Politics and the End of the World

David Walsh, editor of History News Network, recently interviewed Matthew Avery Sutton, who teaches history at Washington State. Sutton wrote a 2009 book on the female evangelist and Los Angeles sensation, Aimee Semple McPherson in 2009. Walsh’s interview comes as Sutton is finishing a forthcoming monograph called American Evangelicals and the Politics of Apocalypse. This should be a fascinating read. Here’s a taste of this insightful interview that you can find here:

Walsh:

Let’s discuss the political implications. One of the direct consequences of millenialist theology was the rise of conservative fundamentalist Christianity in America. What can we expect today?

Sutton:
This is where I, as an historian, need to be a bit careful. In the Times, I wrote that throughout the twentieth century, when we have a so-called liberal president, there seems to be a rise in apocalyptic thinking among evangelicals on the heels of that. We had Roosevelt and a major rise in apocalyptic thinking. Then it sort of subsides until the 1960s, as things get crazy with the student movements, with Vietnam, we then see a rise again in apocalyptic thinking, especially in response to the Great Society. The symbol of that, for me, is the publication in 1970 of Hal Lindsey’s The Late, Great Planet Earth, which was the best-selling nonfiction book of the decade. And then it subsides in the 1980s and 1990s, but then during the Clinton years Tim LaHaye publishes the novel Left Behind, which became another insane phenomenon. The whole series revolved around the scenario I outlined earlier: the Rapture, the Tribulation, the rise of the Antichrist, the Battle of Armageddon, the Second Coming. But it subsides a bit during the Bush administration ...

What's an Evangelical to do? NPR spotlights Evangelicals, Mormons, and Political Relationships

A recent NPR piece highlighted the conundrum that evangelicals might face in 2012. What if Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee? Romney’s faith poses a problem, of course, for evangelicals who, according to Patrick Mason of Claremont University, believe Mormons are contributing to the “erosion” of American society and are “challenging the authority of traditional Christianity.” Yet when it comes to political battles, evangelicals have been known to align themselves with questionable company if it might mean winning on larger issues. We’ve seen more evangelical-Catholic agreement on social/moral issues and many evangelicals were willing to get in bed with McCain in ‘08 because he shared conservatives’ social convictions – even though Obama was more open about his Christian faith. So while Mormonism may be viewed as a radical threat to historic Christian orthodoxy, Romney may represent the best chance evangelicals have to oust the current administration. You can find the piece here.

In a related piece, NPR's Guy Raz interviewed Quin Monson, associate political science professor at Brigham Young University, about the relationship between Mormons and the GOP. Find this story here.

Michael Kazin on Ken Burns, Prohibition and Abortion

I'm a Ken Burns fan, but in a review of his new documentary on Prohibition, Burns gets mixed reviews. Michael Kazin, history professor at Georgetown University, offers the review on the New Republic here. He also describes how the movement for a dry America parallels the contemporary anti-abortion effort.

Islam, Evangelicals, and the Virtues of the Historical Method

The historical method inevitably moves us toward greater degrees of critical awareness not only about societies of the past, but of the present as well.

It teaches us to deconstruct, to question, to be skeptical. It requires us to be ruthless in the search for truth. More than this, if we’re honest, the historical method invites us to be self-critical as well. I’m not talking about this in the popular sense – of constantly getting down on oneself. Rather, this means that we allow ourselves to ruthlessly apply the same sense of skepticism and critical thinking to ourselves and our own history – one might call it self-deconstructing. While this might sound negative, its actually quite liberating. In fact, its required if we are to fruitfully engage our own society in helpful and appropriate ways. This is why I find Thomas Kidd’s (Baylor University) new book, American Christians and Islam: Evangelical Culture and Muslims from the Colonial Period to the Age of Terrorism, so absolutely essential. Kidd’s analysis does not argue how American Christians should respond to Muslims. Rather, he describes the historical reasons why they respond to Islam in the way they do. In short, Kidd’s book is a valuable tool that can help us practice the healthy kind of self-criticism. That is, the understanding we need to be reflective individuals, mindful of how we approach the “other” (in this case Muslims) and the historical reasons for why we often respond the way we do.

Goshen College Tragedy

About a year ago, the campus where I teach (Grace College) was hit with tragedy when one of our students was killed near our campus in Winona Lake. Now our thoughts and prayers are with the folks at Goshen College, where long time Biology professor, Jim Miller was killed during a home invasion. Last night the Goshen community gathered for an emotional vigil.

The Best and Worst of Evangelical Voices in the Public Square

I mentioned in an earlier post that evangelicals in America, despite what we sometimes hear, are a very diverse crowd. Sometimes that diversity is evident in the degree of sophistication that evangelicals bring to the public sphere. I was reminded of this fact this morning during media coverage of the battle for the GOP nomination. Just after introducing Rick Perry to a gathering of Christian conservatives, Southern Baptist Convention pastor Robert Jeffress weighed in on Mitt Romney’s LDS faith, using the label of “cult” to refer to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jeffress’ comment is typical of the right wing of the evangelical political spectrum, where such loaded and simplistic generalizations are routine. In contrast to Jeffress, we find Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Seminary, articulately countering the accuracy of Jeffress’ labeling. In this case, the diversity is not over specific issues, theology, or even who evangelicals should vote for. Rather it can be seen in the manner in which these two individuals engage in the public square. When so many evangelicals seem inclined toward Jeffress’ predictable caricatures, Mouw’s example of civil and intelligent discourse is certainly refreshing.

CFH in Mexico 5: Anabaptists and Evangelicals

Looking over the program for the conference, one of the presentations I was most interested in hearing was Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas’ paper, “Between Legalism and Liberalism: The Brethren in Christ, the New Evangelicals, and the Rhetoric of Religious Identity in Postwar America.” Devin is a graduate student at Temple University who is working on the Anabaptist-evangelical relationship in the context of the Brethren in Christ denomination. This is something that David Cramer and I are particularly interested in. Devin’s paper was insightful and informative and his thesis will be a nice addition to the developing literature on the topic. You can download a copy of Devin's paper at: http://temple.academia.edu/DevinCManzulloThomas. By the way, Devin has a blog I would recommend for all things Brethren in Christ: The Search for Piety and Obedience.

CFH in Mexico 4: Moravians?

I must admit, I didn’t think anyone would even know who the Moravians were, but one Mexican undergraduate student who attended my paper asked specifically how the Moravians compared with Quakers. Turns out he is working on a thesis on New England!

CFH in Mexico 3: The sights (and smells) of the Spanish Inquisition

The conference was held in the 16th century Palace of the Inquisition, which housed accused heretics as they waited trial. The Plaza of Santo Domingo is across the street. Those condemned were burned in this square – at least until too many people complained about the smell and they subsequently moved the burn site outside the city limits.