tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post931343092584216649..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: Christian Nation, Christian LibertarianismPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-71172488323795496142015-04-18T21:18:52.235-06:002015-04-18T21:18:52.235-06:00Lincoln: Politico has a piece about Kruse's bo...Lincoln: Politico has a piece about Kruse's book up now. Pretty decent. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/corporate-america-invented-religious-right-conservative-roosevelt-princeton-117030_full.html#.VTLUliFVikoGadflyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13075757287807731373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-38388188210152948032015-04-06T16:52:19.312-06:002015-04-06T16:52:19.312-06:00Oh, to your idea of competing ideas of Christianne...Oh, to your idea of competing ideas of Christianness, Joe: I'm not entirely sure where the Protestant Christian left written about by David Swartz in <i>Moral Minority</i> or the Catholic left of Dorothy Day and the <i>Catholic Worker</i> fit in here. I'd have to think more about that.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06130738672087808415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-60573025597437494392015-04-06T16:47:23.641-06:002015-04-06T16:47:23.641-06:00Jonathan, Kristi, and Gadfly: Thanks for the addit...Jonathan, Kristi, and Gadfly: Thanks for the additional suggestions. <br /><br />Joe: I think you are correct that there are (or at least were) competing discourses about what a "Christian nation" might mean. Certainly, the fusion of the political right with the Christian nation idea is not thoroughly consistent on libertarianism. That is, it might favor hands-off on the economy but a strong protection for traditional morality. But the heirs of the mainline Protestant traditions now seem thoroughly pluralist, which undercuts any notion that Christianity is uniquely foundational to American politics.<br /><br />By the way, all my syllabi are <a href="http://lincolnmullen.com/teaching/" rel="nofollow">available here</a>.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06130738672087808415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-9034677295633174802015-04-03T18:13:51.121-06:002015-04-03T18:13:51.121-06:00A different angle on the origin of US identity ind...A different angle on the origin of US identity indeed, but as a "bookender" to this book, I offer "One Nation Under Gods." Note that "s" at the end.<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/One-Nation-Under-Gods-American/dp/031610003XGadflyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13075757287807731373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-22411490609844706312015-04-03T12:05:38.709-06:002015-04-03T12:05:38.709-06:00Steven Green's forthcoming book, Inventing a C...Steven Green's forthcoming book, Inventing a Christian America (Oxford, July 2015), should be a nice conversation piece with Kruse's work.Kristihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07986377137532785981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-30314962468086377102015-04-03T11:02:06.768-06:002015-04-03T11:02:06.768-06:00Lincoln,
Bingo! THANK YOU for offering the perspec...Lincoln,<br />Bingo! THANK YOU for offering the perspective of the 19th century, which gives a much wider perspective than Kruse offers. I think your review nicely balances the 19th century corrective with the recognition that there were innovative developments in the post-World War II setting.<br /><br />And, if people wanted to read even farther back into discussions about Christianity and the State, I think there's a new book out about "Federalist Politics and Religious Struggle in the New Nation." ;-) Mentioning Chancellor Kent forces me to point out that he was a Federalist and a good friend of John Jay.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14372548161435515544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-75953642307236803952015-04-03T11:00:59.121-06:002015-04-03T11:00:59.121-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14372548161435515544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-81780174497739248822015-04-02T09:43:50.485-06:002015-04-02T09:43:50.485-06:00Hi Lincoln, I asked this on facebook, where Abby r...Hi Lincoln, I asked this on facebook, where Abby reminded me that you are not: these are helpful categories for thinking about the different ways America's "Christian-ness" has been thought/deployed. I was wondering if you might say, though, that the identification of Christianity with libertarianism is not as ascendant in the 20th c. and today as the reviewed book makes it sound. i.e. Could you go even further and say that the contrary discourse you locate in the 19th c. (Christianity as virtually-established civil religion, guarantor of morality, etc.) still survives and competes with the discourse of Christianity-as-libertarianism/ resistance to government intrusion? Coming from someone who knows nothing about American history, this seems like it would explain a lot about political Christianity today, and would make your contribution--the genealogy of the older discourse--even more valuable. But maybe I'm saying something painfully obvious, or already implied in the post... <br /><br />cordially, <br />joe peterson<br /><br />p.s. I'd love to see your syllabi for those courses. I'm trying to devise a course on religion and politics in the Modern "West" (19th and 20th c., putting European thinkers and debates in conversation with American ones, maybe introducing thoughts about challenges faced by Muslim communities in the West at the end), but I'm pretty weak on the American side of things. Joe Petersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01546061320484621611noreply@blogger.com