Jesus and Gin: Evangelicalism, the Roaring Twenties and Today's Culture Wars

by Barry Hankins

Jesus and Gin is a rollicking tour of the roaring twenties and the barn- burning preachers who led the temperance movement?the anti-abortion crusade of the Jazz Age. Along the way, we meet a host of colorful a Baptist minister who commits adultery in the White House; media star preachers caught in massive scandals; a presidential election hinging on a religious issue; and fundamentalists and liberals slugging it out in the culture war of the day. The religious roar of that decade was a prologue to the last three decades. With the religious right in disarray today after its long ascendancy, Jesus and Gin is a timely look at a parallel age when preachers held sway and politicians answered to the pulpit.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 2010

About the author

Barry G. Hankins is Professor of History at Baylor University, as well as a Resident Scholar with the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR). His publications include Baptists in America: A History (OUP, 2015) and Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism: A Documentary Reader (NYU Press, 2008). Hankins's biography Francis Schaeffer And the Shaping of Evangelical America: Fundamentalist Warrior, Evangelical Prophet (Eerdmans, 2008) was awarded the 2009 John Pollock Award for Christian Biography.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting analysis of the current culture wars in light of the culture war that rocked the United States in the 1920's and '30's surrounding prohibition and anti-catholicism. The book is very evenhanded. It is a little light at times and I would have liked a bit more analysis into the role of race in the culture wars of the '20's and today. In the end this is an interesting look at a volatile time in American history.

[Timothy Maples · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy-to-read look back at a prior era of American "culture war," early in the last century. Yes, our time is not the only one filled with famous religious cranks, crooked populist politicians, and other refuse of history. Highly entertaining. Recommended.

[Nigel Ewan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each chapter vignettes a different issue facing the church-rooted culture of 1920s America. The more lurid topics (Aimee Semple McPherson, the Scopes trial) lend themselves to fun narrative-driven reading, but some of the other topics lacked necessary depth.

[David Nanninga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done mosaic of several of the big cultural controversies of the 1920s and makes a compelling argument about how the modern day is very similar to the ‘20s-but underplays the role that racism/racial violence played in shaping that time and our current moment-I don’t recall the word lynching appearing once in the book.

[Kari McDowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating comparison between the “culture wars” of the 1920s and those of today.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not outstanding, but very good and readable. Informative.