Prodigal Nation Moral Decline and Divine Punishment from New England to 9/11 [Paperback]

Original and wide-ranging, Murphy's discerning and important study is another reminder that America is 'the nation with the soul of a church.'
-Journal of American History

A wide-ranging and thoughtful meditation on how the theo-political stories we Americans tell ourselves resonate with and sometimes even create the communities we inhabit. This book deserves an honored place among the oeuvre of work by political scientists and historians on the jeremiad.
--Politics and Religion

A significant contribution to the historical account of the role of religion in American politics.
--Perspectives on Politics

Prodigal Nationis a careful account of how theologies function politically and deserves attention from political scientists, political theologians, American historians, and others interested in the interface of religion and culture.
--Religious Studies Review

This highly original and wonderfully written analysis will be invaluable to anyone interested in the meaning of America. --Harry S. Stout, author ofThe New England SoulandUpon the Altar of the Nation

A brilliant analysis of the American jeremiad. Elegant, powerful, hopeful, and wise -Prodigal Nationis required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the fitful history of the American spirit. --James A. Morone, author ofHellfire NationandThe Democratic Wish

Chapter 1: The American Jeremiad


Part I: Three American Jeremiads

Chapter 2: Puritan New England and the Foundations of the American Jeremiad

Chapter 3: Decline, Slavery, and War: The Jeremiad in Antebellum and Civil War America

Chapter 4: Taking America Back: The Christian Right Jeremiad


Part II: The Jeremiad in American Culture

Chapter 5: Competing Jeremiads

Chapter 6: Constructing a Usable Past

Chapter 7: The Jeremiad and the Culture Wars