Please join us for a talk by Andrew Preston, Professor of History at the University of Cambridge and author of American Foreign Relations: A Very Short Introduction (forthcoming); Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy (2012); Nixon in the World: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1969-1977 (2008); The War Council: McGeorge Bundy, the NSC, and Vietnam (2006).

From the first colonists to the presidents of the 21st Century, religion has always shaped America’s relationships with other nations. During the presidency of George W. Bush, many Americans and others around the world viewed the entrance of religion into foreign policy discourse, especially with regard to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a “new” development. Despite the official division between church and state, the presence of religion in American foreign policy has been a constant. Yet aside from leaders known to be personally religious, such as Bush, Jimmy Carter and Woodrow Wilson, few realize how central faith has always been to American governance and diplomacy–and indeed to the idea of America itself. This paper will trace some of the main themes of the relationship between religion and American foreign relations, and use two more detailed case studies — John Foster Dulles and international organization; and missionaries and the establishment of a human rights discourse — by way of example.

Co-Sponsored by the Department of History, The Heyman Center for Humanities, and the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life.

For directions to the Heyman Center, please click here.