Prophesies of Godlessness

Prophesies of Godlessness explains patterns in how Americans, from the Puritans to the present, have imagined and disseminated prophesies for and against "godlessness." The book identifies and analyzes surprising continuities among those prophesies throughout American history and among thinkers of surprisingly diverse political and religious views.

Prophesies of Godlessness explains patterns in how Americans, from the Puritans to the present, have imagined and disseminated prophesies for and against "godlessness." The book identifies and analyzes surprising continuities among those prophesies throughout American history and among thinkers of surprisingly diverse political and religious views.

INTRODUCTION - CHRISTOPHER MCKNIGHT NICHOLS AND CHARLES MATHEWES; 1. Puritans and Revolution: Remembering the Origin: Religion and Social Critique in Early New England - Wilson N. Brissett (PhD Candidate UVA); 2. The Early Republic: Thomas Jefferson's Philosophy of History and the Future of American Christianity - Johann Neem (Western Washington University); 3. The Romantic Era: Emerson's Churches of One - Matthew Mutter (PhD Candidate, Yale); 4. The Civil War: Redeemer President and Warrior Prophet: Abraham Lincoln, William T. Sherman, and Evangelical Christianity - Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh (US Naval Academy); 5. After the Civil War: Auguste Comte's Theory of History Crosses the Atlantic - Andrew Witmer (PhD Candidate UVA); 6. The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: Mastery, Modern Doubt, and the Costs of Progress - Christopher McKnight Nichols; 7. World War I and After: Godlessness and the Scopes Trial - Kevin M. Schultz (IASC); 8. The Thirties to the Fifties: Totalitarianism and the Second American Enlightenment - David Ciepley (UVA); 9. The Sixties: Secularization and the Prophecies of Freedom - Slavica Jakeli? (UVA); 10. The Seventies and Eighties: A Reversal of Fortunes - Joseph E. Davis (UVA) and David Franz (PhD Candidate UVA); 11. From 11/9 to 9/11 and Beyond: The Return of Jeremiad and the Specter of Secularization - Joshua Yates (UVA); CONCLUSION - PROPHESIES OF GODLESSNESS, RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - CHARLES MATHEWES AND CHRISTOPHER MCKNIGHT NICHOLS