Philocrites

Steinfels's reading lists for Bush, Kerry.

by Philocrites

Peter Steinfels e-mailed scholars who think about the religion-and-politics connection to ask what one book they would recommend to round out George W. Bush and John Kerry's understanding of religion. Here's the list, rearranged by candidate — with helpful links to the books!

President Bush:

• The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  
• The Politics of Jesus, John Howard Yoder
  
• John Adams, David McCullough
  
• Religious Freedom: History, Cases, and Other Material on the Interactions of Religion and Government, John T. Noonan Jr and Edward McGlynn Gaffney Jr
  
• City of God, Augustine
  
• Revive Us Again, Jim Wallis
  
• Life of Jesus, D.F. Strauss

Senator Kerry:

• The Garden and the Wilderness: Religion and Government in American Constitutional History, Mark DeWolfe Howe
  
• Documents of the Second Vatican Council
  
• The Declaration on Religious Freedom [Dignitatis Humanae]
  
• The Jewish Political Tradition, Michael Walzer, ed.
  
• We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition, John Courtney Murray
  
• The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day
  
• Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee

But if you want to know which scholar suggested which book and why, read Steinfels's column, "Book Lists for the Candidates" (New York Times 7.24.04, reg req'd). Feel free to add your own in the comments below — and be my guest to question, praise, or quibble with any of the suggestions already on the list. (I'm amused by the thought of the President looking for the Cliffs Notes to Religious Freedom: History, Cases, and Other Material on the Interactions of Religion and Government — but then again, I have to admit that I have never read a single book on this list!)

Copyright © 2004 by Philocrites | Posted 24 July 2004 at 7:33 PM

Previous: Preacher to the Convention.
Next: The poet and the philosopher: An opera!