Christianity and American Democracy (The Alexis de Tocqueville

Christianity and American Democracy (The Alexis de Tocqueville Lectures on American Politics)
- Used Book in Good Condition
Christianity, not religion in general, has been important for American democracy. With this bold thesis, Hugh Heclo offers a panoramic view of how Christianity and democracy have shaped each other.
Heclo shows that amid deeply felt religious differences, a Protestant colonial society gradually convinced itself of the truly Christian reasons for, as well as the enlightened political advantages of, religious liberty. By the mid-twentieth century, American democracy and Christianity appeared locked in a mutual embrace. But it was a problematic union vulnerable to fundamental challenge in the Sixties. Despite the subsequent rise of the religious right and glib talk of a conservative Republican theocracy, Heclo sees a longer-term, reciprocal estrangement between Christianity and American democracy.
Responding to his challenging argument, Mary Jo Bane, Michael Kazin, and Alan Wolfe criticize, qualify, and amend it. Hecloâ€™s rejoinder suggests why both secularists and Christians should worry about a coming rupture between the Christian and democratic faiths. The result is a lively debate about a momentous tension in American public life.
Country USA
Brand Harvard University Press
Manufacturer Harvard University Press
Binding Paperback
ReleaseDate 2009-03-31
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780674032309

Christianity and American Democracy (The Alexis de Tocqueville Lectures on American Politics)