GOD AND RONALD REAGAN: A Spiritual Life
Speaker(s): Paul Kengor, Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
Grove City College
Host(s):Lee Edwards, Ph.D. Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought, B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Details:
Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman AuditoriumGod and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life by Paul Kengor, Ph.D. is the first serious, comprehensive examination of Ronald Reagan’s religious faith. In this spiritual biography, Kengor examines Reagan’s vision of America as both a divinely ordained beacon of freedom and a nation chosen to place a stake in the future of communism. From his childhood in Dixon, Illinois to his later years as President of the United States, Ronald Reagan’s religious faith was the single most consistent feature of his life. In God and Ronald Reagan, Kengor blends groundbreaking research and fascinating storytelling into a book that will forever change our understanding of one of the most influential presidents in history.
Dr. Paul Kengor, associate professor of political science at Grove City College, is a political author and commentator. He is nationally known for his work on Reagan, which has been featured in dozens of major national publications and media outlets. Dr. Kengor is also a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University. He has served as a researcher and Adjunct Scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., a Research Fellow at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy and member of the editorial board of Presidential Studies Quarterly.
Okay, that was the dry academic overview. Here is a Townhall.com "liner-notes" review of the book by the same name:
Reagan's Christian faith: crucial to his character, his political philosophy -- and his determined struggle against Communism
God and Ronald Reagan
by Paul Kengor
Yes, Ronald Reagan was a deeply committed Christian -- and contrary to the charges of critics, his faith wasn't just a private matter. That's the message of God and Ronald Reagan, a unique exploration of Reagan's religious faith and its impact on his political life by respected Reagan authority Paul Kengor. Exploring Reagan's public and private statements and writings, and conducting extensive interviews with Reagan intimates (including Casper Weinberger, Ed Meese, and many others), Kengor demonstrates conclusively that the core and guiding principle of this American hero's political philosophy was his quiet but rock-solid Christian faith.
Above all, Kengor demonstrates that Reagan's steadfast anti-communism stemmed from much more than just Reagan's convictions about the way governments should be constituted: for Reagan, the Cold War was nothing less than a struggle for the souls of men. For Reagan, Kengor explains, God was involved in every aspect of his daily life, and even chose him to become President -- precisely in order to help America bring down the scourge of Soviet Communism.
Kengor addresses head-on two reasons why Christians have sometimes criticized Reagan's religious commitment:
--his failure to attend church regularly as President and
--Nancy Reagan's involvement with astrology.
While examining these matters seriously, Kengor shows why they don't get to the heart of Reagan's true religious perspective, which was more fully and accurately expressed by two seminal events.
First was the attempt on his life in 1981, after which he wrote: "Whatever happens now I owe my life to God and will try to serve Him every way I can."
The second was his trip to the Soviet Union in 1988, during which he confounded his atheist hosts by peppering his public statements with religious references and spoke out strongly for religious freedom.
God and Ronald Reagan is an illuminating insight into the profound faith that shaped one of our nation's greatest Presidents -- a faith that, as it contributed to the downfall of Moscow's Evil Empire, did nothing less than transform the world.
Paul Kengor reveals the Christian Ronald Reagan:
The truth and larger significance of a Soviet journalist's observation that "whenever Mr. Reagan delivers a speech, he always mentions his religious feelings"What Reagan's revisions to the "Evil Empire" speech reveal about the intensity of his Christian commitment
Evidence that Reagan viewed the struggle against Communism as his own personal crusade, deeply connected to his religious faith
Reagan's early life: how the religious ideas he formed then persisted throughout his life and profoundly influenced the way he viewed politics
The childhood experience that left Reagan with a lifelong "reverence for the handiwork of God"
"Many of us believed Nelle Reagan had the gift to heal": the passionate faith of Reagan's mother, which she diligently passed on to her son
The little-known book, devoured by young Reagan, that left him with "an abiding belief in the triumph of good over evil"
Evidence that even as Reagan's public religious observance declined, his private commitment abided
Reagan's Hollywood battles with atheists who were beginning even then to edit favorable references to Christianity out of movie scripts
How Reagan saw the struggle against Communism in religious terms, frequently assailing "the false god of Marx and his false prophet Lenin"
Whittaker Chambers' Witness: a source of insight into the spiritual dimension of the struggle against Communism that Reagan would draw on for decades
Reagan's reaction on being elected Governor of California? "It is part of God's plan for me"
Why Reagan and Pope John Paul II were in many ways a perfect match, as their respective religious faiths gave them an extraordinary amount of common ground
Reagan's political philosophy: "He who introduces into public office the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world"
America: Reagan's belief that our nation reached maturity by affirming "its leadership of free men and women serving selflessly a vision of man with God"
The trenchant, biblically literate response Reagan made to a liberal minister who denied the divinity of Christ and denigrated Reagan's "limited Sunday school-level theology"
Reagan and the astrologer: did he ask her for guidance? No, he told her that "he felt that God had entrusted him with a mission and that his strength came directly from God"
Reagan's challenge to America (and the rest of the world): "It is time for the world to know our intellectual and spiritual values are rooted in the source of all strength, a belief in a Supreme Being, and a law higher than our own"
Some additional critical acclaim for this book:
"Takes the reader to depths where no other writer has yet been -- Ronald Reagan's very soul"
"A profound character study, an engrossing work of history, and a heartbreakingly beautiful love story about one man and his Maker." -- Peter Robinson, author, How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life
"An outstanding and thoroughly documented demonstration of the role faith in God and Christ played in the life and leadership of President Reagan! Those who read Mr. Kengor's excellent and readable book will better understand why even today those who wish to expunge all references to God from public life are determined to try to besmirch him and his reputation which, thanks to this book, will be harder than ever to do." -- Don Hodel, former Secretary of the Interior, Reagan Administration
"Paul Kengor takes the reader to depths where no other writer has yet been -- Ronald Reagan's very soul. Using original research and dispassionate analysis, Kengor gives both historians and layman a vital and enlightening look at one of the most important leaders in American history." -- Peter Schweizer, author, Reagan's War
"A fascinating read. Based on meticulous research, God and Ronald Reagan fundamentally transforms the historical view of Ronald Reagan and his place in the 20th century. This is a must-read piece of political history." -- Donald M. Goldstein, co-author, At Dawn We Slept
"In the vast body of Reagan scholarship, what has been missing is a spiritual biography. Kengor has admirably supplied our need." -- Robert P. George, Princeton University