Preacher: Billy Sunday and Big-Time American Evangelism

So a young Carl Sandburg described Billy Sunday, who biographer Bruns credits as the great grandfather of contemporary evangelicals such as Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Falwell, Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, and the Bakkers (Sandburg quoted on p. 193; Sunday as forerunner, pp. 301-306). Sunday's bodily contortions, his fire-and-brimstone sermon style, and his out-of-control tongue--he advocated shooting all liberals, referred to nonfundamentalist Christians as hellhounds, was an enthusiastic supporter of WWI, proclaiming that he wished he could go to Europe and kill Germans, and waved the American flag (literally) while perched on his pulpit--earned him the "bughouse peddler" label. Sunday's story, in many ways, underscores that Christian fundamentalism today is very much like the fundamentalism Sunday preached. The same culture wars involving biblical literalism, evolution, liberal democracy, sexual mores, and country right-or-wrong conservatism were fought by Sunday--indeed, if Bruns is correct, some of them were practically invented by Sunday. Moreover, his organizational skills in his across-the-nation revival meetings set the stage for the incredibly sophisticated fundamentalist radio and television ministries today. In this regard, Sunday was a prophet. Unfortunately, however, as Bruns abundantly documents, Sunday was also a prophet for a close-minded, intolerant, and sometimes hate-mongering fundamentalism. He was a barely literate man who hated too widely and too fiercely, and he didn't hesitate to use the revivalist stage as a bully pulpit for thundering his dislikes. In many ways, according to Bruns, the slightly toxic legacy of Sunday is still with us. An excellent book, well-documented, well-written, and well-argued. Especially fascinating are Bruns' chapters (7 and 11, respectively) dealing with Sunday's obsessive war against alcohol (a war all the more poignant given that two of his sons because adult alcoholics) and his intense and vehement militarism. Bruns' depiction of Sunday is sure to raise the hackles of true believers. But it's an eminently accurate one.