Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War

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Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy
- Used Book in Good Condition
Winner of the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction
Finalist forÂ the Cundhill Prize in History

A richly detailed, profoundly engrossing story of how religion has influenced American foreign relations, told through the stories of the men and womenâ€”from presidents to preachersâ€”who have plotted the countryâ€™s course in the world.
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Ever since John Winthrop argued that the Puritansâ€™ new home would be â€œa city upon a hill,â€ Americansâ€™ role in the world has been shaped by their belief that God has something special in mind for them. But this is a story that historians have mostly ignored. Now, in the first authoritative work on the subject, Andrew Preston explores the major strains of religious fervorâ€”liberal and conservative, pacifist and militant, internationalist and isolationistâ€”that framed American thinking on international issues from the earliest colonial wars to the twenty-first century. He arrives at some startling conclusions, among them: Abraham Lincolnâ€™s use of religion in the Civil War became the model for subsequent wars of humanitarian intervention; nineteenth-century Protestant missionaries made up the first NGO to advance a global human rights agenda; religious liberty was the centerpiece of Franklin Rooseveltâ€™s strategy to bring the United States into World War II.
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From George Washington to George W. Bush, from the Puritans to the present, from the colonial wars to the Cold War, religion has been one of Americaâ€™s most powerful sources of ideas about the wider world. When, just days after 9/11, George W. Bush described America as â€œa prayerful nation, a nation that prays to an almighty God for protection and for peace,â€ or when Barack Obama spoke of balancing the â€œjust war and the imperatives of a just peaceâ€ in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, they were echoing four hundred years of religious rhetoric. Preston traces this echo back to its source.
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Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith is an unprecedented achievement: no one has yet attempted such a bold synthesis of American history. It is also a remarkable work of balance and fair-mindedness about one of the most fraught subjects in America.
Country USA
Brand Anchor Books
Manufacturer Anchor
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 140007858X
Color White
ReleaseDate 2012-11-13
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781400078585

Country	USA
Brand	Anchor Books
Manufacturer	Anchor
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	140007858X
Color	White
ReleaseDate	2012-11-13
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781400078585

Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy

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