Millennial Dreams and Apocalyptic Nightmares: The Cold War Origins of Political Evangelicalism

The Religious Right came to prominence in the early 1980s, but it was born during the early Cold War. Evangelical leaders like Billy Graham, driven by a fierce opposition to communism, led evangelicals out of the political wilderness they'd inhabited since the Scopes trial and into a much more active engagement with the important issues of the day. How did the conservative evangelical culture move into the political mainstream? Angela Lahr seeks to answer this important question. She shows how evangelicals, who had felt marginalized by American culture, drew upon their eschatological belief in the Second Coming of Christ and a subsequent glorious millennium to find common cause with more mainstream Americans who also feared a a 'soon-coming end, ' albeit from nuclear war. In the early postwar climate of nuclear fear and anticommunism, the apocalyptic eschatology of premillennial dispensationalism embraced by many evangelicals meshed very well with the "secular apocalyptic" mood of a society equally terrified of the Bomb and of communism. She argues that the development of the bomb, the creation of the state of Israel, and the Cuban Missile Crisis combined with evangelical end-times theology to shape conservative evangelical political identity and to influence secular views. Millennial beliefs influenced evangelical interpretation of these events, repeatedly energized evangelical efforts, and helped evangelicals view themselves and be viewed by others as a vital and legitimate segment of American culture, even when it raised its voice in sharp criticism of aspects of that culture. Conservative Protestants were able to take advantage of this situation to carve out a new space for their subculture within the national arena. The greater legitimacy that evangelicals gained in the early Cold War provided the foundation of a power-base in the national political culture that the religious right would draw on in the late seventies and early eighties. The result, she demonstrates, was the alliance of religious and political conservatives that holds power today.

About the Author :
Angela M. Lahr is Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Westminster College, Pennsylvania

Review :
"Angela Lahr's readable, well-researched book traces the emergence of evangelicals as a potent and problematic force in Cold War America. Fueled by apocalyptic visions of an approaching end, and mobilizing techniques ranging from prayer breakfasts to a global missionary enterprise, evangelicals surged from the margins to the center of American life, offering a fearful nation their confident interpretations of history's larger meaning. Anyone interested in the ideological underpinnings of contemporary U.S. culture, politics, and foreign policy should read this book." --Paul Boyer, author of When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture "In Millennial Dreams and Apocalyptic Nightmares, Angela Lahr shows how evangelicals, who had felt marginalized by American culture, drew upon their belief in the Second Coming and the Millennium to find common cause with Americans who did not share their theology but who also feared a "soon-coming end," albeit from nuclear war. She then demonstrates how millennial beliefs influenced evangelical interpretations of world events, repeatedly energized evangelical efforts, and helped evangelicals view themselves and be viewed by others as a vital and legitimate segment of American culture. The scholarship is excellent, the analysis original, and the writing clean and readable. This book makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of the modern evangelical movement." --William Martin, Rice University "For anyone struggling with the central paradox of American evangelicalism -- its otherworldly message and its this-worldly devotion -- Millennial Dreams and Apocalyptic Nightmares is a good place to turn. Lahr highlights an important factor in recent evangelicals' this-worldliness, namely, how millennial hopes and Cold War anxieties converged to politicize born-again Protestantism. Her deft weaving of political and religious history is intelligent and convincing." --D. G. Hart, author of The Lost Soul of American Protestantism "A thoughtful and thought-provoking analysis ... Lahr's meticulous scholarship and carefully constructed arguments convincingly show how conservative evangelicals were able to move from a tangential to a central subculture." --Church History "Lahr's book is significant and persuasive contribution to our understanding of the origins of political evangelicalism in teh twentieth century, and it should receive a wide readership." --American Historical Review