Countercultural conservatives : American evangelism from the postwar revival to the New Christian Right / Axel R. Schäfer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schäfer, Axel R.

Series:

Studies in American thought and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evangelicalism--United States--History--20th century.

Evangelicalism.

Christian conservatism.

History.

United States.

Christian conservatism--United States--History--20th century.

Christianity and politics--United States--History--20th century.

Christianity and politics.

Physical Description:

xi, 225 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, [2011]

Summary:

Today Christian evangelicals seem to be a solid conservative bloc-but it was not always so. In the mid-twentieth century, far more evangelicals supported such "liberal" causes as peace, social justice, and environmental protection. Only gradually did the conservative evangelical faction win dominance, allying with the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan and, eventually, George W. Bush.

In Countercuitural Conservatives Axel Schafer traces the evolution of a diffuse and pluralistic movement into the political force of the New Christian Right. In forging its complex theological and political identity, evangelicalism did not simply reject the ideas of 1960s counterculture, Schafer argues. For all their strict Biblicism and uncompromising morality, evangelicals absorbed and extended key aspects of the counter-cultural worldview.

Carefully examining evangelicalism's internal dynamics, fissures, and coalitions, this book offers an intriguing re interpretation of the most important development in American religion and politics since World War II. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Enigma of Conservative Protestantism 15

2 The Postwar Neo-Evangelical Awakening 42

3 The Evangelical Left and the 1960s 69

4 The Rise of the Christian Right 111.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780299285241

0299285243

OCLC:

721888139