Making the Bible Belt

Texas Prohibitionists and the Politicization of Southern Religion

Joseph Locke author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:27th Jul '17

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Making the Bible Belt cover

Making the Bible Belt upends notions of a longstanding, stable marriage between political religion and the American South. H.L. Mencken coined the term "the Bible Belt" in the 1920s to capture the peculiar alliance of religion and public life in the South, but the reality he described was only the closing chapter of a long historical process. Into the twentieth century, a robust anticlerical tradition still challenged religious forays into southern politics. Inside southern churches, an insular evangelical theology looked suspiciously on political meddling. Outside of the churches, a popular anticlericalism indicted activist ministers with breaching the boundaries of their proper spheres of influence, calling up historical memories of the Dark Ages and Puritan witch hunts. Through the politics of prohibition, and in the face of bitter resistance, a complex but shared commitment to expanding the power and scope of religion transformed southern evangelicals' inward-looking restraints into an aggressive, self-assertive, and unapologetic political activism. The decades-long religious crusade to close saloons and outlaw alcohol in the South absorbed the energies of southern churches and thrust religious leaders headlong into the political process--even as their forays into southern politics were challenged at every step. Early defeats impelled prohibitionist clergy to recast their campaign as a broader effort not merely to dry up the South, but to conquer anticlerical opposition and inject religion into public life. Clerical activists churned notions of history, race, gender, and religion into a powerful political movement and elevated ambitious leaders such as the pugnacious fundamentalist J. Frank Norris and Senator Morris Sheppard, the "Father of National Prohibition." Exploring the controversies surrounding the religious support of prohibition in Texas, Making the Bible Belt reconstructs the purposeful, decades-long campaign to politicize southern religion, hints at the historical origins of the religious right, and explores a compelling and transformative moment in American history.

... Locke's study of Texas politics in the Prohibition era adds another strategic piece to the puzzle in understanding its historical contours... Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
Only a few monographs force historians to reconsider something we all 'know.' Making the Bible Belt is one of those books. Joseph Locke argues convincingly that the critical role played by clericalism in the political life of Texas, rather than having always been present, actually dates only from the era of prohibition. Texas did not join the Bible Belt until the battle against alcohol allowed clericalism to overcome a long-standing tradition of anticlericalism and give religion its currently pervasive role in the state's public life. * Randolph B. Campbell, author of Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State *
In this bold and informative book Locke poses a vital question: How did the religious world of late-nineteenth century Texas--freewheeling, iconoclastic, and skeptical of preachers in politics--become in the twentieth century a hub of the Bible Belt, with its conformist 'Texas Theology' and politically aggressive church establishment? His answers will be of value to anyone interested in the history and current role of religion in American politics. * Charles Postel, author of The Populist Vision *
Many talk of the Bible Belt, but few understand its origins. Joseph Locke's book describes a forgotten anti-clerical culture in Texas, then explains the emergence of political preachers, provides an insightful account of the fight over prohibition there, and demonstrates the importance of a neglected historical figure-Senator Morris Sheppard. Locke's fascinating book reveals how conservative evangelicals came to exercise such influence in America. It tells a compelling story that explains the past and speaks to the present. * Gaines Foster, author of Moral Reconstruction: Christian Lobbyists and the Federal Legislation of Morality, 1865-1920 *
With rigor and flair, Joseph Locke shatters the presumption, passed down by generations of pundits and scholars, that the South has always been the Bible Belt, a natural hothouse of fundamentalist zeal. It was only through the relentless crusading of a rising clerical class, capped off by the political triumph over rum, that the region we now recognize as evangelical orthodoxy's dominant hub assumed its reigning religiosity. This is a beautifully crafted book by a talented historian. * Darren Dochuk, author of From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism *
By highlighting the important role of clericalism in the Texas prohibition campaigns, Joseph L. Locke has given us a new and useful way to think about the relationship between religious and political institutions in Texas, in the Bible Belt, and in the nation as a whole. That is no small accomplishment. * James Ivy, The American Historian *
Crisply written and studiously documentedMaking the Bible Beltpresents a compelling argument[about] late nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century Texas, revealing a contentious, competitive religious milieu. * John Hayes, Journal of Southern History *
Many people mistakenly believe the American South was always a hotbed of religious fervor. In his meticulously researched andartfully written Making the Bible Belt, Joseph L. Locke demonstrates how recent a development the Bible belt phenomenon is and tracesit to determined opposition of church people to anticlericalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. * David Stricklin, Journal of American History *
This book should be required reading for anyone wishing to assess patterns enacted by elements of the Christian church that engage themselves in political rhetoric and the lust for power that comes from wishing to dictate cultural morality. Locke does a fantastic job ordering historical material in a way that the reader feels as if they are reading a book about a contemporary social concern, all the while explaining the foundation of the "Bible Belt" in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. * Joshua Slade Lewis, PNEUMA *
Joseph L. Locke's eye-opening monograph shatters erroneous and too-long-held assumptions regarding the role of religion in Texas political history...This nuanced volume should be read closely not just by historians of American religion, but political scientists and sociologists as well. * Michael Phillips, The Journal of Southern History *

ISBN: 9780190216283

Dimensions: 157mm x 236mm x 28mm

Weight: 517g

296 pages