MARC record from Internet Archive

LEADER: 02947cam a2200337 a 4500
001 2011014314
003 DLC
005 20111011110309.0
008 110407s2011 nyu b 000 0 eng
010 $a 2011014314
016 7 $a015798861$2Uk
020 $a9780231151009 (cloth : alk. paper)
020 $a0231151004 (cloth : alk. paper)
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn693812399
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dYDX$dBTCTA$dYDXCP$dBWX$dZPX$dSUC$dMNF$dDTM$dUKMGB$dCDX$dMIX$dDLC
041 1 $aeng$hfre
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aBR515$b.L2513 2011
082 00 $a261.70973$222
100 1 $aLacorne, Denis.
240 10 $aDe la religion en Amérique.$lEnglish
245 10 $aReligion in America :$ba political history /$cDenis Lacorne ; translated by George Holoch.
260 $aNew York :$bColumbia University Press,$cc2011.
300 $axx, 225 p. ;$c24 cm.
490 1 $aReligion, culture and public life
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [209]-225).
505 0 $aAmerica, the land of religious utopias -- The rehabilitation of the Puritans -- Evangelical awakenings -- The Bible wars -- Religion, race, and national identity -- A godless America -- The rise of the religious right -- The wall of separation between church and state -- Epilogue: Obama's faith-friendly secularism.
520 $aDenis Lacorne identifies two competing narratives defining the American identity. The first narrative, derived from the philosophy of the Enlightenment, is essentially secular. Associated with the Founding Fathers and reflected in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers, this line of reasoning is predicated on separating religion from politics to preserve political freedom from an overpowering church. Prominent thinkers such as Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and Jean-Nicolas Démeunier, who viewed the American project as a radical attempt to create a new regime free from religion and the weight of ancient history, embraced this American effort to establish a genuine "wall of separation" between church and state. The second narrative is based on the premise that religion is a fundamental part of the American identity and emphasizes the importance of the original settlement of America by New England Puritans. This alternative vision was elaborated by Whig politicians and Romantic historians in the first half of the nineteenth century. It is still shared by modern political scientists such as Samuel Huntington. These thinkers insist America possesses a core, stable "Creed" mixing Protestant and republican values. Lacorne outlines the role of religion in the making of these narratives and examines, against this backdrop, how key historians, philosophers, novelists, and intellectuals situate religion in American politics.
650 0 $aChristianity and politics$zUnited States$xHistory.
651 0 $aUnited States$xChurch history.
830 0 $aReligion, culture, and public life.