Power, Politics and the Fragmentation of Evangelicalism

Kenneth J. Collins tells the narrative history of the political and cultural fortunes of American evangelicalism from the late nineteenth century through the contemporary era.He traces the establishment of the evangelical enterprise in American culture and its influences on the political and social values of the American landscape throughout the twentieth century, as well as its fragmentation into competing ideological camps. Underlining how both sides of the liberal-conservative divide have diluted their message through political idioms, Collins suggests a way forward for evangelical political identity that avoids the pitfalls of fundamentalism and liberalism.Will American evangelicalism outlive its partisan history? As Kenneth Collins tells the story, there is reason to think so.

Kenneth J. Collins (Ph.D., Drew University) is professor of Historical Theology and Wesley Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has published several books including The Theology of John Wesley (Abingdon, 2007), The Evangelical Moment (Baker, 2005) and John Wesley: A Theological Journey (Abingdon, 2003).