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Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the Present
How do religion and politics interact in America? How has that relationship changed over time? Why have American religious and political thought sometimes developed along a parallell course while at other times they have moved in opposite directions? These are among the many important and
fascinating questions addressed in this volume. Originally published in 1990 as Religion and American From The Colonial Period to the 1980s (4921 paperback copies sold), this book offers the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between religion and politics in America. It
features a stellar lineup of scholars, including Richard Carwardine, Nathan Hatch, Daniel Walker Howe, George Marsden, Martin Marty, Harry Stout, John Wilson, Robert Wuthnow, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Since its publication, the influence of religion on American politics--and, therefore, interest in
the topic--has grown exponentially. For this new edition, Mark Noll and new co-editor Luke Harlow offer a completely new introduction, and also commission several new pieces and eliminate several that are now out of date. The resulting book offers a historically-grounded approach to one of the most
divisive issues of our time, and serves a wide variety of courses in religious studies, history, and politics.
fascinating questions addressed in this volume. Originally published in 1990 as Religion and American From The Colonial Period to the 1980s (4921 paperback copies sold), this book offers the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between religion and politics in America. It
features a stellar lineup of scholars, including Richard Carwardine, Nathan Hatch, Daniel Walker Howe, George Marsden, Martin Marty, Harry Stout, John Wilson, Robert Wuthnow, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Since its publication, the influence of religion on American politics--and, therefore, interest in
the topic--has grown exponentially. For this new edition, Mark Noll and new co-editor Luke Harlow offer a completely new introduction, and also commission several new pieces and eliminate several that are now out of date. The resulting book offers a historically-grounded approach to one of the most
divisive issues of our time, and serves a wide variety of courses in religious studies, history, and politics.
520 pages, Hardcover
First published November 9, 1989
About the author
Mark A. Noll
125 books217 followersMark A. Noll (born 1946), Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, is a progressive evangelical Christian scholar. In 2005, Noll was named by Time Magazine as one of the twenty-five most influential evangelicals in America. Noll is a prolific author and many of his books have earned considerable acclaim within the academic community.
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
, a book about the anti-intellectual tendencies within the American evangelical movement, was featured in a cover story in the popular American literary and cultural magazine, Atlantic Monthly. He was awarded a National Humanities Medal in the Oval Office by President George W. Bush in 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 14, 2018
Ruth H. Bloch, "Religion and Ideological Change in the American Revolution," in Mark A. Noll, ed., Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1980s (New York, 1990), 44-61.
In this contribution to intellectual history, Bloch joins a long line of historians in examining the impact of religion on the ideology of the Revolution. Starting with the Revolutionary clergy themselves, the role of religion in the Revolution has been a continuous debate. Since the Progressive Historians derogated the role of religion in favor of more materialist explanations, there has been a revival of emphasis on the role of religion in the revolution. Yet the debate has been over the interplay between the religious and the secular. Bloch abjures this dichotomy and simply focuses on ideas that were specifically religious. Along with David Hall, she identifies the main ideological contribution of religion in the Revolution as a Calvinist contribution, a preoccupation with the central themes of the Protestant Reformation. First, the Calvinist impulse brought a focus on experiential salvation. Second, it was preoccupied with defining the community of the Elect as guided by Providence. Ideas of the American mission and the nationalism that emerged out of it, were definitively shaped by this Calvinist dialogue. "Far from having become secularized by the eighteenth century, the religious preoccupations that had always informed political ideology remained vitally important to the Revolutionary generation." (p. 47)
1763-1774
During this phase of resistance to the British colonial power, not only was the ideology of the country Whig at work but there were also substantial components of Calvinist discourse in the mix. "American Calvinist concerns about the godly community and the conditions of grace found immediate expression within the patriot discourse." (p. 48) As Harry Stout has shown, covenant theology was in fact NOT buried by the Great Awakening but existed in a great continuum spanning the early days of colonial America all the way up to the Revolution. In addition to the country Whig idealization of the colonial past one can add the Calvinist idealization of a covenanted Christian past of early colonial history. Patriots "simply presumed the New England tradition to be both Christian and free." (p. 49) Covenant theology tended toward Manichean dualism. Anti-Catholicism was the link between the British and the Antichrist. Beyond Manichean dualism, there was the fundamental conception of religious liberty which inspired the colonists to fight against the French Catholics in the French and Indian War. Especially, but not only, in New England the categories of the religious and the political were collapsed to the extent that one becomes virtually unintelligible without the other. Terms like "virtue," "corruption," and "liberty" had both religious and political significance -- to try to understand one set of meanings without the other is to miss the point entirely.
