New Books Network Paul J. Gutacker, "The Old Faith in a New Nation: American Protestants and the Christian Past" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Jan 5, 2026
Paul J. Gutacker, a lecturer at Baylor University and author of The Old Faith in a New Nation, challenges the stereotype of 19th-century American Protestants as dismissive of tradition. He discusses how evangelicals actively engaged with Christian history, from interpreting early church corruption to using historical arguments in debates over disestablishment. Gutacker highlights the influence of popular historians, the resurgence of anti-Catholic sentiment in education, and the role of women and African Americans in shaping historical narratives.
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Evangelicals Read And Used Church History
- American Protestants in the early republic were deeply engaged with Christian history, not indifferent to it.
- Paul J. Gutacker found thousands of references showing history shaped their identity and politics.
Constantine Narrative Drove Disestablishment
- Protestants blamed Constantine-era church-state fusion for corrupting apostolic Christianity.
- That narrative justified disestablishment and fueled American exceptionalism in religion.
Selective Reading Of Diverse Historians
- American Protestants read a wide range of historians, from Milner and Mosheim to Hume and Gibbon.
- They picked works that confirmed anti-Catholic conclusions or offered edifying examples despite Enlightenment skepticism.
