Includes bibliographical references.

1492: the seven deadly sins tumble out of Europe -- Africa comes to the Americas, Christ comes to the slaves -- Born from above: Puritans, conversions, the great awakening -- Gentlemen think up a revolution, a Republic & a constitution -- Rebel, young patriarch, & go west with the country -- Great duel: North & South drop debate & take up arms -- Exodus: slaves freed, capitalism enters its promised land -- Women aim for reform & equality but end up with consumerism -- History's accelerator: America abroad, for pious & impious ends -- Getting real: the U.S. adjusts to reality to fight totalitarianism -- "At sixes & sevens": a revolt against realism splinters America -- Splinter-new: media-driven, networked, niched, new age America.

There was a day when the plausibility of Christianity was debated on a philosophical and metaphysical basis: Does God exist? Can a good God create and sustain a world marred by evil? Can peoples in all times and places take seriously the very particular claims made by and for Jesus Christ? But in the college classrooms of today, Christianity is often considered disproved on the basis of history. Rather than attack and supposed proofs of God's existence, skeptics are more.

likely to point to slavery patriarchalism, mistreatment of Native Americans and other historical examples of Christian oppression. Limiting himself to the United States, a country he never supposes to have been a genuinely "Christian nation," historian Steven Keillor here meets the anti-Christian case head-on. He relies on basic Christian assumptions and the best contemporary historical scholarship to present a provocative, compelling and robustly pro-Christian reading.

of American history. A significant book for historians, students, Christians and other citizens caught in the crossfire of America's current-day culture wars.