October 4, 2005

MINNEAPOLIS – Many in the United States find the political ascendancy of right-wing Christianity alarming and disturbing. In his new book, Religion, Politics, and the Christian Right, Princeton theologian Mark Lewis Taylor provides an astute analysis of how after 9/11, Christian nationalists have forged an imperial America that subverts what most U.S. citizens and most Christians hold dear about their democratic life. Even as he exposes the dangers of the Christian right, Taylor also retrieves and highlights an authentic democratic spirit that U.S. citizens can nurture and develop in public life.

The real gift of Taylor's book is his argument that this militant Christian faith must be viewed against a backdrop of the American political romanticism and corporatist liberalism of U.S. past and present. Taylor uses the best of cultural and historical studies, while deftly drawing lessons for American readers from theologian Paul Tillich's analysis of power and religion during the rise of fascism and nationalism in Germany of the 1930s.

The result is an innovative framework for interpreting how Christian nationalists, Pentagon war planners and corporate institutions today are forging alliances in the U.S. that have dramatic and destructive global impact. Moving beyond lament, Taylor also leaves readers with a new romance of revolutionary traditions and a new more radical liberalism, revitalizing American visions of spirit that are both prophetic and public for U.S. residents today.

Mark Lewis Taylor is the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Theology and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is author of such important works as Remembering Esperanza: A Cultural-Political Theology for North American Praxis (Orbis, 1990) and The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America (Fortress Press, 2001).

"Mark Lewis Taylor's critique of American imperialism is searing, and his vision of radical liberalism is creative, insightful, and inspiring. Essential reading for all committed to the revolutionary spirit of democratic governance and ongoing emancipation." –Sharon D. Welch, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia, and author of After Empire: The Art and Ethos of Enduring Peace.

Religion, Politics, and the Christian Right: Post-9/11 Powers and American Empire, by Mark Lewis Taylor; ISBN: 0-8006-3776-3; Format: Paper, 208 pp; Price: $16.00 – or – ISBN: 0-8006-3783-6; Format: Hardcover, 208 pp; Price: $26.00. Publisher: Fortress Press.

To order Religion, Politics, and the Christian Right please call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the web site at http://www.fortresspress.com/.

Fortress Press