This anthology presents 43 American sermons in the context of the social, cultural, and historical development of America. Two or more sermons treat the pro and con viewpoints on nineteen specific issues--from seventeenth century Puritan debates on the authority of God, to the pre-Civil War slavery controversy, to the current questions of Popular vs. Experimental Religion and race relations. Original sermons by such homilists as John Cotton, William Jennings Bryan, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Carl McIntire are reprinted. Contemporary authorities, each associated with a college or seminary, provide an introduction to each set of sermons and the issues with which these sermons are concerned. (LL)