In the aftermath of World War II, the United States stood at a precipice. The forces of modernity unleashed by the war had led to astonishing advances in daily life, but technology and mass culture also threatened to erode the country's traditional moral character. As award-winning historian George M. Marsden explains in "The Twilight of the American Enlightenment," postwar Americans looked to the country's secular, liberal elites for guidance in this precarious time, but these intellectuals proved unable to articulate a coherent common cause by which America could chart its course. Their failure lost them the faith of their constituents, paving the way for a Christian revival that offered America a firm new moral vision--one rooted in the Protestant values of the founders.
A groundbreaking reappraisal of the country's spiritual reawakening, "The Twilight of the American Enlightenment" shows how America found new purpose at the dawn of the Cold War.

Hundreds of thousands of professors claim Christian as their primary identity, and teaching as their primary vocational responsibility. Yet, in the contemporary university the intersection of these two identities often is a source of fear, misunderstanding, and moral confusion. How does being a Christian change one's teaching? Indeed, should it? Inspired by George Marsden's 1997 book The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, this book draws on a survey of more than 2,300 Christian professors from 48 different institutions in North America, to reveal a wide range of thinking about faith-informed teaching. Placing these empirical findings alongside the wider scholarly conversation about the role of identity-informed teaching, Perry L. Glanzer and Nathan F. Alleman argue that their Christian identity can and should inform professors' teaching in the contemporary pluralistic university. The authors provide a nuanced alternative to those who advocate for restraining the influence of one's extra-professional identity and those who, in the name of authenticity, promote the full integration of one's primary identity into the classroom. The book charts new ground regarding how professors think about Christian teaching specifically, as well as how they should approach identity-informed teaching more generally.

Throughout her history America has possessed a rich religious component largely comprised of different traditions of the Christian faith. This tide of personal religious devotion connected to government observances and policies has ebbed and flowed through time, but it has always been a part of American identity--one that is full of social and political debate. As such, "Christian America?" presents a hearty point-counterpoint discussion about the nature of the relationship Christianity has had to American politics and culture throughout the country's existence, aiming to determine which of these four differing opinions is most appropriate.
David Barton (WallBuilders) supports the idea that America is distinctly Christian based on centuries of authoritative government declarations.
Jonathan D. Sassi (College of Staten Island) believes America is distinctly secular based on the nation's religiously eclectic and secular beginning (particularly the emphasis on "the complete separation of church and state").
William D. Henard (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) sees America as essentially Christian, making his case for the nation's crucial faith component while exploring varied interpretations of comments like one made in 2009 by President Barack Obama: "Although... we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation..."
Daryl C. Cornett, the book's editor, argues that America is partly Christian, a nation that was shaped by a blend of religious and non-religious tendencies. He writes, "After the Civil War steady decline in religious adherence was the impetus for evangelicals to mythologize American history and pine for a return to a golden age of Christian faith and virtue at its founding that never existed."