The divine institution : white evangelicalism's politics of the family / Sophie Bjork-James.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bjork-James, Sophie, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Families--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Families.

Evangelicalism--Political aspects--United States.

Evangelicalism.

Political theology and race--United States.

Political theology and race.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2021]

Summary:

The Divine Institution provides an account of how a theology of the family came to dominate a white evangelical tradition in the post-civil rights movement United States, providing a theological corollary to Religious Right politics. This tradition inherently enforces racial inequality in that it draws moral, religious, and political attention away from problems of racial and economic structural oppression, explaining all social problems as a failure of the individual to achieve the strong gender and sexual identities that ground the nuclear family. The consequences of this theology are both personal suffering for individuals who cannot measure up to prescribed gender and sexual roles, and political support for conservative government policies. Exposure to experiences that undermine the idea that an emphasis on the family is the solution to all social problems is causing a younger generation of white evangelicals to shift away from this narrow theological emphasis and toward a more social justice-oriented theology. The material and political effects of this shift remain to be seen.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

1. Family Values and Racial Politics

2. The Divine Institution and the Segregated Church

3. Reading the Bible with James Dobson: The Family and Christian Nationalism

4. Same-Sex Attraction and the Limits of God’s Love

5. Paternal Politics

6. Losing (and Remaking) My Religion

7. Conclusion: The Future of White Evangelicalism

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Nov 2021)

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781978824492

1978824491

OCLC:

1237408198