evangelicalism — Bunk History

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Trump speaking at Liberty University.

Is the Term 'Evangelical' Redeemable?

One historian, who also happens to be an evangelical Christian, says no.

by Thomas S. Kidd via The Gospel Coalition on September 8, 2017

Cross necklace worn over "Vote Trump" shirt.

Why Conservative Evangelicals Have Lined Up for Trump

It’s a match made in heaven.

by Molly Worthen via The Atlantic on May 1, 2017

Wooden cross across blue sky in background

What Is an 'Evangelical'?

The terms meaning has shifted throughout Christianity’s long history, making it difficult to define.

by Jonathan Merritt via The Atlantic on December 7, 2015

Black and white image of a long road with a car in the distance.

Living in the Shadow of Your Father’s Iconic Song

Sarah Curtis: “Maybe we’ve just learned what my teenage daughter does not yet fully know: that to be held to a law is often to be loved.”

by Sarah Curtis via Literary Hub on October 9, 2025

an organ player and his wife and dog drawing from 1495.

The Real Housewives of Church History

How pastors’ wives use power and submission.

by Meagan Saliashvili, Beth Allison Barr via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on September 2, 2025

James Dobson in front of a cross.

James Dobson Was My Horror, and Yours

The Christian-right luminary built his long career on cruelty and submission.

by Sarah Jones via Intelligencer on August 27, 2025

World Trade Center towers burning on 9/11.

The Righteous Community: Legacies of the War on Terror

A new book traces how "the wet dream of an ageing militarist has become a fundamental force driving American foreign policy."

by Jackson Lears via London Review of Books on July 24, 2025

Thomas Kinkade

The Painter of the Right

Thomas Kinkade’s paintings show conservatives a world they have already won.

by Sarah Jones via Dissent on July 16, 2025

The word "god" is visible, chiseled into the wall behind a statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Why the Founders Fought for Separation of Church and State

Establishing freedom of religion was a hard-fought success of the American Founding. Today we are still fighting.

by John A. Ragosta via Made By History on July 10, 2025

Jimmy Swaggart

How Jimmy Swaggart Changed American Christianity

The disgraced televangelist built his career on an undeniable talent. His downfall contributed to a major shift in how Americans viewed religious leaders.

by Daniel N. Gullotta via The Bulwark on July 3, 2025

Abandoned church in Coaldale, Pennsylvania, with an American flag hanging upside down over its door.

The Decline and Fall of Christianity in America

If we imagine religion as a technology, argues Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith, we can better see the cause of its decline: obsolescence.

by Daniel N. Gullotta via The Bulwark on July 1, 2025

Aimee Semple McPherson addresses a crowd.

An Eerily Familiar 20th-Century Hoax

Aimee Semple McPherson created a wildly popular personal brand as a preacher—then suddenly disappeared.

by Dorothy Fortenberry via The Atlantic on May 12, 2025

Painting of the archangel Michael, holding shield, defeating Satan and other angels.

Extremist Pop Culture and the American Evangelical Right

Jack Chick and the origins of the 1980s “Satanic Panic."

by Sean Goodman via Journal of the History of Ideas Blog on December 16, 2024

A mural depicting John Brown amid Bleeding Kansas.

John Brown, Christian Nationalist

To understand discourse around “Christian nationalism,” look no further than the abolitionist hailed by many on the left.

by Shiv Parihar via Providence on December 13, 2024

"I Baptize Thee," 1940 oil on burlap painting of a baptism.

How Memphis Gave Gospel the Holy Ghost

On the evening of October 7, 1952, gospel promoters booked the Spirit of Memphis for a concert in Memphis’s Mason Temple.

by Robert F. Darden via Oxford American on December 10, 2024

The Late Great Hal Lindsey

The ideas he popularized will continue to shape evangelicalism for generations to come.

by Matthew Avery Sutton via Religion News Service on December 5, 2024

Portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche’s Eternal Return in America

Nietzsche’s continued presence and resonance in America suggests that he never forgot his Emersonian inheritance.

by Sheluyang Peng via American Affairs on November 20, 2024

How ‘Left Behind’ Got Left Behind

A changing political mood among evangelicals has many believers imagining the end of the world differently than they used to.

by Matthew D. Taylor via The Bulwark on September 26, 2024

James Dobson speaking in front of a sign for his organization, Focus on the Family.

The Surprising Roots of James Dobson's Political Power

The evangelical psychologist gained influence with millions of families through decades of parenting advice focused on strict discipline.

by Sarah McCammon via Made By History on July 25, 2024

People seated at town hall meeting.

What We Get Wrong About White Workers

Deindustrialization has helped create a right-wing turn in many Midwestern towns. Long traditions of labor militancy can explain why it hasn’t in others.

by Chris Maisano, Stephanie Ternullo via Jacobin on July 9, 2024

An image of the "Pine Tree Flag," a revolutionary era flag, waving over a crowd. On the flag is written "An Appeal to Heaven."

Revival and Revolution

A controversial historical claim grounds MAGA evangelicalism's embrace of the "Appeal to Heaven" flag.

by John Fea via Commonweal on July 2, 2024

Richard Nixon.

He Told Richard Nixon to Confess

Most ministers were silent about Watergate. Why was one evangelical pastor different?

by Daniel Silliman via Christianity Today on July 1, 2024

President Ronald Reagan is applauded by Beverly LaHaye, President of Concerned Women for America, right, shortly before he addressed a group in Arlington, Va., Sept. 25, 1987.

The Woman Who Helped Build the Christian Right

How one activist helped turn evangelical women into the backbone of right-wing conservatism.

by Emily Suzanne Johnson via Made By History on June 3, 2024

Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln’s Faith

The President's spiritual journey transformed him and the nation.

by Joshua Zeitz via The Saturday Evening Post on February 12, 2024

Manifest Destiny painting by Gast.

'Pure White' Examines the White Supremacist Origins of Evangelical Purity Culture

The new podcast discusses how purity is woven into many of the myths that have fed White supremacy in the nation’s past and continue to do so today.

by Sara Moslener, Emma Cieslik via Religion Dispatches on December 18, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover in front of a stained glass church window

One Bureau Under God

On the white Christian legacy of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI.

by Jeanne Theoharis, Lerone A. Martin via Boston Review on October 10, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover

How the FBI Aided the Rise of White Christian Nationalism in the US

It was J. Edgar Hoover who did more than any fire-breathing churchman to turn fearful white suburbanites into the crusaders of a renewed conservative backlash.

by James Robins via New Humanist on October 5, 2023

Ronald Reagan with James Watt

Good Riddance to the Architect of the GOP’s Environmental Culture Wars

James Watt was a fiery evangelical, a cultural laughingstock—and instrumental in shaping modern GOP rhetoric on the environment.

by Liza Featherstone via The New Republic on June 16, 2023

Zoomed in picture of Pat Robertson's face.

Pat Robertson’s Genocidal God Has Called Him Home

The political preacher who made the religion look bad.

by Jeet Heer via The Nation on June 9, 2023

Photo of Marion "Pat" Robertson

How Pat Robertson Shepherded His Flock Into Politics

Farewell to the senator's son who pioneered a TV genre, helped create the Christian right, ran for president, and earned the grudging respect of Abbie Hoffman.

by Jesse Walker via Reason on June 9, 2023

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