Kirk D. Farney has made a significant contribution to the scholarship on religion and mass media in his recent book, Ministers of a New Medium: Broadcasting Theology in the Radio Ministries of Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier. It might be better to say that he has made many contributions.
First, the two cases, Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Rev. Walter A. Maier, were significant religious leaders often overlooked in contemporary scholarship. Perhaps because of his reputation as a Catholic televangelist, Sheen seems like a theological lightweight and Cold Warrior in comparison to the more serious, Kennedy-endorsed Fr. John Courtney Murray, SJ, or the scurrilous antisemitism of Fr. Charles Coughlin. Maier languishes in obscurity while more familiar Protestant figures like Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Billy Graham take the spotlight. Farney effectively illustrates that both Sheen and Maier had significant theological training that they concentrated into popular radio programs for broader audiences. Indeed, to accomplish what they did necessitated such training.
Another major contribution is in Farney's analysis of how Sheen and Maier used radio as a medium. Radio dominated mass media among consumers from the 1920s until the 1950s, and it provided an incredible reach for two sets of immigrant populations seeking to reconcile their minority religious faiths with the broader American mainstream. Irish, German, Italian, and other ethnic Catholics looked to Sheen as an authentically American voice who testified to their loyalty to their country during times of crisis, while Maier did the same for German Lutherans facing not only the Great Depression and the Second World War but the in-fighting between modernists and fundamentalists of American Protestant denominations. Even scholars of religion too often assume that a Protestant sect gains easier acceptance into American culture, but German Lutherans did not, especially during a period when the United States fought Germany in two major wars in quick succession. It is worth remembering that vigilante groups like the American Protective League and the Sedition Slammers targeted German immigrants in the Midwest during the First World War. In addition, mainstream American Protestantism worshiped in English, while German Lutherans worshiped in German, emphasizing, like the Catholic Mass in Latin, the “foreign” origins of the two faiths.
Perhaps the most important contribution of Farney's book is in how Sheen and Maier preached. Both clergymen did not seek to pander to religious audiences to secure donations to build up their own churches or their own bank accounts. Rather, they preached in a way to teach the listeners. While not always “high-brow,” they were at least elevated in their literary, theological, and philosophical references designed to provide everyday listeners with just enough sophistication to educate while entertaining—while also proving that these immigrant peoples were just as smart as the divines at Princeton Theological Seminary.
These efforts also included an emphasis on pious patriotism. Today, many are accustomed to the invocation of religious faith as a kind of partisan wedge issue designed to divide friend from enemy. Farney reveals that Sheen and Maier charted the more difficult course of defending America's virtues and criticizing America's vices. Patriotism, for both men, was a love of country one found first in love of God, and to love God means to pursue justice in one's country. For this reason, Sheen and Maier took risks in alienating listeners by not satisfying their baser instincts, and it is because of their gifts that Sheen and Maier could succeed in this endeavor. Farney does not mention Coughlin much in the book, but Sheen had to preach against Coughlin's fascist rhetoric without naming him. He succeeded, but this victory was not certain during the late 1930s when Coughlin's audience was just as large as Sheen's.
For this reason, Farney's book is important for juxtaposing Sheen and Maier against so-called contemporary “Catholic integralists” and “Christian nationalists,” who use religious arguments for illiberal policies and even authoritarian regimes. Moreover, especially given the recent publication of books on religious illiberalism, scholars of American religion and politics should take note of American clergy who have pushed back hard against fascism and racism, sometimes at great risk to themselves. As I have argued in my own work, Sheen was an antinationalist, believing it was the elevation of the state to the role of the church and enlisting the church in service to that state. Maier preached much the same, as Farney demonstrates in detail.
A final note is that Farney published this book on IVP Academic, and secular academics are often averse to assigning or reading books from presses with a religious mission. Doing in so in this case would be a grave error, as Farney's book bears the hallmarks of a serious academic achievement. He has unearthed largely untouched archives of Maier's and Sheen's, and the Sheen archives are unfortunately scattered across a few institutions, and with the bulk of them destroyed at his request upon his passing. We scholars owe Farney a debt of gratitude for such excellent archival work, as well in his seamless integration of academic literature on communications, theology, and history.
