"Baptist Battles" explains the roots of the conflict seen today in the Southern Baptist Convention. This conflict began in 1979, and resulted in the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC. The author studied that conflict from a social scientist perspective, and reports her findings in this book. The description of the conflict and struggle for power is fascinating. All Baptists should read this book in order to fully understand the fighting in the convention today.

This is a good book, and I recommend it, but it's not perfect. Although Ammerman did a lot of ethnographic work, it seems like she relies mostly on interview material rather than direct observation, and that was sort of frustrating. I have to assume that if what she was told by her subjects had contradicted what she saw, she would have said so, but I still found myself wishing I had a clearer picture of daily life in the congregation. Still, I don't know of a better book on the same subject -- that such a good book as this has these limitations only shows how difficult a subject it was to tackle.

Having read dozens of books on evangelical Christianity and Fundamentalism for my Masters Degree, this one truly stands out. Nancy Ammerman spent months with a medium-sized fundamentalist Church in New England, observing services, attending meetings, and interviewing members of the congregation. The result is this fine book that very fairly points out some of the successes and flaws of this church, and fundamentalism in general. It is well-footnoted and easy to read, quite an accomplishment in an academic book. I highly recommend it.

This book provides a step-by-step process for analyzing a congregation-- its theology, context, culture and identity, dynamics, resources, and leadership. For church leaders looking for ways to figure out what's *really* been happening in a congregation, what its mission might be, and where it might be headed, this is a valuable book!