R&L Logo R&L Logo
  • GENERAL
    • Browse by Subjects
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Chases's Calendar
  • ACADEMIC
    • Textbooks
    • Browse by Course
    • Instructor's Copies
    • Monographs & Research
    • Reference
  • PROFESSIONAL
    • Education
    • Intelligence & Security
    • Library Services
    • Business & Leadership
    • Museum Studies
    • Music
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Psychotherapy
  • FREUD SET
Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
share of facebook share on twitter
Add to GoodReads

Lutherans and the Longest War

Adrift on a Sea of Doubt about the Cold and Vietnam Wars, 1964-1975

David E. Settje

Through the lens of American Lutheranism, this book offers a unique examination into the intersection of religion, war, foreign policy, church politics, and nationalism during the contentious 1960s and 1970s. It contributes a two-pronged investigation of American history during the Vietnam War era. First, it outlines how this diverse group of Christians understood foreign policy and the churches' relationship to it. Lutherans offer a broad spectrum of religious, political, and diplomatic points of view because they never have represented a homogenous or unified group in U.S. history. Second, this investigation provides the perspective of one cross section of Americans who often remain hidden from historic memory: the silent majority as so labeled during the Richard M. Nixon administration. Most Lutherans held 'moderate' religious and political ideologies, but Lutherans also had representatives from the far left and far right. Lutherans also signify the Cold War context of this decade with a relatively uniform hostility toward the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Yet, simultaneously they vigorously debated whether or not Communists had infiltrated U.S. institutions and contentiously disagreed about the Vietnam War. Further reflecting America at that time, by the mid-1970s they had reached a tentative reconciliation with one another because the infighting had so tired them. In doing so, they healed some of the wounds created by a decade of conflict but failed to learn lessons from the experience because they refused to dialogue further about it.
  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books
Pages: 232 • Trim: 6 x 9⅜
978-0-7391-1531-2 • Hardback • December 2006 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-0-7391-1532-9 • Paperback • December 2006 • $54.99 • (£42.00)
Subjects: History / United States / 20th Century, Religion / Christianity / Lutheran, Religion / History
David E. Settje is assistant professor of history at Concordia University.
Chapter 1 Lutherans and the Cold and Vietnam Wars, 1964-1975: An Introduction
Chapter 2 Tortured for Christ: Lutheran Assessmetns of Global Communism
Chapter 3 Has the Tiger Changed Its Stripes? Lutheran Debates about Domestic Communism
Chapter 4 Lions Loose in the World: Pro-Vietnam War Lutherans
Chapter 5 The Mythology fo Prowling Communists: Lutheran Antiwar Sentiments
Chapter 6 Adrift on a Sea of Doubt: Lutheran Debates about Domestic Veitnam Concerns
Chapter 7 The Lutheran Cold and Vietnam Wars' Legacy
Highly Recommended.
— W. T. Lindley, Union University; Choice Reviews


[Settje's] approach and careful reading of sources are admirable. Lutherans and the Longest War is an excellent contribution to the genre of denominational studies and a useful starting point for exploring broader issues of religious assent, ambivalence, and dissent during the Cold War.
— H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, April 2008


The author does an admirable job in concisely summarizing the historical literature on both the origins of the American war in Vietnam and the landscape of American Lutheranism in the era, carefully distinguishing between the major Lutheran bodies without too much jargon. . . . [Settje] has a keen eye for especially catching phrases.
— Perry Bush; Journal of American History


David Settje provides a close examination of a period largely neglected by other Lutheran historians: the Cold War in general and the Vietnam War in particular.
—


Settje provides the first comprehensive look at Lutheran thinking on the Cold and Vietnam wars from pew to pulpit, and from editorial offices to denominational headquarters. It extends a microphone into a realm where the silent majority did not hold its tongue, exposing the wide-ranging views and vigorous debates that raged within church circles among those disinclined to march for either side.
— Jill Gill, Boise State University


