What Democrats Talk about When They Talk about God

Religious Communication in Democratic Party Politics

Contributions by Allison J. Ainsworth, Samuel Boerboom, Daniel D. Gross, Paul Haridakis, Christina M. Knopf, Lenore Langsdorf, Sara Ann Mehltretter, Jeffrey L. Morrow, James T. Petre, Penni M. Pier, C Thomas Preston, Paul R. Raptis, Brent S. Roberts, Biff Rocha, Julie R. Woodbury Edited by David Weiss

Publication date:

11 October 2010

Length of book:

228 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

240x160mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739138267

What Democrats Talk about When They Talk about God is a collection of essays on the religious communication of members of the Democratic Party, past and present-in office, while campaigning, and in their public and private writing. While many books on the market address issues at the intersection of church and state, none to date have focused exclusively on Democrats as important participants in the dialogue about religion and politics.

1 Introduction: What Do Democrats Talk about When They Talk about God?
Part 2 I: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
Chapter 3 1: The Religious Explorations of Thomas Jefferson and his Public and Private Expressions of Faith
Chapter 4 2: Deities, Divisions, and Democrats: The "Political Left" and Religion
Part 5 II: Past Presidents and Presidential Hopefuls
Chapter 6 3: The Three Faces of John: Mutable Religious Personae in the 2004 Presidential Race
Chapter 7 4: Bill Clinton's Looking Glass: A Metaphorical Analogy for the Faith and Values of the Democratic Party
Chapter 8 5: The "Voice of God" in Democratic Political Rhetoric: Exploring the Social-Political Gospel of John Edwards
Chapter 9 6: Al Gore's Rational Faith and Unreasonable Religion
Part 10 III: The Religious Rhetoric of Barack Obama
Chapter 11 7: The Audacity of Faith: An Inclusive Political Rhetoric
Chapter 12 8: Dancing on the Wall: An Analysis of Barack Obama's "Call to Renewal" Keynote Address
Chapter 13 9: Change the Context, Build the Coalition: Democrats, Abortion Reduction, and the Politics of Articulation
Part 14 IV: Religion in Gubernatorial and Congressional Campaigns
Chapter 15 10: Tim Kaine's Catholic Evangelical Rhetoric
Chapter 16 11: Dwelling amongst the Righteous: Keith Ellison-Demagogue or Demon?
17 About the Contributors

The contributors to this book provide an important corrective to the view that only the GOP does "God talk." The collection is full of interesting accounts of candidates and officeholder religious rhetoric. Recommended.