In a story full of cowboys, sheriffs, saloon girls, outlaws, gunfighters, prospectors, and stagecoach drivers, the church was, at best, the place where frightened townspeople gathered to sing hymns and await rescue by the all-too-worldly hero … ," writes Patricia Nelson Limerick in a 1996 essay "Believing in the American West." "If one went in search of the classic heroes in the mythic turf of the Old West, one would not bother to look among the clergy."

Limerick's next sentence, though, is the most intriguing: "In the quest for western heroes, there is good reason now to look in unexpected, less explored places." Good reason indeed, and if you look in this issue of Christian History, you will find some of those unexpected heroes.

The topic—Christianity in the American West—is as big as the region, and as diverse. There is no one overarching narrative like the Puritan story that dominates early New England. There is no single figure whose presence is felt throughout the region, such as George ...

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