Index of University Press Releases

Sept. 15, 2006

First film in 2006-07 McGovern Film Series Announced

MITCHELL – The first film of the 2006-07 McGovern Film Series will be “Crusade: The Life of Billy Graham,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, at the DWU Sherman Center, according to McGovern Center director Donald Simmons.

“Randall Balmer, documentary filmmaker and editor-at-large for Christianity Today, will be at Wesleyan to present and discuss his documentary,” said Simmons.

The film, which has aired on PBS and A&E’s Biography series, is an in-depth look at the life of one of the world’s most influential spiritual leaders. Those in attendance will have the opportunity to ask Balmer questions about the film and its content after the film presentation.

A professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University, Balmer will also discuss his new book, “Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America.” The book is a critique of the religious right, written from the perspective of an evangelical believer. The first line of the book reads: “I write as a jilted lover.”

Balmer will read and sign his new book at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 22, at the Java City coffee bar in the McGovern Library at DWU. Before the reading, a limited number of copies of “Thy Kingdom Come” will be for sale at the campus bookstore in the library.

“Randall Balmer is one of the foremost authorities of the evangelical movement and religious right,” said DWU President Bob Duffett. “He writes from the unusual perch in that he is both participant and critic.

“He puts together the best of historical analysis with theological insight that arises from the lived experience of faith,” said Duffett.

Balmer has published widely both in academic and scholarly journals, and in the popular press. He is editor-at-large for Christianity Today, and his commentaries on religion in America, distributed by the New York Times Syndicate, have appeared in newspapers across the country. One of his essays, “Adirondack Fundamentalism,” appears in the Ninth Edition of “The Norton Reader.” His first book, “A Perfect Babel of Confusion: Dutch Religion and English Culture in the Middle Colonies,” won several awards, and his second book, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America,” was made into a three-part documentary for PBS. Balmer was nominated for an Emmy for his script-writing and for hosting that series.

Balmer has co-written a history of American Presbyterians, a book on mainline Protestantism, and another book, “Protestantism in America.” His most recent books are “Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism”, published by Baylor University Press, and “Religion in Twentieth Century America,” part of the Religion in American Life series, published by Oxford University Press. Balmer is currently writing a history of religion and the presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush (Harper San Francisco). A spiritual memoir, “Growing Pains: Learning to Love My Father’s Faith,” published by Brazos Press in the fall of 2001, was named Book of the Year by Christianity Today.

The second film in the series will be the South Dakota premiere of “One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern,” which will be shown as part of the McGovern Library dedication the first weekend in October.