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Then there's William Seymour, who is considered one of the founders of the American Pentecostal movement. He presided over the legendary Azusa Street revival, in 1906, which brought together blacks, Hispanics, and whites during a time when people weren't interested in interracial gatherings.

And finally, Albert Cleage, a fiery preacher who became a pioneering voice among black nationalists. In the '60s, Cleage presented the idea of Christ as a black man. He was picking up on what Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, another outspoken nationalist, talked about back at the end of the 1800s—that God is God to all people, which is a pretty threatening message to the powers that be if you're living in a society based on racial superiority.

How has this book affected you?

In my own life experience, my relationship with God has been key, but I always thought of it as a relatively private thing. Most people who know me as a political journalist don't think of me as a guy with a deep spiritual life, even though I attend church regularly.

But all of a sudden I write this book, and in terms of the interviews, the audiences at book signings, the speeches and opportunities that have come as a result of it, I am knocked out by how central faith is to so many people's lives and how the question of faith in American life—even in postmodern America 2003—has a power that is truly awe inspiring.

Edward Gilbreath is managing editor of Christianity Today's sister publication Christian Reader.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

This Far by Faith is available at Christianbook.com.

In 1999 Christianity Today sister publication Books & Culturereviewed Williams' Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary.

For more CT book reviews, see our books archive.

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June 2003, Vol. 47, No. 6