Description: Hugh Heclo proposes that Christianity, not religion in general, has been important for American democracy. Responding to his challenging argument, Mary Jo Bane, Michael Kazin, and Alan Wolfe criticize, qualify, and amend it. The result is a lively debate about a momentous tension in American public life.
Brief description: Hugh Heclo is Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, George Mason University.
Review Quotes: In this compelling volume, Hugh Heclo is exceedingly precise on what he takes Christianity and democracy to mean; on what Alexis de Tocqueville thought about the two; and on why he feels the successful American confluence of Christianity and democracy has been under grave threat since the 1960s. The admirable precision of Heclo's argument elicits, in turn, admirably precise rejoinders from three distinguished scholars. The result is a very fine book on a very important subject.--Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame, author of The Civil War as a Theological Crisis