Searching Out the Sacred in US Political History

Darren Dochuk has written an insightful article for Perspectives on History titled “Searching Out the Sacred in US Political History.” In his article, he notes that seven years ago Yale historian Jon Butler called upon scholars to make religion central to understanding twentieth-century history. Dochuk, a political historian, recounts several recent works in his field that have highlighted the central role of religion (especially evangelicalism).

This is especially true in my own field of 20th-century U.S. political history. When Butler identified the lack of religion in 20th-century historical scholarship, he singled out politics as one potentially rich area of inquiry still in need of revitalization. In the years since his appraisal, several historians—junior and senior alike—have stepped forward to fill the gap. Aided by the cultural turn in political history, whose enlivening of the field in the 1990s paved the way for broader interpretations, they have produced first-rate studies that do exactly what Butler wants them to do: embed and empower religion in larger historical narratives, and make everyone take notice.

If you’re interested in twentieth-century American Christianity, particularly the intersection between Christianity and politics, then you should read Dochuk’s article. It’s a great introduction to some of the most recent scholarship in the field.

(HT Paul Harvey; image credit)

One Response to “Searching Out the Sacred in US Political History”

1. Taj says:

   December 21, 2011 at 1:33 pm

   This may be a strange place to ask this but I have been listening to your teaching on the storyline of the Bible accessed at FBC Durham and I would love to have the handouts you refer to. Would that be possible? I could not find an email address for you.

   Blessings,
   Taj Eaton

   Reply