The Cross and Reaganomics: Conservative Christians Defending Ronald Reagan
The Cross and Reaganomics: Conservative Christians Defending Ronald Reagan, by Eric R. Crouse, offers important insights on why Reaganomics was a major reason conservative Christians supported Reagan at the polls. On election night in November 1980, Americans witnessed the victory of a conservative to the presidency. With the United States experiencing economic stagnation and high inflation, many were hopeful of Ronald Reagan’s deeds matching his optimistic rhetoric of America’s potential. What followed was a decade of economic transformation, military buildup, and a political awakening of conservatism. One story that has not received much attention is the relationship between conservative Christians and Ronald Reagan’s economic policies. Crouse argues that conservative Christians were among the strongest champions of limited government, free enterprise (particularly small business), and anticommunism. A surprising number of conservative Christian leaders discussed the works of major free market economists. Conservative Christians embraced and tapped into the traditional American values of individual opportunity, personal responsibility, and human freedom—all themes they believed were front and center in Reaganomics. Although American pluralism prevented any plan to Christianize the nation by politics, in the sphere of economics conservative Christians did witness political and cultural gains.
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.
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.
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 R. 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.
Product Details
- Title : The Cross and Reaganomics: Conservative Christians Defending Ronald Reagan
- Author: Crouse, Eric R.
- Publisher: Lexington Books
- Publication Date: 2013
- ISBN: 9780739182222
Eric R. Crouse is professor of history at Tyndale University College, Toronto.