Hippies of the Religious Right: From the Counterculture of Jerry Garcia to the Subculture of Jerry Falwell

by Preston Shires

Overview

This volume demonstrates that the Christian Right has a surprising past. Historical analysis reveals that the countercultural movements and evangelicalism share a common heritage. Shires warns that political operatives in both parties need to heed this fact if they hope to either, in the case of the Republican Party, retain their evangelical constituency, or, in the case of the Democratic Party, recruit new evangelical voters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932792577
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	287
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.83(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Preston Shires (Ph D University of Nebraska) is Instructor in History, SE Community College in Lincoln, NE

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Modern Culture—Mainstream and Mainline

2. The Counterculture

3. Old-Time Religion and New-Time Youth

4. A Radical Spirituality for a Radical Generation

5. The Evangelical Lifestyle

6. The Countercultural Christians

7. The Merging of Countercultural and Evangelical Christianity

8. Awaiting the Religious Right

9. Politically Right

10. The Christian Right and Its Sixties Inheritance

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

Shires shows how some countercultural values from the 1960s era survive in the motivations of participants in what would seem an entirely different social movement, socially activist evangelical Protestantism. His well-documented case is original and provocative.

Tim Miller

Shires shows how some countercultural values from the 1960s era survive in the motivations of participants in what would seem an entirely different social movement, socially activist evangelical Protestantism. His well-documented case is original and provocative.

Amanda Porterfield

This book contributes significantly to understanding the fervent supernaturalism evident in American public life today.

Editorial Reviews

Hippies of the Religious Right is an important resource because of the information that it provides on the Jesus movement, a short-lived evangelical subgroup that unfortunately has received little attention from historians.

Reviews in American History

This book contributes significantly to understanding the fervent supernaturalism evident in American public life today.

-Amanda Porterfield, Robert A. Spivey Professor of Religion and Director of Graduate Studies, Florida State University

From the Publisher

Recommended.

CHOICE

Shires, who teaches history at a community college in Nebraska, contends that a surprising number of teens and young adults who participated in the 1960s counterculture eventually made their way to the "robust evangelical movement" of the 1970s and 1980s. The counterculture itself fostered an interest in spirituality, and the charismatic renewal offered youth a way to rebel against their parents' mainline Christianity. Shires's most innovative claim is that the counterculture actually led to the development of the religious right. While so-called "Jesus Freaks" and other countercultural Christians were primarily on a spiritual, not political, quest, the organic, integrated life they sought led them to apply their faith to politics. Shires concludes with a prediction: the next decades may see the rise of a more politically moderate evangelicalism, as a younger generation, concerned with inclusion and caring for the poor, matures. If Shires does not make an airtight case, his argument is certainly intriguing. Although the book is marred by occasional clunky academic prose and overuse of the passive voice ("This has been the argument"), Shires makes a real contribution to the nation's current discussions about evangelicals and political activism. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly