Religion and American Politics

Description

How do religion and politics interact in America? How has that relationship changed over time? Why have American religious and political thought sometimes developed along a parallell course while at other times they have moved in opposite directions? These are among the many important and fascinating questions addressed in this volume. Originally published in 1990 as Religion and American Politics: From The Colonial Period to the 1980s (4921 paperback copies sold), this book offers the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between religion and politics in America. It features a stellar lineup of scholars, including Richard Carwardine, Nathan Hatch, Daniel Walker Howe, George Marsden, Martin Marty, Harry Stout, John Wilson, Robert Wuthnow, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Since its publication, the influence of religion on American politics--and, therefore, interest in the topic--has grown exponentially. For this new edition, Mark Noll and new co-editor Luke Harlow offer a completely new introduction, and also commission several new pieces and eliminate several that are now out of date. The resulting book offers a historically-grounded approach to one of the most divisive issues of our time, and serves a wide variety of courses in religious studies, history, and politics.

Table of Contents

A Protestant Era: Colonial Era to the Civil War
1. Religion and Politics in America from the First Settlements to the Civil War, John M. Murrin
2. Religion and Ideological Change in the American Revolution, Ruth H. Bloch
3. Rhetoric and Reality in the Early Republic: The Case of the Federalist Clergy, Harry S. Stout
4. Religion, Government, and Power in the New American Nation, John F. Wilson
5. The Democratization of Christianity and the Character of American Politics, Nathan O. Hatch
6. Religion and Politics in the Antebellum North, Daniel Walker Howe
7. Ethnoreligious Political Behavior in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Voting, Values, Culture, Robert P. Swierenga
8. Methodists, Politics, and the Coming of the American Civil War, Richard Carwardine
New Configurations
9. Slavery, Race, and Social Order in the White Christian South, Before and After the Civil War, Luke E. Harlow
10. Protestant Theological Tensions and Political Styles in the Progressive Period, Robert T. Handy
11. Roman Catholics and American Politics, 1900-1960: Altered Circumstances, Continuing Patterns, James Hennesey, S.J.
Tumults and Realignments Since World War II
12. Faith Transformed: Religion and American Politics from FDR to George W. Bush, Lyman Kellstedt, John Green, Corwin Smidt, and James Guth
13. Evangelicalism Becomes Southern, Politics Becomes Evangelical: From FDR to Ronald Reagan, Darren Dochuk
14. Viewed in Black and White: Conservative Protestantism, Racial Issues, and Oppositional Politics, Michael O. Emerson and J. Russell Hawkins
15. Roman Catholics and American Politics, 1960-2004, Peter Steinfels
16. Women, Politics, and Religion, Margaret Bendroth
Reflections
17. Contemporary Views from Abroad
A. Why It Is Difficult for European Observers to Understand the Relationship between American Politics and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, Manfred Siebald
B. American Civil Religion and George W. Bush, Sébastien Fath
C. Crusade for Freedom, Exportation of the American Model, and George W. Bush's Second Inaugural Address, Massimo Rubboli
D. For God's Sake? American Religion and Politics Viewed From Denmark, Bente Clausen
E. Australian Perspectives on American Religion and Politics in the Bush Era, Mark Hutchinson
18. Canadian Counterpoint, Mark A. Noll
19. Quid Obscurum: The Changing Terrain of Church-State Relations, Robert Wuthnow
20. Religion, Politics, and the Search for an American Consensus, George M. Marsden