Politics and Evangelical Christians

American flag

A Panel Discussion

Randall Balmer
Dartmouth College

John Fea
Messiah College

顿补迟别:听April 8, 2019

Co-sponsored withGordon-Conwell Theological Seminary听in South Hamilton, Mass.

Abstract

What is the relationship between evangelicals and politics? How do some evangelical groups think through their responsibilities to vote? What historical roots provide deeper insight into the high turnout of evangelical support for Donald Trump? Do evangelicals see voting Republican as synonymous with or tied to being a Christian and living out their faith? Randall Balmer and John Fea -- both authors of recent books covering evangelicals and American politics -- will address these questions and more at a co-sponsored event at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Speaker Bios

Randall Balmer

Randall Balmer听holds the John Phillips Chair in Religion at Dartmouth, the oldest endowed professorship at Dartmouth College. A prize-winning historian and Emmy Award nominee, Balmer earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1985 and taught as Professor of American Religious History at Columbia University for twenty-seven years before becoming the Mandel Family Professor in the Arts & Sciences at Dartmouth College in 2012. Balmer has published more than a dozen books, including听Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter,听God in the White House: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, and听The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond. His second book,听Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: AJourney into the Evangelical Subculture in America, now in its fifth edition, was made into an award-winning, three-part documentary for PBS.

John Fea

John Fea听is professor of American history at Messiah College. Fea received his Ph.D. in American history from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His interests center on early American history, American religious history, the history of religion and politics, and the place of historical thinking in a democratic society. Fea recently published听Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump听(Eerdmans Publishing, 2018), and, among his five other books, his 2011 manuscript,听Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction听(Westminster/John Knox Press), was selected as a听Choice听Outstanding Academic Title and as Religion Book of the Year (Gold Medalist) by the Association of Independent Publishers.

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Books

Bean, Lydia.听The Politics of Evangelical Identity : Local Churches and Partisan Divides in the United States and Canada. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.听听

Boerl, W Christopher, and Dovoband, Katie.听A God More Powerful Than Yours : American Evangelicals, Politics, and the Internet Age.听Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.听听

Heltzel, G Peter.听Jesus and Justice: Evangelicals, Race, and American Politics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.

Hoffman, T. Marie.听When the Roll is Called: Trauma and the Soul of American Evangelicalism. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2016.

FitzGerald, Frances.听The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America.听New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2017.

Linn, Jann.听Evangelicalism and the Decline of American Politics. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017.

Marsh, Charles.听Wayward Christian Soldiers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Articles

Coleman, Simon. 鈥淎n Empire on the Hill? The Christian Right and the Right to be Christian in America,鈥澨Anthropological Quarterly听78, no.3 (2005): 653-671.听DOI:10.1353/anq.2005.0034.

Dias, Elizabeth.听听The New York Times.听November 1, 2018.

Gerson, Michael.听听The Atlantic.听April, 2018.

Griffis, Chelsea. 鈥溾業n the Beginning Was the Word鈥: Evangelical Christian Women, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Competing Definitions of Womanhood.鈥澨Frontiers: A Journal of Women鈥檚 Studies听38, no.2, (2017): 148-172.听
DOI:10.5250/fronjwomestud.38.2.0148.

Haberman, Clyde.听听The New York Times.听October 28, 2018.

Kurtzleben, Danielle.听听NPR.听December 19, 2015.

The Editors.听听Commonweal Magazine.听July 25, 2017.

Woodward, Kenneth L.听听Commonweal Magazine.听May 7, 2018.

In the News

A听听revealed that among American religious groups, evangelical support of President Donald Trump remains strong.听According to the Pew Center's report, "Roughly seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (69%)听say they approve听of the way Trump is handling his job as president." Other religious groups are less supportive, though Catholics are still more in favor of President Trump than the religiously unaffiliated. Of the religious groups surveyed, non-white Catholics and black Protestants approve of the president least, with only 26% and 12% of those surveyed approving, respectively.