Countercultural Conservatives

by Schafer, Axel R.

• ISBN13: 9780299285241
• ISBN10: 0299285243
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-13
• Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Summary

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 Countercultural ConservativesAxel Schäfer 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, Schäfer argues. For all their strict Biblicism and uncompromising morality, evangelicals absorbed and extended key aspects of the countercultural worldview. Carefully examining evangelicalism's internal dynamics, fissures, and coalitions, this book offers an intriguing reinterpretation of the most important development in American religion and politics since World War II.

Author Biography

Axel R. Schfer is director of the David Bruce Centre for American Studies at Keele University, UK, and author of American Progressives and German Social Reform, 1875-1920.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Beyond the "Backlash"	p. 3
The Enigma of Conservative Protestantism	p. 15
The Postwar Neo-Evangelical Awakening	p. 42
The Evangelical Left and the 1960s	p. 69
The Rise of the Christian Right	p. 111
Conclusion: New Perspectives on American Evangelicalism	p. 151
Notes	p. 161
Bibliography	p. 193
Index	p. 213
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.