Mission and Menace: Four Centuries of American Religious Zeal

Robert Jewett is theologian-in-residence at St. Mark"s United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. Previously he served asguest professor of New Testament at the University of Heidelberg and professor of New Testament interpretation emeritus at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous books, both scholarly and popular, in New Testament studies and American religious and cultural history, including Romans: A Short Commentary (Fortress, 2013),Romans (Hermeneia; Fortress, 2008); Mission and Menace: Four Centuries of American Religious Zeal (Fortress, 2008);The Thessalonian Correspondence (Foundations and Facets; Fortress, 1986); Paul the Apostle to America: Cultural Trends and Pauline Scholarship (1994); St. Paul at the Movies: The Apostle"s Dialogue with American Culture (1993); and St. Paul Returns to the Movies: Triumph Over Shame (1998).

Robert Jewett is Guest Professor of New Testament at the University of Heidelberg and Professor of New Testament Interpretation Emeritus at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous books in American religious and cultural history and New Testament studies, including Romans in the "Hermeneia" series.

"Mission and Menace, a delightfully readable and accessible work, is ideal for college classrooms and anyone interested in better understanding how American religious attitudes from the time of the earliest settlers down to the present have shaped the modern beliefs of the general public and political elites." —Dr. Roy Hammerling, Associate Professor of Church History, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota

In the six years following the events of 9/11, columnists and foreign critics have puzzled over the religious crusading language President George W. Bush has employed, and the wide resonance his mission to "rid the world of evil" evoked in the American public. Where did such a sense of martial mission come from? What led the majority of religiously inclined Americans to affirm this crusading mentality?

"This well written, wholly accessible, and profoundly insightful work explores the deep historical rootedness of recent U.S. religious and political trends that many find puzzling and unsettling. Highly recommended." —Paul Boyer, Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison

In his powerful new book Mission and Menace: Four Centuries of American Religious Zeal, biblical scholar and American cultural historian Robert Jewett explores the ways religious belief has shaped the American experience and continues to influence American foreign policy. In this fascinating and critical survey of American religious movements and its leaders, Jewett traces the development an American civil religion that fuses Enlightenment enthusiasm, democratic ideology, biblical millennialism, and redemptive violence.