End Time Politics

"Keri Ladner's remarkable study of the theology informing Jerry Falwell's political machinations during the final decades of his life merits close attention. The significance of this important book lies in Ladner's argument that Falwell appropriated the searing cultural critique of dispensationalism--that the world is doomed and headed for judgment--and combined that critique with calls for moral reform and political activism in these ""last days."" --Randall Balmer, Dartmouth College This is an important book. By expertly tracing the theological roots of Jerry Falwell, cofounder of the Moral Majority, Keri Ladner exposes the racism, contempt for the poor, American jingoism, and blind support for untrammeled capitalism--plus a huge dose of conspiracism--that infect today's religious right. Ladner, herself an evangelical Christian, uncovers an insidious, reactionary movement ""that has divorced itself entirely from the Bible"" and that ultimately helped produce the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. --Mark Potok, Senior Fellow, Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right Fundamentalists in America had traditionally avoided politics for the sake of spreading the gospel, but in the late twentieth century, as Keri Ladner argues in this book, the Fundamentalist Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell ""created a new political religion."" He blended the end-time theology of dispensationalism with the right-wing causes of the day to produce a powerful ideology sometimes labeled ""Christian nationalism."" Its enduring legacy is a powerful factor in the public square of the 2020s. --David Bebbington, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Stirling"