| The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy Contributor(s): Guth, James L. (Author), Green, John C. (Author), Smidt, Corwin E. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0700608680 ISBN-13: 9780700608683 Publisher: University Press of Kansas OUR PRICE: $49.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 1997 Annotation: When Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994, the Religious Right claimed a major role in their defeat and House Speaker Newt Gingrich credited the "organized Christian vote" with the Republican victory. Ministers from many political persuasions have long been active in American politics, but in the 1980s and 1990s it has seemed impossible to find any political controversy that did not involve the clergy -- often on both sides of the issue. In this first major study of clergy and politics in more than twenty years, five social scientists tell how and why the theological orthodoxy and modernism that divides American Protestants into two camps increasingly correlates with today's political climate. Drawing on two decades of extensive survey research conducted with thousands of ministers nationwide, they explore the political attitudes and behavior of the clergy in eight mainline and evangelical Protestant denominations -- including Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God, United Methodist, and Presbyterian. In addressing the nature and extent of clerical participation, The Bully Pulpit asks the following questions: How do different groups of ministers see their role in politics? What kinds of activities do they approve or disapprove? How active are contemporary Protestant clergy in politics? What factors account for the level and kinds of participation? It also questions whether analyses of clerical activism made in the 1960s and 1970s can be said to apply to Protestants today. The authors' findings reveal that traditionalists who seek moral reform tend to make pronouncements in religious settings, while modernists interested in social justice are more active in a wide range ofpolitical activities. They also indicate that the "New Breed" liberals are just as active as the Religious Right, citing the long heritage of mainline Protestant politics that continues in the tradition of activist ministers of the 1960s and 1970s. Their book offers an unbiased measure of political activism among both conservative and liberal clergymen at the end of the century and helps us understand the current state of the relationship between church and state in America. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science | American Government - General - Religion | Christianity - Protestant - Political Science | Public Policy - Cultural Policy |
| Dewey: 261.709 |
| LCCN: 97035918 |
| Series: Studies in Government & Public Policy |
| Physical Information: 0.92" H x 6.34" W x 9.34" (1.19 lbs) 240 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: When Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994, the Christian Right claimed a major role in their defeat and House Speaker Newt Gingrich credited the organized Christian vote with the Republican victory. Ministers from many political persuasions have long been active in American politics, but in the 1980s and 1990s it has seemed impossible to find any political controversy that did not involve the clergy-often on both sides of the issue. The Bully Pulpit is the first major study of clergy politics in more than twenty years. Drawing on two decades of survey research involving thousands of ministers nationwide, five social scientists explore the political lives of clergy in eight evangelical and mainline Protestant denominations, including the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, and Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. They find that the competing theological perspectives of orthodoxy and modernism are increasingly tied to ideological and partisan divisions in American politics. In addressing the nature and extent of clerical participation, The Bully Pulpit asks the following questions: How do different groups of ministers see their role in politics? What activities do they approve or disapprove? How active are Protestant clergy in politics? What factors account for the level and kinds of participation? Do the patterns of clerical activism discovered in the 1960s and 1970s persist today? The authors discover that theological traditionalists emphasize moral reform and tend to specialize in making pronouncements in religious settings, while modernists stress social justice issues and engage in a wider range of political activities, inside and outside the church. They find that New Breed liberals have continued the mainline Protestant activism of the 1960s and '70s, but that Christian Right activists have become just as numerous, drawn from the ranks of previously inactive evangelical clergy. Their book offers a balanced assessment of political activity among both clergy at the end of the century and helps us understand the current relationship between church and state in America. |