Richard Gamble on Protestantism in America, the Gettysburg Address, and American Exceptionalism

In this episode:

• Richard Gamble, professor of history at Hillsdale College, joins the podcast to discuss the two strands of American civil religion
• Lincoln’s European political influences, and how Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address changed the way that America thinks about its purpose and how it reshapes our view of the American Founding
• Why the “old” conception of American Exceptionalism offers the best understanding of the American identity
• How Protestantism shaped the landscape of American higher education in the colonial period and the early Republic

Texts Mentioned:

• “Civil Religion in America” by Robert Bellah
• The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America’s Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest by Walter McDougall
• “Gettysburg Gospel” by Richard Gamble
• Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
• The National System of Political Economy by Friedrich List
• The Great Tradition edited by Richard Gamble
• A Fiery Gospel: The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Road to Righteous War by Richard Gamble
• The War for Righteousness: Progressive Christianity, the Great War, and the Rise of the Messianic Nation by Richard Gamble

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