Republicans and Evangelicals I Harold Ockenga - Can Christians Unite? (featuring Joel Carpenter)

Republicans and Evangelicals I Harold Ockenga - Can Christians Unite? (featuring Joel Carpenter)

Author: Chris Staron April 30, 2024 Duration: 31:49
Give to help the Truce Podcast! Harold Ockenga was a famous fundamentalist(ish) pastor from Boston. And he had a problem. Liberal Christians had the ear of the government. That meant that military chaplain positions and free radio time were going to liberals, not conservatives. Why shouldn't conservatives have access to the radio waves like theologically liberal Christians? But that would take unity among evangelicals, or, what he called neo-evangelicals. Neo-evangelicals were evangelicals who didn't separate from the world. In Ockenga's case, this meant maybe going to the movies or an opera. So he, along with other preachers like Billy Graham, founded the National Association of Evangelicals with the hope of uniting neo-evangelicals under one banner. It didn't work. The real story, though, sometimes gets lost. The was a big boom in evangelism in the 1940s as WWII wrapped up. Evangelists targeted the youth with organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ springing up left and right. This boom meant that churches swelled in the 1950s, only to begin their long slide a few decades later. In this episode, Chris speaks with Joel Carpenter, a senior research fellow at Calvin College and author of "Revive Us Again". Resources Used: "Revive Us Again" by Joel Carpenter "The Evangelicals" by Frances Fitzgerald "The Surprising Work of God" by Garth Rosell "Reaganland" by Rick Perlstein NPS article about the Bonus Army “After the Ivory Tower Falls” book by Will Bunch Billy Graham audio National Association of Evangelicals "The New Treason" Interviews from Harold Ockenga at Wheaton College Discussion Questions: What spurred the revivals of the 1940s? How has youth evangelism shaped American society? Why is it important to understand the role that cheap higher education played in shaping the 1960s? Why did neo-evangelicals feel that they needed access to the radio waves? Is unity important to the Christian walk? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted by Chris Staron, Truce-History of the Christian Church is a deep, journalistic look into the forces that have shaped American evangelicalism. This isn't a simple timeline of events; it's an investigation into the surprising intersections of faith, culture, and power. Staron digs into movements from fundamentalism's roots to modern political campaigns, and even examines connections to phenomena like pyramid schemes, revealing a complex history many listeners may never have encountered. Each episode is built on thorough research and thoughtful interviews, aiming to understand not just how the church arrived at its current moment, but how that story might inform a better path forward. The current season focuses specifically on the rise of the Religious Right, meticulously tracing the evolving alliance between evangelicals and the Republican Party. To tell this story, the podcast features conversations with notable guests like historians Rick Perlstein and Frances Fitzgerald, or journalist Jesse Eisinger, who bring their expertise to this nuanced narrative. Listening to this podcast feels like joining a rigorous yet accessible conversation, one that respects the subject's gravity while pursuing clarity and truth. For anyone curious about the real stories behind today's headlines concerning faith and society, this series offers essential context.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Truce - History of the Christian Church
Podcast Episodes
Republicans and Evangelicals I Reagan's Shibboleths [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:05
Give to help Chris make the show! Ronald Reagan was an odd choice for evangelicals. For one, he and his wife regularly consulted a medium. He was a Hollywood actor, which should have put him at odds with fundamentalists.…
Republicans and Evangelicals | Ronald Reagan's Double Cross [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:27
Give to help Chris make Truce Before he became president, Reagan was the head of the Screen Actors' Guild. When it came down to backing his followers or helping big business, he chose business. The same was true when he…
Republicans and Evangelicals | Why Christians Didn't Vote for Carter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:51
Give to help Chris make Truce Boy, the Religious Right did not like Carter, at least by 1980. Some of them, like Pat Robertson, had high hopes for him at the start. But they quickly grew to distrust the man from Georgia.…
Republicans and Evangelicals | The Many Plagues of Jimmy Carter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:48
Give to help Chris make Truce President Jimmy Carter's presidency (1977–1981) faced several major challenges, both domestically and internationally. One of the biggest domestic issues was the struggling U.S. economy. Car…
Republicans and Evangelicals | The Battle for the Mind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:02
Give to help Chris make Truce Tim LaHaye wrote different kinds of books. Books on marriage, sexuality, the end times, and those involved in social and political movements. In his young years, Tim LaHaye taught for the Jo…
Republicans and Evangelicals | What Scared Tim LaHaye [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:54
Give to help Chris make Truce Tim and Beverly LaHaye were a prominent American evangelical Christian couple known for their influential work in ministry, literature, and conservative activism. Tim LaHaye, born in 1926 in…
An American Coup in Guatemala [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:35
Give to help Chris make Truce Given the recent events in Venezuela, I have decided to run a classic episode from season 3. The question of our era is not "why did we do this?" but "why do we keep doing this?" Why does th…
Republicans and Evangelicals: Bill Bright, Campus Crusade, and Cru [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:52
Give to help Chris continue to make Truce William R. “Bill” Bright was born in 1921 in Coweta, Oklahoma. Though raised in a religious environment, he initially pursued business success and personal ambition. While attend…