Reverend Ike tells Walton, “It’s a wonder I didn’t kill anybody.”