Religious Intolerance, America, and the World: A History of Forgetting and Remembering

by John Corrigan Narrated by Auto-narrated

Overview

As the news shows us every day, contemporary American culture and politics are rife with people who demonize their enemies by projecting their own failings and flaws onto them. But this is no recent development. Rather, as John Corrigan argues here, it's an expression of a trauma endemic to America's history, particularly involving our long domestic record of religious conflict and violence.

Religious Intolerance, America, and the World*spans from Christian colonists' intolerance of Native Americans and the role of religion in the new republic's foreign-policy crises to Cold War witch hunts and the persecution complexes that entangle Christians and Muslims today. Corrigan reveals how US churches and institutions have continuously campaigned against intolerance overseas even as they've abetted or performed it at home. This selective condemnation of intolerance, he shows, created a legacy of foreign policy interventions promoting religious freedom and human rights that was not reflected within America's own borders. This timely, captivating book forces America to confront its claims of exceptionalism based on religious liberty-and perhaps begin to break the grotesque cycle of projection and oppression.

Editorial Reviews

Mormon Studies Review

"John Corrigan begins Religious Intolerance, America, and the World with the premise that the American past has been more characterized by religious intolerance and persecution than by tolerance and harmony, particularly of marginal groups. . . .  This is also more than a religious history: it is a history of remembering and forgetting the trauma of religious violence."

American Religion

"Corrigan covers a broad span of history with erudite, masterfully crafted chapters on early America, the antebellum period, the later nineteenth century, the Cold War, and the twenty-first century. Each chapter presents a rich world of intra-Protestant debates about the meaning of violence and persecution at home and abroad."

Religion

Corrigan's Religious Intolerance, America, and the World is an exceptionally rich exploration of this topic, and a short review can hardly do justice to the nuances of his arguments and the breadth of his evidence. His interpretation of the psychological mechanism at play is especially provocative and worth contemplating. . . Religious Intolerance, America, and the World will be read with profit by scholars of American religious and political history, and will be highly suitable for graduate seminars on these subjects.

George Washington University Melani McAlister

With this erudite, intelligent, provocative, and important book, Corrigan has made a major contribution to religious history, the political analysis of religious freedom, and the history of international affairs.

Journal of American History

Americans have long had an uneasy relationship with religious liberty, lauding the United States as a beacon of toleration even as they overlook its history of persecution. John Corrigan untangles this paradox in his brilliantly argued study of religious tolerance in American historical memory. Drawing from scholarship in religious history and international relations, Corrigan explores a national identity constructed from selective remembering and forgetting of spiritual triumph and trauma. In a narrative that connects the Puritans to the present and integrates local and global contexts, Corrigan asks how the United States reconciles its identity as a guardian of religious liberty with its history of religious bigotry.

Journal of Church and State

There have been some excellent recent books on how American Christians see themselves in relation to persecuted Christians abroad. . . .This book is an outstanding and highly recommended addition to this literature, giving it a broader, deeper, and darker historical context.”
 

New England Quarterly

'This provocative account should gain significant attention among scholars who continue to try and explain the complex history of religious intolerance in America."

Tufts University Heather Curtis

Religious Intolerance, America, and the World is a magisterial work. It is a beautifully written and persuasively—even relentlessly—argued book, with a sweeping historical arc that begins in the colonial period and ends with the current presidency of Donald Trump. Through incisive analysis of an absolutely stunning array of primary sources, Corrigan marshals a mountain of persuasive evidence. His bookis a major and much-needed contribution to our current historical moment.

Reading Religion

"This timely, captivating book forces America to confront its claims of exceptionalism based on religious liberty—and perhaps begin to break the grotesque cycle of projection and oppression. . . . Religious Intolerance, America, and the World: A History of Forgetting and Remembering makes an intriguing case for how American Protestants presented themselves as advocates for religious and civil liberty abroad while often instigating religious intolerance at home."

Journal of Muslim Philanthropy and Civil Society

Through a carefully curated compilation of historical events, John Corrigan takes the reader on a journey from biblical times and the extermination of the Amalekites to the beginning of modern American history. . . . The book is an excellent find for any layperson interested in digging deep into the psyche of American Christian history, events, and policies as they relate to their relationship with the rest of the world.”
 

Product Details

BN ID:	2940191355771
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	05/01/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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