1774-1778
The basic dichotomy between the community of the elect and that of the antichrist persistent into the period of open rebellion. Yet the ideology underwent transformation as a result of the Coercive Acts of 1774 and the Quebec Act which protected Catholicism in Canada. As Harry Stout has pointed out, after 1775 even the New England clergy began to enlarge the scope of the covenant to include more than New England and embraced the entire nation. Additionally, millenarian hopes shaped the Revolutionaries' vision of the future.
Millennial symbolism was a standard feature of much American Protestantism of the late colonial period, weaving in and out of providential theories about the meaning of contemporary events. It was, however, only in the mid-1770s that this symbolism came to pervade Revolutionary ideology, enabling Americans to perceive the outbreak of war and assertion of national independence as steps toward the realization of God's Kingdom on Earth. (p. 53)
As the Revolution proceeded, the godly community and the new republican state became one in the rhetoric of revolution. This forcible association of the godly with the republic served to legitimate the cause and even provoked a rally to the flag in the form of military enlistments early in the war.
1778-1789
This period, known as the period of disillusionment, was the time that literally "tried men's souls." It was the period in which American's doubted their special calling, a period in which - as Gordon Wood has pointed out - the Revolutionaries decried both a moral and a political decline in the patriot cause. For Gordon Wood, the Constitution provided a way out of the moral problem by divesting the government of the need to rely upon the virtue of its citizenry. Yet, by looking at the religious pronouncements of the historical actors one could envision another interpretation. As the Millennial impulse receded, it was replaced by the jeremiad and a vision of the Apocalypse. After the victory on the battlefield, the secular and the sacred were going their separate ways. Relying now on checks and balances to provide good government, as Daniel Howe has pointed out custodianship for government virtue passed to the wise statesman. Religion increasingly called the people to voluntarism to secure public virtue. Here we see the beginnings of the reform movements of the next century. Divested of its association with the state the strong religious nationalism found its fulfillment in public volunteerism.
In this contribution to intellectual history, Bloch joins a long line of historians in examining the impact of religion on the ideology of the Revolution. Starting with the Revolutionary clergy themselves, the role of religion in the Revolution has been a continuous debate. Since the Progressive Historians derogated the role of religion in favor of more materialist explanations, there has been a revival of emphasis on the role of religion in the revolution. Yet the debate has been over the interplay between the religious and the secular. Bloch abjures this dichotomy and simply focuses on ideas that were specifically religious. Along with David Hall, she identifies the main ideological contribution of religion in the Revolution as a Calvinist contribution, a preoccupation with the central themes of the Protestant Reformation. First, the Calvinist impulse brought a focus on experiential salvation. Second, it was preoccupied with defining the community of the Elect as guided by Providence. Ideas of the American mission and the nationalism that emerged out of it, were definitively shaped by this Calvinist dialogue. "Far from having become secularized by the eighteenth century, the religious preoccupations that had always informed political ideology remained vitally important to the Revolutionary generation." (p. 47)
1763-1774
During this phase of resistance to the British colonial power, not only was the ideology of the country Whig at work but there were also substantial components of Calvinist discourse in the mix. "American Calvinist concerns about the godly community and the conditions of grace found immediate expression within the patriot discourse." (p. 48) As Harry Stout has shown, covenant theology was in fact NOT buried by the Great Awakening but existed in a great continuum spanning the early days of colonial America all the way up to the Revolution. In addition to the country Whig idealization of the colonial past one can add the Calvinist idealization of a covenanted Christian past of early colonial history. Patriots "simply presumed the New England tradition to be both Christian and free." (p. 49) Covenant theology tended toward Manichean dualism. Anti-Catholicism was the link between the British and the Antichrist. Beyond Manichean dualism, there was the fundamental conception of religious liberty which inspired the colonists to fight against the French Catholics in the French and Indian War. Especially, but not only, in New England the categories of the religious and the political were collapsed to the extent that one becomes virtually unintelligible without the other. Terms like "virtue," "corruption," and "liberty" had both religious and political significance -- to try to understand one set of meanings without the other is to miss the point entirely.
