Brett Grainger
In The World But Not Of It
One Family’s Militant Faith and the History of Fundamentalism in America
Brett Grainger
A memorable new voice traces the story of American fundamentalism through the transcendent lens of his own family experience.
Brett Grainger’s grandparents, members of the Plymouth Brethren, believed devoutly that Jesus would return and rapture them to Heaven; when he didn’t, their lives collapsed. Grainger’s father, having fled his parents’ extremism, underwent his own conversion in later life. Grainger, too, journeyed away from faith—and yet, two decades later, he found a different way back to the church, seeking a balance between extremes. Using these powerful family pathways as a catalyst, he has crafted a clear-eyed chronicle of fundamentalism in American history, revealing it to be far richer and more complex than the word itself evokes today.
Exploring both its deep roots and present reality, interweaving his family’s memorable story, Grainger illuminates several major themes in American fundamentalism, including the devotion to biblical literalism, an idea nourished by the writings of 19th-century preacher John Nelson Darby; the experience of sudden, personal transformation known as “getting saved;” the paradox of creation science; and above all, the unrelenting pursuit of purity that divides believers into separatists—who shun the sullied compromises of politics—and activists—who fight to bring society under the yoke of divine law—all in the name of being “in the world but not of it.”
Writing with a passion and conviction born of personal experience, Brett Grainger sheds new light on American religious history, and offers an invaluable understanding of the many facets of fundamentalism today.
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Brett Grainger has, over the past decade, explored the intersection of religion and politics for a variety of magazines, newspapers, and public radio. Formerly a producer for National Public Radio, he has also been an editor at Sojourners, a magazine of religion, politics, and culture. Grainger holds a masters degree from Harvard Divinity School, where he studied global fundamentalist movements with Harvey Cox. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and this is his first book.
In the world but not of it