Lutherans and the Longest War

Adrift on a Sea of Doubt about the Cold and Vietnam Wars, 1964-1975

Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
Summary
Summary
  • Through the lens of American Lutheranism, this book offers a unique examination into the intersection of religion, war, foreign policy, church politics, and nationalism during the contentious 1960s and 1970s. It contributes a two-pronged investigation of American history during the Vietnam War era. First, it outlines how this diverse group of Christians understood foreign policy and the churches' relationship to it. Lutherans offer a broad spectrum of religious, political, and diplomatic points of view because they never have represented a homogenous or unified group in U.S. history. Second, this investigation provides the perspective of one cross section of Americans who often remain hidden from historic memory: the silent majority as so labeled during the Richard M. Nixon administration. Most Lutherans held 'moderate' religious and political ideologies, but Lutherans also had representatives from the far left and far right. Lutherans also signify the Cold War context of this decade with a relatively uniform hostility toward the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Yet, simultaneously they vigorously debated whether or not Communists had infiltrated U.S. institutions and contentiously disagreed about the Vietnam War. Further reflecting America at that time, by the mid-1970s they had reached a tentative reconciliation with one another because the infighting had so tired them. In doing so, they healed some of the wounds created by a decade of conflict but failed to learn lessons from the experience because they refused to dialogue further about it.
Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 232 • Trim: 6 x 9⅜
    978-0-7391-1531-2 • Hardback • December 2006 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
    978-0-7391-1532-9 • Paperback • December 2006 • $54.99 • (£42.00)
    Subjects: History / United States / 20th Century, Religion / Christianity / Lutheran, Religion / History
Author
Author
  • David E. Settje is assistant professor of history at Concordia University.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Chapter 1 Lutherans and the Cold and Vietnam Wars, 1964-1975: An Introduction
    Chapter 2 Tortured for Christ: Lutheran Assessmetns of Global Communism
    Chapter 3 Has the Tiger Changed Its Stripes? Lutheran Debates about Domestic Communism
    Chapter 4 Lions Loose in the World: Pro-Vietnam War Lutherans
    Chapter 5 The Mythology fo Prowling Communists: Lutheran Antiwar Sentiments
    Chapter 6 Adrift on a Sea of Doubt: Lutheran Debates about Domestic Veitnam Concerns
    Chapter 7 The Lutheran Cold and Vietnam Wars' Legacy
Reviews
Reviews
  • Highly Recommended.
    — W. T. Lindley, Union University; Choice Reviews


    [Settje's] approach and careful reading of sources are admirable. Lutherans and the Longest War is an excellent contribution to the genre of denominational studies and a useful starting point for exploring broader issues of religious assent, ambivalence, and dissent during the Cold War.
    — H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, April 2008


    The author does an admirable job in concisely summarizing the historical literature on both the origins of the American war in Vietnam and the landscape of American Lutheranism in the era, carefully distinguishing between the major Lutheran bodies without too much jargon. . . . [Settje] has a keen eye for especially catching phrases.
    — Perry Bush; Journal of American History


    David Settje provides a close examination of a period largely neglected by other Lutheran historians: the Cold War in general and the Vietnam War in particular.
    —


    Settje provides the first comprehensive look at Lutheran thinking on the Cold and Vietnam wars from pew to pulpit, and from editorial offices to denominational headquarters. It extends a microphone into a realm where the silent majority did not hold its tongue, exposing the wide-ranging views and vigorous debates that raged within church circles among those disinclined to march for either side.
    — Jill Gill, Boise State University


