God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual LifeRonald Reagan is hailed today for a presidency that restored optimism to America, engendered years of economic prosperity, and helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union. Yet until now little attention has been paid to the role Reagan's personal spirituality played in his political career, shaping his ideas, bolstering his resolve, and ultimately compelling him to confront the brutal -- and, not coincidentally, atheistic -- Soviet empire. In this groundbreaking book, political historian Paul Kengor draws upon Reagan's legacy of speeches and correspondence, and the memories of those who knew him well, to reveal a man whose Christian faith remained deep and consistent throughout his more than six decades in public life. Raised in the Disciples of Christ Church by a devout mother with a passionate missionary streak, Reagan embraced the church after reading a Christian novel at the age of eleven. A devoted Sunday-school teacher, he absorbed the church's model of "practical Christianity" and strived to achieve it in every stage of his life. But it was in his lifelong battle against communism -- first in Hollywood, then on the political stage -- that Reagan's Christian beliefs had their most profound effect. Appalled by the religious repression and state-mandated atheism of Bolshevik Marxism, Reagan felt called by a sense of personal mission to confront the USSR. Inspired by influences as diverse as C.S. Lewis, Whittaker Chambers, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, he waged an openly spiritual campaign against communism, insisting that religious freedom was the bedrock of personal liberty. "The source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual," he said in his Evil Empire address. "And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man." From a church classroom in 1920s Dixon, Illinois, to his triumphant mission to Moscow in 1988, Ronald Reagan was both political leader and spiritual crusader. God and Ronald Reagan deepens immeasurably our understanding of how these twin missions shaped his presidency -- and changed the world. |
From inside the book
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... would come to their house and kneel and pray . Maybe she didn't always pray herself a miracle , but folks could bear things a lot better after she left.31 Given such stories , which quickly became common knowledge in JACK AND NELLE 13.
... thing as a saint on earth , it is Nelle Reagan , " said Mildred Neer . Cenie Straw agreed : " Nelle was too good for this world . " 32 One member of the congregation called Nelle a leader " everybody loved . " 33 NELLE'S WORK Nelle ...
... thing , " said one Rea- gan neighbor.38 Some of those men released and welcomed into the Reagan house were African Americans- " coloreds , " in the language of the time . Here was one of many ways that Dutch learned racial tolerance ...
... thing that might only find a spot today in the fiction section of a Christian bookstore . It features chapters with titles like " Philippians 4 : 8 , " a sec- tion of the New Testament that emphasizes the importance of prayer for ...
... thing , " he mutters , " they were struck by good , common - sense business Christianity . " Young Ronald Reagan learned from Dick Walker the benefits of being motivated by Christian faith to do God's work . Ultimately , of course ...
Contents
| 1 | |
| 17 | |
| 27 | |
| 41 | |
War and Evil in Moscow | 57 |
Two Witnesses | 75 |
America as a Chosen Land | 89 |
The Freedom Crusader | 101 |
The Oval Office | 157 |
Religion and | 171 |
Gods Will and | 197 |
Washingtons AntiCommunist | 217 |
The Evil Empire | 233 |
A Message for Communist | 271 |
Rendezvous | 321 |
Acknowledgments | 353 |