'A truly important book. This is the kind of highly ambitious intellectual history that requires thorough familiarity with the sources; a keen eye for discerning undercurrents; a gift for telling a complicated, many faceted story; and an editorial aptitude for weaving it all together.' —National Catholic Reporter
In Apostles of Reason, Molly Worthen offers a groundbreaking history of modern American evangelicalism, recasting the movement as one defined not by shared doctrines or politics, but by the problem of reconciling head knowledge and heart religion in an increasingly secular America. Worthen chronicles the ideological warfare, institutional conflict, and clashes between modern gurus and maverick disciples that lurk behind the more familiar narrative of the rise of the Christian Right. The result is an ambitious intellectual history that weaves together stories from all corners of the evangelical world to explain the ideas and personalities-the scholarly ambitions and anti-intellectual impulses-that have made evangelicalism a cultural and political force.
