Handbook of Denominations in the United States

This book is an extremely valuable resource to quickly understand the basic beliefs of a denominations, especially those that set them apart from others. This book covers a vast number of denominations, obviously not complete but close to it. Each one typically has a statistic giving its popularity, followed by a short (typically no longer than 3 or 4 pages, but sometimes shorter) summary of the denominational history and distinctives. Having used it to look at a few denominations with which I am familiar and many with which I am not, the authors appear to have painstakingly made the summaries as unbiased and fair as possible. Oftentimes, they quote directly from official denominational literature. I also appreciate the appendices which refer the researcher to further information on a particular denomination.The large denominational categories covered, with many subcategories each are:1. Adventist2. Baptist3. Brethren and Pietist Churches4. Catholic Churches5. Christian Church (Stone-Campbell Movement)6. Congregational Churches7. Episcopal/Anglican Churches8. Friends (Quakers)9. Fundamentalist/Bible Churches10. Holines Churches11. Islam12. Judaism13. Latter-day Saints (Mormons)14. Lutherans15. Mennonite Churches16. Methodist Churches17. Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches18. Pentecostal Churches19. Presbyterian Churches20. Reformed Churches21. Salvation Army22. Spiritualist and Theosophical BodiesThere are many others that cannot be put under these broad categories that are too numerous to mention here. This book appears to have succeeded in what it set out to accomplish: give a concise but accurate depiction of various church sects throughout the United States.

I was craving a book that would objectively give me information about the denominations in our country. I wasn't looking for a novel on each denomination, just a solid background sketch, and this book does just that. It really has any denomination you could want info on, and is organized just beautifully. It gives membership statistics of each denomination, and hte historical info as well as theological positions of each denomination is outstanding. Praise God for this book. It will be on my shelf within reach for decades to come.

This wonderful book is one that clearly lives up to its title. In a small, easy-to-digest format, it lists all of the major (and quite a few minor) religious groups found within the United States. While focusing primarily on Christian denominations, it does cover such non-Christian organizations as the Bahai, Muslims, spiritualists, and a few others. The text, ranging from half a page for certain small groups, to 25 pages for the Baptists (a large and varied collection of churches), tries to give a history of the denomination and a brief introduction to their theology.For my own purposes, I found this book to be a most excellent resource. While it is too small to go into any depth on any one denomination, it's breadth does mean that you can quickly and easily look up just about any denomination and get useful information on it. Plus, I must say that I appreciate that the authors have gone to great pains to present each denomination in an objective manner, which allows me to place great confidence in their book.So, if you are looking for a book that will give you a quick introduction to just about *any* denomination, then I can't recommend any book more highly than this one!

Our church pulled out of the United Church of Christ last year, and our denomination search committee needed a resource to get more information. We were very happy to find this book. At your finger tips are brief sketches of practically every major religious group in the United States. Some of the essays are very brief in nature, while others are pages long. Still, it is an excellent starting point, and for most people who just want the basic facts, it is all the information a person could want on the religious movements in the country. And one of the other things I like about the book is that as far as it it is possible, the authors take a very objective position. No trace of bias or sectarian coloring mars the book, as far as I can tell. There is no way of discerning which denominational perspective the authors write from, and that's the way I like it.

I have gone through 3 editions of this book (5th, 6th and 8th) and can't wait to get the new one. Extremely informative about the history of the "denominations within denominations" that people in our circle of friends and neighbors may belong to. I found it very helpful to read the reasons behind the various splits which have occurred in almost every denomination, yet all this information is concise and easy to find. I am always skeptical when a new editor comes on board, yet Samuel S. Hill's contributions are seamless, and the Handbook of Denominations retains its high quality.