ALSO AVAILABLE

  • Cover image for the book Boston’s Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism
  • Cover image for the book Route 66 and the Formation of a National Cultural Icon: Mother Road to Mythic American Byway
  • Cover image for the book The Fog of War: Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
  • Cover image for the book The 1970s and the Making of the Modern US-Mexico Border: Fortifying a Frontier
  • Cover image for the book Two Societies: The Rioting of 1967 and the Writing of the Kerner Report
  • Cover image for the book Korean American Pioneer Aviators: The Willows Airmen
  • Cover image for the book The Making of Modern America: The Nation from 1945 to the Present, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Dazed and Confused: America Confronts the 1970s
  • Cover image for the book American Girls in Popular Media: A Cultural History of Preadolescent Girls, 1890–1945
  • Cover image for the book Belle Baranceanu: Life, Art, and the New Deal Renaissance
  • Cover image for the book Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945–1968, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations from 1897, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book The American Film Institute and the Cultural Politics of Experimental and Independent Cinema
  • Cover image for the book Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War and the Battle for America's Hearts and Minds
  • Cover image for the book America's Great War: World War I and the American Experience
  • Cover image for the book American Progressivism: A Reader
  • Cover image for the book In the Belly of the Bear: An FBI Journey Behind the New Iron Curtain
  • Cover image for the book Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963
  • Cover image for the book Enemies of the State: The Radical Right in America from FDR to Trump, Updated Edition
  • Cover image for the book Years of Rage: White Supremacy in the United States from the Klan to the Alt-Right
  • Cover image for the book Ukrainian Historical Writing in North America during the Cold War: The Struggle for Recognition
  • Cover image for the book US Public Opinion since the 1930s: Galluping through History
  • Cover image for the book New Jersey Women during World War II: On the Home Front and Abroad
  • Cover image for the book One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s
  • Cover image for the book The Life and Times of Sergeant José M. López: Mexican by Birth, American by Valor
  • Cover image for the book Radio and the Great Debate over U.S. Involvement in World War II
  • Cover image for the book The International Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Ladies' Jazz Band from Piney Woods Country Life School
  • Cover image for the book Life on Muskrat Creek: A Homestead Family in Wyoming
  • Cover image for the book The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930
  • Cover image for the book A. Philip Randolph: A Life in the Vanguard
  • Cover image for the book The Nature of Church Camp: An Environmental History of Outdoor Ministry, 1945–1980
  • Cover image for the book Wartime America: The World War II Home Front, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book 1968: The Election That Changed America, 2nd Edition
  • Cover image for the book Boston’s Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism
  • Cover image for the book Route 66 and the Formation of a National Cultural Icon: Mother Road to Mythic American Byway
  • Cover image for the book The Fog of War: Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
  • Cover image for the book The 1970s and the Making of the Modern US-Mexico Border: Fortifying a Frontier
  • Cover image for the book Two Societies: The Rioting of 1967 and the Writing of the Kerner Report
  • Cover image for the book Korean American Pioneer Aviators: The Willows Airmen
  • Cover image for the book The Making of Modern America: The Nation from 1945 to the Present, Third Edition
  • Cover image for the book The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Dazed and Confused: America Confronts the 1970s
  • Cover image for the book American Girls in Popular Media: A Cultural History of Preadolescent Girls, 1890–1945
  • Cover image for the book Belle Baranceanu: Life, Art, and the New Deal Renaissance
  • Cover image for the book Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945–1968, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations from 1897, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book The American Film Institute and the Cultural Politics of Experimental and Independent Cinema
  • Cover image for the book Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War and the Battle for America's Hearts and Minds
  • Cover image for the book America's Great War: World War I and the American Experience
  • Cover image for the book American Progressivism: A Reader
  • Cover image for the book In the Belly of the Bear: An FBI Journey Behind the New Iron Curtain
  • Cover image for the book Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963
  • Cover image for the book Enemies of the State: The Radical Right in America from FDR to Trump, Updated Edition
  • Cover image for the book Years of Rage: White Supremacy in the United States from the Klan to the Alt-Right
  • Cover image for the book Ukrainian Historical Writing in North America during the Cold War: The Struggle for Recognition
  • Cover image for the book US Public Opinion since the 1930s: Galluping through History
  • Cover image for the book New Jersey Women during World War II: On the Home Front and Abroad
  • Cover image for the book One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s
  • Cover image for the book The Life and Times of Sergeant José M. López: Mexican by Birth, American by Valor
  • Cover image for the book Radio and the Great Debate over U.S. Involvement in World War II
  • Cover image for the book The International Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Ladies' Jazz Band from Piney Woods Country Life School
  • Cover image for the book Life on Muskrat Creek: A Homestead Family in Wyoming
  • Cover image for the book The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930
  • Cover image for the book A. Philip Randolph: A Life in the Vanguard
  • Cover image for the book The Nature of Church Camp: An Environmental History of Outdoor Ministry, 1945–1980
  • Cover image for the book Wartime America: The World War II Home Front, Second Edition
  • Cover image for the book 1968: The Election That Changed America, 2nd Edition
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linked in icon NEWSLETTERS
ABOUT US
  • Mission Statement
  • Employment
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Statement
CONTACT
  • Company Directory
  • Publicity and Media Queries
  • Rights and Permissions
  • Textbook Resource Center
AUTHOR RESOURCES
  • Royalty Contact
  • Production Guidelines
  • Manuscript Submissions
ORDERING INFORMATION
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • National Book Network
  • Ingram Publisher Services UK
  • Special Sales
  • International Sales
  • eBook Partners
  • Digital Catalogs
IMPRINTS
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • Lexington Books
  • Hamilton Books
  • Applause Books
  • Amadeus Press
  • Backbeat Books
  • Bernan
  • Hal Leonard Books
  • Limelight Editions
  • Co-Publishing Partners
  • Globe Pequot
  • Down East Books
  • Falcon Guides
  • Gooseberry Patch
  • Lyons Press
  • Muddy Boots
  • Pineapple Press
  • TwoDot Books
  • Stackpole Books
PARTNERS
  • American Alliance of Museums
  • American Association for State and Local History
  • Brookings Institution Press
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  • Fortress Press
  • The Foundation for Critical Thinking
  • Lehigh University Press
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Other Partners...