St. Paul/Biglerville Prize Winner Named Best Major Publication by Concordia Historical Institute During the anxiety-laden period from the Great Depression through World War II to the Cold War, Americans found a welcome escape in the new medium of radio. Throughout radio's "Golden Age," religious broadcasting in particular contributed significantly to American culture. Yet its historic role often has been overlooked. In Ministers of a New Medium , Kirk D. Farney explores the work of two groundbreaking leaders in religious broadcasting: Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier. These clergymen and professors―one a Catholic priest, the other a Lutheran minister―each led the way in combining substantive theology and emerging technology to spread the gospel over the airwaves. Through weekly nationwide broadcasts, Maier's The Lutheran Hour and Sheen's Catholic Hour attracted listeners across a spectrum of denominational and religious affiliations, establishing their hosts―and Christian radio itself―as cultural and religious forces to be reckoned with. Farney examines how Sheen and Maier used their exceptional erudition, their sensitivity to the times, their powerful communication skills, and their unwavering Christian conviction, all for the purpose of calling the souls of listeners and the soul of a nation to repentance and godliness. Their combination of talents also brought their respective denominations, Roman Catholicism and Missouri Synod Lutheranism, from the periphery of the American religious landscape to a much greater level of recognition and acceptance. With careful attention to both the theological content and the cultural influence of these masters of a new medium, Farney's study sheds new light on the history of media and Christianity in the United States. "This dual biography offers compelling portraits of Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier, each of whom had a rare ability to both cultivate and communicate theological insights. Pairing these media sensations―one Catholic, one Lutheran―allows Farney to tell a story about religion and radio in American culture that is even broader and more interesting than the sum of its parts. In an age when many lament the corrosive effect of new media on faith and morals, the efforts of Sheen and Maier to harness emerging technologies in service of their respective faith traditions offer not only an interesting story about America's past but also a measure of hope for its future." Kathleen Sprows Cummings, director of the Cushwa Center for theStudy of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame, and author of A Saint of Our Own: How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American "This gracefully written, deeply researched, and subtly argued volume illumines a strangely under-studied topic: the conjunction of the rise of electronic mass communications, the emergence of two radio celebrities from dramatically different traditions, and their role in the reception of historic Christian faith in mid-twentieth-century America. Of evangelicals such as Charles Fuller, Billy Graham, and Aimee McPherson, we already know a fair amount. But by focusing on ministries of Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier, this truly pathbreaking volume opens new avenues in our understanding of American religious history." Grant Wacker, Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Christian History at Duke Divinity School "In the most uncertain of times, Maier and Sheen indiscriminately sowed radio programs that unapologetically chose theological content, rather than shtick or sensationalism, in order to inform and inspire anyone who would listen. This engaging volume not only sheds light on the rich historical evidence related to the groundbreaking radio ministries of Maier and Sheen but also corrects much of what is assumed about the surprising successes of The Lutheran Hour and The Catholic Hour . A welcome publication in an age that attempts to reduce any explanation of lasting significance to either personality or method." Daniel N. Harmelink, executive director of the Concordia Historical Institute, Saint Louis, Missouri "This carefully researched and elegantly written study examines two major figures for US Catholics and Lutherans in the twentieth century: radio preachers who entered millions of homes with eloquent and sophisticated pastoral and theological teaching. Fulton Sheen and Walter Maier both deserve closer attention on their own, and comparing them yields new insights into the history of American Christianity. Yet given the profound changes that have occurred in Christian media globally since theirday, especially with the explosion of Pentecostal media in bewildering variety, these earlier seminal figures, here carefully analyzed, create possibilities for future comparative studies. These two cases, here compared across various registers, invite future research that could distinguish truly innovative religious media production and dissemi