Jesus Springs - by William J Schultz (Paperback)

About the Book

"In the years after World War II, American evangelicals flocked to the once-sleepy mountain town of Colorado Springs. Drawn by cheap property, beautiful scenery, and the encouragement of civic leaders who saw religion as a path to prosperity, evangelicals planted new churches and built religious nonprofits with a global reach. They preached their message in churches and schools, even in the United States Air Force Academy. Their efforts transformed the city into what some called the 'Evangelical Vatican' and others dubbed 'Jesus Springs.' But in the early 1990s, as the evangelical movement shifted its focus from saving souls to securing political and economic power, relations between the movement and the local community fractured. Today the city faces the prospect of reinvention, grappling with the challenges of America's fast-changing religious landscape. Jesus Springs reveals the power and influence of American evangelicalism within the nation's spiritual economy. Linking the Cold War and the culture wars, William J. Schultz tracks how a deluge of defense spending helped Colorado Springs become the organizational heart of American evangelicalism. This story, taking place as evangelicalism transformed from a primarily religious movement into the social and political force we know today, illuminates the movement's potential impact as its participants seek ever-greater power"--

Book Synopsis

In the years after World War II, American evangelicals flocked to the once-sleepy mountain town of Colorado Springs. Drawn by cheap property, beautiful scenery, and the encouragement of civic leaders who saw religion as a path to prosperity, evangelicals planted new churches and built religious nonprofits with a global reach. They preached their message in churches and schools, even in the United States Air Force Academy. Their efforts transformed the city into what some called the "Evangelical Vatican" and others dubbed "Jesus Springs." But in the early 1990s, as the evangelical movement shifted its focus from saving souls to securing political and economic power, relations between the movement and the local community fractured. Today the city faces the prospect of reinvention, grappling with the challenges of America's fast-changing religious landscape.

Jesus Springs reveals the power and influence of American evangelicalism within the nation's spiritual economy. Linking the Cold War and the culture wars, William J. Schultz tracks how a deluge of defense spending helped Colorado Springs become the organizational heart of American evangelicalism. This story, taking place as evangelicalism transformed from a primarily religious movement into the social and political force we know today, illuminates the movement's potential impact as its participants seek ever-greater power.

Review Quotes

"Illuminating. . . . The evangelicalism that emerged in Colorado Springs . . . helped it evolve into a social movement which, the author convincingly shows, has played a key role in fueling today's Christian nationalism. The result is a revealing window into the roots of a movement that has reshaped American religion and politics."--Publishers Weekly

"Jesus Springs is a mesmerizing account of how Colorado Springs--a quiet mountain town--became a hothouse of Cold War politics, military spending, and evangelical fervor, cultivating the conditions that would give rise to the Christian right." --Claire Hoffman, author of Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson

"A lucid and engaging contribution for anybody who wants to know how we ended up where we are." --Katherine Stewart, author of Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy

"An intriguing excavation of the interplay between capitalism, militarization, and the evangelical movement, Jesus Springs is an indispensable story for understanding the place of Christianity in American politics and culture." --Kathleen Belew, author of Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America

"If the United States is a Christian country, Colorado Springs must be its capital. In this smart, engaging, and illuminating book, Schultz explains how evangelical activists reshaped the American empire." --Matthew Avery Sutton, author of Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity

"William Schultz skillfully tells the story of how a small city in Colorado became the strategic center of the Christian supremacy movement in the United States." --David A. Hollinger, author of Christianity's American Fate: How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular

"William Schultz's riveting account of Christian nationalism and the 'culture wars' brilliantly weaves together histories of military and evangelical might, showing us why we cannot understand America without understanding Colorado Springs." --Anthony Petro, author of Provoking Religion: Sex, Art, and the Culture Wars

About the Author

William J. Schultz is assistant professor of American religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School.