Televangelism: Power and Politics on God`s Frontier

[contents]

Acknowledgements

Ch 1: Getting Saved from the Televangelists

Ch 2: "God Bless Our President . . ." and Other Revolutionary Ideas

Ch 3: Communications Revolution and the Rise of the New Christian Right

Ch 4: We're Mad As Hell and We're Not Going to Take It Anymore!

Ch 5: The Other Americans

Ch 6: Legitimizing the Movement

Ch 7: In My Father's House . ..

Ch 8: Is Anybody Listening? The Great Audience-size Debate

Starting in the predawn hours of each Sunday morning, the largest religious gathering in America takes place, drawing almost 130 million people to their radio and television sets. What happens is both exciting and miraculous. It involves a new approach to the problem as old as the Bible: how to introduce struggling, helpless individuals to a loving God who wants them to meet Him and be born again. This amazing event takes place every week, all week, from early Sunday morning through the final midnight stroke on Saturday night. Making this possible is the awesome technology of broadcasting, which many consider to be one of the major miracles of modern times; and making it meaningful is the overwhelming love of a God who cares passionately about each one of the world's four billion people. I believe that God has raised up this powerful technology expressly to reach every man, woman, boy, and girl on earth with the even more powerful message of the gospel. --Ben Armstrong, Executive Director, National Religious Broadcasters

Notes

Ch 9: Politics As the Instrument of a New Ecumenical Movement

10.

Ch 10: Pat Who?

11.

Ch 11: The March of Folly

12.

Ch 12: Is There Not a Cause?

13.

Ch 13: The Road to the White House

14.

Ch 14: A Strategy for Victory

15.

Ch 15: The American Cultural Revolution: The Next Step

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Notes

[1]

Epigraph: Ben Armstrong, The Electric Church (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1979), p. 7. Peter V. Boyer, "TV Turning to People Meters to Find Out Who Watches What," New York Times, June 1, 1987.

[2]

Ben Armstrong, The Electric Church (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1979), p. 9ff.

[3]

Ibid., p. 122.

[4]

Jeffrey K. Hadden and Charles E. Swann, Prime Time Preachers: The Rising Power of Televangelism (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1981), p. 47.

[5]

William C. Martin, "The Birth of a Media Myth," The Atlantic, June 1981, pp. 7, 10-11, 16.

[6]

Ibid., p. 11.

[7]

Jeffrey K. Hadden and Charles E. Swann, p. 50.

[8]

William F. Fore, "A Critical Eye on Televangelism," Christian Century, September 23, 1981, p. 940.

[9]

See Jeffrey K. Hadden and Razelle Frankl, "Star Wars of a Different Kind: Reflections on the Politics of the Religion and Television Research Project," Review of Religious Research, 29/2 (December) 1987, pp. 101-110.

[10]

George Gerbner et al., Religion and Television: A Research Report by the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania and The Gallup Organization, April 1984.

[11]

The Gallup Organization report was coauthored by Harry E. Cotugno and Robert Wuthnow.

[12]

William F. Fore, "There is No Such Thing as a TV Pastor," TV Guide, July 19, 1980, p. 15.

[13]

William F. Fore, "Religion and Television: Report on the Research," Christian Century, July 18-24, 1984, p. 711.

[14]

David W. Clark and Paul H. Virts, "Religious Television Audience: A New Development in Measuring Audience Size." Unpublished paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Savannah, GA, October 25, 1985. William Behanna discussed the methodology of the study for A. C. Nielsen Company.

[[196]]

Reported in Washington Post, "TV Ratings," November 13, 1985.

[[197]]

George Gallup, Jr., "Demand for Fundraising Disclosure," Washington Post, May 23, 1987.

[15]

Data provided by the Arbitron Company.

[16]

Alvin D. Sanoff, "Zapping the TV Network," U.S. News and World Report, June 1, 1987, p. 56. Data source: Capital Cities/ABC Inc.

[17]

Arbitron figures reported here and below are based on the authors' research utilizing syndicate program analysis books in the Arbitron library in New York City.

[18]

The Nielsen/CBN data reported here are courtesy of CBN.

[19]

People, April 13, 1987, p. 46.

University of Virginia Library

Notes