Religion in the American Experience

Are Race and Religion Intertwined in American History?

As we all observe and participate in the national reckoning with racism after the death of George Floyd on May 25th of this year, a fuller and more accurate understanding of how race and religion have been intertwined in United States history will be of use.

Paul Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of History and Presidential Teaching Scholar at University of Colorado – Colorado Springs, where he researches, writes and teaches in the field of American history from the 16th century to the present. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkley in 1992. Dr. Harvey is the author of many books, including Howard Thurman and the Disinherited: A Religious Biography; The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in American History; and Freedom’s Coming: Religious Cultures and the Shaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era.

We are very happy to have Paul here to help us understand a particular part of American religious history – the intersections of religion and race, by discussing his book, Bounds of Their Habitation: Race and Religion in American History published in 2017.

Also, as with each episode in our podcast series “Religion in the American Experience”, we hope listeners come away with a better comprehension of what religion has done to America and what America has done to religion, and come to see how revolutionary and indispensable the idea of religious freedom is to America being able to fulfill its purposes in the world.

Be sure to follow the podcast series "Religion in the American Experience" by going to storyofamericanreligion.org under the Podcast tab.

Religion and the Shaping of Native Cultures in Early America

When European Christians arrived in this vast territory we now call the Americas over 400 years ago, they found indigenous people here with their own meaningful and personal and sacred religious beliefs. The contact and conflict between Europeans and Natives sparked a long-term series of religious encounters that intertwined with other settler colonial processes, such as commerce, government, enslavement, warfare and evangelization. The taking of Native Americans’ land and their lives have been called one of America’s two “original sins.”

The legacies of colonialism swirl all about us still, including broken treaties, reservations, alcoholism, poverty, despair, misunderstandings, and questions of sovereignty, alongside of survival, persistence, cultural and linguistic revitalization, and a return to traditional practices. Because religion was central to these processes in colonial America, and continues to play an important role today, taking a look at the religious interactions between European colonists and Native Americans will help us all better understand these issues and help each other flourish in the American 21^st century.

Linford Fisher is a professor of history at Brown University. He received his doctorate from Harvard University in 2008. Professor Fisher's research and teaching relate primarily to the cultural and religious history of colonial America and the Atlantic world, including Native Americans, religion, material culture, and Indian and African slavery and servitude. 

Go here to sign up and follow The National Museum of American Religion! https://storyofamericanreligion.org/contact/ 

The Civil War as a Theological Crisis

Once again America is reckoning with racism, this time in the wake of George Floyd’s death. 2020 is point near to us on the long historical timeline of both black slavery AND racism in the United States, which includes the secession of southern States in 1860 and the calamitous Civil War which followed, killing more than 600,000 Americans, and raining down disaster and ruin on the young nation’s homes and communities.

We are very grateful to have Professor Mark Noll with us today to plumb the depths of his book The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, hoping that this will help all us better understand the reckoning America has undertaken. Dr. Noll is an American historian specializing in the history of Christianity in the United States. He holds the honorary position of Research Professor of History at Regent College, having previously been the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Noll was awarded the National Humanities Medal in the Oval Office by President George W. Bush in 2006. He is the author of many books including Protestantism--A Very Short Introduction, God and Race in American Politics: A Short History, and America's God, from Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln.

Go to https://storyofamericanreligion.org/contact/ to sign up for future podcast notifications!

Evangelical Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy, 1970s-1990s

Evangelicals have been active and influential in all parts of the American experience. For this interview, the term “Evangelical” is defined as: believers who (1) have had a born-again experience resulting in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, (2) accept the full authority of the Bible in matters of faith and conduct of life, and (3) are committed to spreading the gospel by bearing public witness to their faith.

Their impact on U.S. foreign policy is large, fascinating and full of experiences with direct bearing on our politics today. This is especially true as Americans look abroad to the Middle East and China, two places where one, the United States has been actively engaged in the last several decades, and two, the culture is wrapped in powerful religious ideas very foreign to Christianity in general, and evangelicalism in particular.

Today we are grateful to have Professor Lauren Turek with us to discuss her book To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelical Influence on Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations. The case studies in her book detail the extent of Evangelical influence on American foreign policy from the late 1970s through the 1990s. Dr. Turek is an Assistant Professor of History at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She earned her doctorate in history from the University of Virginia in 2015, and holds a degree in museum studies from New York University as well as a degree in history from Vassar College. Dr. Turek is a specialist in U.S. diplomatic history and American religious history, and is currently at work on a second book project, which will explore congressional debates over U.S. foreign aid in the twentieth century. 

Go to https://storyofamericanreligion.org/contact/ to sign up for future podcast notifications!

Religion and the Idea of Religious Freedom in the 1800 Election, America's First Presidential Campaign

Religion and the concept of religious freedom as a governing principal in the United States, has always played a role in our politics, and that includes in presidential elections. As we are all aware, 2020 has been no different. History can help us navigate today’s contentious zone of Church and State, and the contest between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1800 may be particularly beneficial.

Ed Larson, author of A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign, holds the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and is University Professor of History at Pepperdine University. He has a PhD in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a law degree from Harvard. Prior to becoming a professor, Larson practiced law in Seattle and served as counsel for the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC.

Mr. Larson is the author or co-author of fourteen books and over one hundred published articles, including the Pulitzer Prize winning Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. His latest book, On Earth and Science, was published by Yale University Press in 2017.

He was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study Center; held the Fulbright Program's John Adams Chair in American Studies; and served as an inaugural Fellow at the Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon.

Go to https://storyofamericanreligion.org/contact/ to sign up for future podcast notifications!

Tornado God: American Religion and Violent Weather

2020 has brought America the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest wildfire season in California history, according to the California officials, and so many hurricanes that we have had to start using Greek letters to identify them. These things have traumatized Americans and America itself.

When Americans have experienced trauma, they have often reached out to religion hoping for some emotional comfort, physical assistance and answers to help them understand the sometimes chaotic and destructive world that surrounds them.

Peter Thuesen just published what is, for these reasons, a very timely book called Tornado God: American Religion and Violent Weather, which, and I’m quoting here from the book cover flap, "captures the harrowing drama of tornadoes, as clergy, theologians, meteorologists, and ordinary citizens struggle to make sense of these death-dealing tempests. Mr. Thuesen says something that all Americans should listen to: ‘in the tornado, Americans experience something that is at once culturally peculiar and religiously primal.... In the whirlwind, Americans confront the question of their own destiny’...." 

Go to https://storyofamericanreligion.org/contact/ to sign up for future podcast notifications!