In her Canopy Forum article “American Jesus, At Home And Abroad,” Dr. Méadhbh McIvor of the University of Oxford shows how “religion and America are mutually constitutive,” to the point where protestant Christianity comes to stand for a “good religion,” voluntary and free, whereas religions practiced abroad are thought to be bad, coercive, and mandated.
Building on the scholarship of Hurd and Sullivan in their work At Home And Abroad, Dr. McIvor demonstrates how Christian nationalism has been used to justify the militaristic interventionist polices abroad that would be considered unconstitutional "at home".
How do the politics of protestant Christianity and American exceptionalism operate not only abroad but on a level that is deeply personal?
What effect does exceptionalism have on the individual and their understandings of what it means to be a person? And what it means to be a nation?
Listen now to find out.
Professor John Witte, Jr.'s new book, "The Blessings of Liberty," is available for purchase here.
