Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in an Age of Confessional Politics [Paperback]

This treasure trove of stories and statements from the presidential campaign trail will thrill political junkies and captivate all those who care about faith and politics. Brian Kaylor skillfully demonstrates how discussions of a candidates religious beliefs have become an essential part of running for president, and he offers powerful arguments about what this portends  not only for politics, but also for religious liberty, religion, and our democracy.Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in the Age of Confessional Politics analyzes religious rhetoric in presidential campaigns from 1976-2008, proposing a confessional political style successful candidates must employ that differs sharply from earlier ideals of civic piety. Brian T. Kaylor also considers changes in American society that helped create this confessional political system and critiques the problems with this system.When a Bible-quoting Sunday School teacher, Jimmy Carter, won the 1976 presidential election, it marked the start of a new era of presidential campaign discourse. The successful candidates since then have followed Carter's lead in publicly testifying about their personal religious beliefs and invoking God to justify their public policy positions and their political visions. With this new confessional political style, the candidates have repudiated the former perspective of a civil-religious contract that kept political leaders from being too religious and religious leaders from being too political. Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in the Age of Confessional Politics analyzes the religious-political discourse used by presidential nominees from 1976-2008, and then describes key characteristics of their confessional rhetoric that represent a substantial shift from the tenets of the civil-religious contract. This new confessional political style is characterized by religious-political rhetoric that is testimonial, partisan, sectarian, and liturgical in nature. In order to understand why candidates have l£&