Description
Book SynopsisHugh Heclo proposes that Christianity, not religion in general, has been important for American democracy. Responding to his challenging argument, Mary Jo Bane, Michael Kazin, and Alan Wolfe criticize, qualify, and amend it. The result is a lively debate about a momentous tension in American public life.
Trade ReviewIn this compelling volume, Hugh Heclo is exceedingly precise on what he takes Christianity and democracy to mean; on what Alexis de Tocqueville thought about the two; and on why he feels the successful American confluence of Christianity and democracy has been under grave threat since the 1960s. The admirable precision of Heclo's argument elicits, in turn, admirably precise rejoinders from three distinguished scholars. The result is a very fine book on a very important subject. -- Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame, author of
The Civil War as a Theological CrisisHeclo makes a strong case for the importance of Christianity in the shaping of American democracy. -- E. J. Eisenach * Choice *
Hugh Heclo offers an elegant and thoughtful essay in
Christianity and American Democracy, together with responses by two political scientists and a historian… Heclo argues that not only does American democracy have a Christianity problem, but Christianity has a democracy problem. There is an inherent tension between religious commitment and political allegiance…and reconciling them is always a fudge of some kind. Heclo rehearses, lucidly and economically, the history of America's different modes of fudging the issue. He documents the input of Christian ideas into the development of the democratic concept of the individual… Hugh Heclo's book shows clearly that America's culture wars are just a specific case of the general problem of religion in democratic pluralist polities. -- Bernice Martin * Times Literary Supplement *
Let me say it straight out: Hugh Heclo's
Christianity and American Democracy is one of the most suggestive books on religion and the public square to have appeared in some years. -- Richard John Neuhaus * First Things *
[A] deeply engaging book… Heclo's book performs a valuable service. -- Thomas E. Schneider * Claremont Review of Books *
Table of ContentsForeword Theda R. Skocpol 1. Christianity and Democracy in America Hugh Heclo 2. Democracy and Catholic Christianity in America Mary Jo Bane 3. Pluralism Is Hard Work--and the Work Is Never Done Michael Kazin 4. Whose Christianity? Whose Democracy? Alan Wolfe 5. Reconsidering Christianity and American Democracy Hugh Heclo Notes Acknowledgments About the Authors Index