1774-1778
The basic dichotomy between the community of the elect and that of the antichrist persistent into the period of open rebellion. Yet the ideology underwent transformation as a result of the Coercive Acts of 1774 and the Quebec Act which protected Catholicism in Canada. As Harry Stout has pointed out, after 1775 even the New England clergy began to enlarge the scope of the covenant to include more than New England and embraced the entire nation. Additionally, millenarian hopes shaped the Revolutionaries' vision of the future.
Millennial symbolism was a standard feature of much American Protestantism of the late colonial period, weaving in and out of providential theories about the meaning of contemporary events. It was, however, only in the mid-1770s that this symbolism came to pervade Revolutionary ideology, enabling Americans to perceive the outbreak of war and assertion of national independence as steps toward the realization of God's Kingdom on Earth. (p. 53)
As the Revolution proceeded, the godly community and the new republican state became one in the rhetoric of revolution. This forcible association of the godly with the republic served to legitimate the cause and even provoked a rally to the flag in the form of military enlistments early in the war.
1778-1789
This period, known as the period of disillusionment, was the time that literally "tried men's souls." It was the period in which American's doubted their special calling, a period in which - as Gordon Wood has pointed out - the Revolutionaries decried both a moral and a political decline in the patriot cause. For Gordon Wood, the Constitution provided a way out of the moral problem by divesting the government of the need to rely upon the virtue of its citizenry. Yet, by looking at the religious pronouncements of the historical actors one could envision another interpretation. As the Millennial impulse receded, it was replaced by the jeremiad and a vision of the Apocalypse. After the victory on the battlefield, the secular and the sacred were going their separate ways. Relying now on checks and balances to provide good government, as Daniel Howe has pointed out custodianship for government virtue passed to the wise statesman. Religion increasingly called the people to voluntarism to secure public virtue. Here we see the beginnings of the reform movements of the next century. Divested of its association with the state the strong religious nationalism found its fulfillment in public volunteerism.
October 12, 2025
Mark Noll is so hard, because sometimes you get Noll the Christian polemicist doing history for a uniquely Christian audience, and sometimes you get Noll the secular academic carefully arranging his footnotes at a safe distance from the church. “Religion and American Politics” is unfortunately very much the latter.
And here’s what I mean by that. I don’t expect Noll for one second to tell me what to believe. But I do want him to trace not just the reality of history (how things happened) but to tell me the theological developments that led to these big turning points. He gives us the facts. But far too often in this work, not why it mattered theologically. In Poythress’ work on Christians doing history as an acedemic pursuit, encourages us to look at the shifting ideas of providence, vocation, and the kingdom that actually drove the action behind big events. It’s as if Noll got so busy chronicling events that he forgot the beating heart of the thing. And that’s a shame, because he’s one of the few people who could have pulled this off. Instead, he plays it safe. Honestly, It feels like Noll copped out.
