Awards

• Winner of Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Research Award sponsored by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research 2011
• Winner of Religion Communicator's Council 2012 Wilbur Book Award- Nonfiction category.

Overview

When a Bible-quoting Sunday School teacher, Jimmy Carter, won the 1976 presidential election, it marked the start of a new era of presidential campaign discourse. The successful candidates since then have followed Carter's lead in publicly testifying about their personal religious beliefs and invoking God to justify their public policy positions and their political visions. With this new confessional political style, the candidates have repudiated the former perspective of a civil-religious contract that kept political leaders from being too religious and religious leaders from being too political. Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in the Age of Confessional Politics analyzes the religious-political discourse used by presidential nominees from 1976-2008, and then describes key characteristics of their confessional rhetoric that represent a substantial shift from the tenets of the civil-religious contract. This new confessional political style is characterized by religious-political rhetoric that is testimonial, partisan, sectarian, and liturgical in nature. In order to understand why candidates have radically adjusted their God talk on the campaign trail, important religious-political shifts in American society since the 1950s are examined, which demonstrate the rhetorical demands evangelical religious leaders have placed upon our would-be national leaders. Brian T. Kaylor utilizes Michel Foucault's work on the confession—with theoretical adjustments—to critique the significant problems of the confessional political era. With clear analyses and unsettling relevance, Kaylor's critique of contemporary political discourse will rouse the interest and concern of engaged citizens everywhere.

Full Product Details

9780739148792

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Reviews

This treasure trove of stories and statements from the presidential campaign trail will thrill political junkies and captivate all those who care about faith and politics. Brian Kaylor skillfully demonstrates how discussions of a candidate's religious beliefs have become an essential part of running for president, and he offers powerful arguments about what this portends - not only for politics, but also for religious liberty, religion, and our democracy. -- Melissa Rogers, Wake Forest University Divinity School

This treasure trove of stories and statements from the presidential campaign trail will thrill political junkies and captivate all those who care about faith and politics. Brian Kaylor skillfully demonstrates how discussions of a candidate's religious beliefs have become an essential part of running for president, and he offers powerful arguments about what this portends -- not only for politics, but also for religious liberty, religion, and our democracy. -- Melissa Rogers, Wake Forest University Divinity School

Author Information

Brian T. Kaylor is assistant professor of communication studies at James Madison University.

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