Lexington Books
Pages: 204
•
Trim: 6 x 9⅛
978-0-7391-8221-5 • Hardback • May 2013 • $80.00 • (£52.95)
978-1-4985-1505-4 • Paperback • March 2015 • $46.99 • (£31.95)
978-0-7391-8222-2 • eBook • May 2013 • $44.50 • (£29.95)
Eric R. Crouse is professor of history at Tyndale University College, Toronto.
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Rise of Free Market Solutions
Chapter 2. Christians Debating Capitalism
Chapter 3. Economic Recovery
Chapter 4. A Sense of Political Purpose
Chapter 5. Cold War Matters
Chapter 6. The Final Accounting
Eric R. Crouse . . . provides a readable and sympathetic history of Christian support for the Reagan administration. . . .Crouse’s thorough chronicle features leaders on both sides, as well as minor figures whose political significance has been overlooked.
— First Things
Crouse does a service with his careful reading of journalistic articles and editorials in popular—and not so popular—sources in the evangelical and fundamentalist press. Publications such as John F. Alexander's The Other Side and Jim Wallis's Sojourners enter into heated polemics with Christianity Today and more ideologically-driven journals, including the libertarian The Individualist Review and The Freeman. The result is a compelling and complex series of exchanges over the failures and successes of free market economic theory. . . .Crouse reminds readers that wages, income redistribution, and productive labor were as significant to many Christians as any of the hot-button social issues of the day.
— Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture
This is a very important and very thoughtful look at much that is badly misunderstood from the Reagan era, particularly the faith-based views and sympathies by those who supported President Ronald Reagan during a historic two-term presidency. Eric Crouse refuses to accept the stereotypes and handy caricatures of the diverse group of conservative Christians who supported Reagan. He takes the time to dig in and look deep at what these folks truly believed. Crouse gets it right. This is a significant contribution to Reagan scholarship and also to our understanding of the nexus between religion and politics.
— Paul Kengor, Grove City College and author of God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life