God and Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life

by Paul Kengor

For nearly three decades political observers have sought to understand the complex relationship between Hillary Clinton's faith and her politics. Now, in this first spiritual biography of the former first lady, acclaimed historian Paul Kengor sets out to answer the elusive What does Hillary Clinton believe?Based on exhaustive research, God and Hillary Clinton tells the surprising story of Hillary's spiritual evolution, detailing the interaction between her lifelong religious beliefs and her personal history that has made her the politician she is today. Offering an in-depth spiritual chronology of Clinton's life, author Paul Kengor also analyzes the fraught relationship between her faith and her secular policies—most notably how she reconciles her pro-choice stance on abortion with her Christian beliefs—and scrutinizes how these policies have changed over the course of her political career. What emerges is an unexpected portrait of a political figure whose ideals have been shaped by both the power of her politics and the depth of her religious devotion.

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Paul G. Kengor is an author and professor of political science at Grove City College and the senior director of the Institute for Faith and Freedom, a Grove City College think tank. He is a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. Kengor has focused much of his work on Ronald Reagan, faith and the presidency, conservative politics, the Cold War, Communism, and Catholicism.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have become more interested in 'spiritual biographies' in recent years, since trying to understand a person's values is--in my opinion--essential for understanding why they do the things that they do. This is my second book by Professor Kengor, and most likely my last. His first book, God and Ronald Reagan, was wonderful in its explanation of the President's Christian faith as it related to his anti-communism. Unfortunately, Professor Kengor left off any mention of the less than Christian activities undertaken by President Reagan's administration, and under his orders, in other parts of the world. The biography was incomplete, in other words. Dare I even say, dishonest.

In this book, to say that the biographer is unsympathetic is an massive understatement. First, the author admits that much of what he's writing originates from secondary sources who do not provide sources themselves (last time I checked, that was called 'gossip' in academic parlance). Part of this is because the Clintons are tough to research. Part of it is because Kengor hates Hillary Clinton, and would rather make a point at her expense than maintain any kid of intellectual rigor or honesty. So we have what's is the intellectdual equivalent of breathless whispers being presented as history.

While Professor Kengor's discussion of Hillary Clinton's life-long Methodist beliefs and practices is interesting, his disagreements with her conclusions--especially as they relate to abortion--color his analysis. There is nothing objective about this biography, in other words: the author 'reads' Hillary through his very conservative lens, and finds her abominable. This is the equivalent of a 'spiritual biography' of George W. Bush that's been written by the editors of The Nation Magazine. Howard Zinn would be proud.

A waste of my time. There isn't much that Hillary and I would agree on, but I expect more from someone posing as an academic. This one was written for the choir.

[Everydayreader1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book is informative concerning many aspects of Hillary Clinton's faith journey, with each passing page, I often found it extremely critical of her, and I couldn't help thinking the author had that agenda in mind. Of course, this may be my own bias at work since I greatly admire the former First Lady. I was relieved to finish this book, and though the author may have other good material out there, I suspect I will not read it.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A generally good overview of a complex person's spiritual life. Kengor's focus on Clinton's relationship with the Catholic Church could seem confusing to someone who isn't aware that he is a practicing Catholic himself whose faith steers a lot of what he writes.