TracingtheriseofevangelicalismandthedeclineofmainlineProtestantisminAmericanreligiousandculturallifeHowdidAmericanChristianitybecomesynonymouswithconservativewhiteevangelicalism?ThissweepingworkbyaleadinghistorianofmodernAmericatracestheriseoftheevangelicalmovementandthedeclineofmainlineProtestantism’sinfluenceonAmericanlife.InChristianity’sAmericanFate,DavidHollingershowshowtheProtestantestablishment,adoptingprogressiveideasaboutrace,gender,sexuality,empire,anddivinity,liberalizedtooquicklyforsomeandnotquicklyenoughforothers.After1960,mainlineProtestantismlostmembersfrombothcamps--conservativestoevangelicalismandprogressivestosecularactivism.AProtestantevangelicalismthatwascomfortablewithpatriarchyandwhitesupremacysoonbecamethecountry’sdominantChristianculturalforce.HollingerexplainstheoriginsofwhathecallsProtestantism’s“two-partysystem“intheUnitedStates,findingitsrootsinAmerica’sreligiouscultureofdissent,asestablishedbyseventeenth-centurycolonistswhobrokeawayfromEurope’sreligioustraditions;theconstitutionalseparationofchurchandstate,whichenabledreligiousdiversity;andtheconstantinfluxofimmigrants,whofoundsolidarityinchurches.HollingerarguesthattheUnitedStatesbecamenotonlyoverwhelminglyProtestantbutProtestantonsteroids.Bythe1960s,Jewsandothernon-Christianshaddiversifiedthenationethnoreligiously,inspiringmoreinclusivenotionsofcommunity.Butbyembracingasociallydiverseandscientificallyengagedmodernity,Hollingertellsus,ecumenicalProtestantsalsosetthetermsbywhichevangelicalsbecamereactionary.