This is a well anthologized volume. Noll gathers a sharp collection of essays that trace the uneasy marriage of faith and American public life, from the Puritans to the rise of the Religious Right. It’s tidy, responsible, and deeply researched. You read it and think, “Yes, this is solid work.” But by the end, you can’t shake the feeling that Noll is sitting on the sidelines taking notes instead of stepping onto the field.
The volume (published in 1990) ends around 1980. It seems Providence saw fit to end this work right before the real chaos begins. No Moral Majority, no culture wars, no post-Christian confusion. For anyone today trying to work out what a robust Reformed political theology might look like in the ruins, this is like stopping a movie right before the third act. Historically sound, yes, but not all that useful for modern readers who want to do something with it.
It’s a fine book. And honestly I’m sure it was an amazing book in 1990. It’s careful, balanced, even-handed. It’s everything you expect from Noll when he has his academician hat on. But I can’t help wishing he’d let the historian take a back seat and let the theologian drive for just a little! Give me “Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” again, or honestly one of my favorite Noll works of all time, give me “Theological Crisis of the Civil war” again. Show me how the theology developed over time, not just the CNN recap of the last 400 years.
I guess I’m looking for a different book. Or perhaps wanted this to be something that it just wasn’t. I want something that doesn’t just describe how American Christians got tangled up in politics, but helps us figure out what faithful engagement might actually look like now. Taking recommendations now!
And here’s what I mean by that. I don’t expect Noll for one second to tell me what to believe. But I do want him to trace not just the reality of history (how things happened) but to tell me the theological developments that led to these big turning points. He gives us the facts. But far too often in this work, not why it mattered theologically. In Poythress’ work on Christians doing history as an acedemic pursuit, encourages us to look at the shifting ideas of providence, vocation, and the kingdom that actually drove the action behind big events. It’s as if Noll got so busy chronicling events that he forgot the beating heart of the thing. And that’s a shame, because he’s one of the few people who could have pulled this off. Instead, he plays it safe. Honestly, It feels like Noll copped out.
This is a well anthologized volume. Noll gathers a sharp collection of essays that trace the uneasy marriage of faith and American public life, from the Puritans to the rise of the Religious Right. It’s tidy, responsible, and deeply researched. You read it and think, “Yes, this is solid work.” But by the end, you can’t shake the feeling that Noll is sitting on the sidelines taking notes instead of stepping onto the field.
The volume (published in 1990) ends around 1980. It seems Providence saw fit to end this work right before the real chaos begins. No Moral Majority, no culture wars, no post-Christian confusion. For anyone today trying to work out what a robust Reformed political theology might look like in the ruins, this is like stopping a movie right before the third act. Historically sound, yes, but not all that useful for modern readers who want to do something with it.
It’s a fine book. And honestly I’m sure it was an amazing book in 1990. It’s careful, balanced, even-handed. It’s everything you expect from Noll when he has his academician hat on. But I can’t help wishing he’d let the historian take a back seat and let the theologian drive for just a little! Give me “Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” again, or honestly one of my favorite Noll works of all time, give me “Theological Crisis of the Civil war” again. Show me how the theology developed over time, not just the CNN recap of the last 400 years.
I guess I’m looking for a different book. Or perhaps wanted this to be something that it just wasn’t. I want something that doesn’t just describe how American Christians got tangled up in politics, but helps us figure out what faithful engagement might actually look like now. Taking recommendations now!
May 22, 2018
The chapters by Stout and Hatch were really well researched and written.
December 1, 2014
A decent collection of essays, though some are better than others. The one that deals with the making of the U.S. Constitution helpfully points out that their failure to mention God was a deliberate and calculated decision.
June 15, 2015
This is a valuable resource on American religious history not just regarding political influence. At the end it even contains essays from people around the world regarding their own take on America's religious involvement in politics. Its worth the read and to have in your library.
April 16, 2012
I read the essay in ch 4 on religion at time of the founding and really loved it. This would be an EXCELLENT source to read to get a great idea of religious moods and scholarship about it up to 1980.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews