Evangelicals and Presidential Politics

Following fifty years during which evangelicals were allegedly preoccupied with premillennialism, heaven, and developing a vibrant subculture, while at the same time deterred by the dirtiness of politics, the authors of Evangelicals and Presidential Politics argue they returned to the political arena in 1976. Evangelicals were drawn back into politics by the contest between two candidates who claimed to be born-again Christians—Republican incumbent Gerald Ford and Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter—as well as several moral issues that evoked evangelical interest. In ten well-written and cogently argued essays, professors of history, religion, theology, politics, American studies, and communication and media studies analyze the factors that led evangelicals to become a major force in presidential elections from 1976 to 2016, the primary concerns they expressed, and the impact of their political participation on evangelicalism. Evangelicals were, however, more engaged in politics in the middle decades of the twentieth century than most scholars recognize....

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