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Philip Gorski, American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present

30th May 2018 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

$15.00
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 – 6:30 PM | Open to the public | Members’ Room | $15 per person | advance registration required

The Yale professor and author of The Protestant Ethic Revisited gives us an authoritative account of the long battle between exclusionary and inclusive versions of the American story.

Our present polarization has many causes. One is the long-running battle between those who believe that the United States was founded as a secular democracy and those who believe it was established as a Christian nation. In this event, Gorski argues that our founding tradition was a synthesis of both sacred and secular sources. He traces the history of this civil religious tradition from Puritan times through to the present day and reflects on how it might help heal our political divisions.

Philip Gorski is professor of sociology and religious studies at Yale University. His books include The Protestant Ethic Revisited and The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe.


To register, contact the Events Office at events@nysoclib.org or 212.288.6900 x230. Library members may also click below to register online.