When Woodrow Wilson was elected as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in 1897, his preacher father allegedly remarked, "I would rather that he held that position than be president of the United States." Fifteen years later he was both. Easily one of the most religious presidents in American history, almost all of Wilson's policies and important speeches were infused with religious concepts. The son, grandson, and nephew of southern Presbyterian divines, with six consecutive generations of preachers on his mother's side, Wilson viewed his political career as a sacred calling. As he remarked to a Democratic Party leader just before his inauguration in 1913, "God ordained that I should be the next president of the United States." As a scholar, Princeton University president, governor of New Jersey, then president, Wilson spent his entire career trying to further the cause of public righteousness. In 1905, he uttered his life's credo: "There is a mighty task before us and it welds us together. It is to make the United States a mighty Christian nation and to Christianize the World." Nonetheless, the 28th president was not principally a religious figure, and he didn't fit comfortably in any religious camp, either in his own time or today. In Woodrow Wilson: Ruling Elder, Spiritual President, Barry Hankins tells the story of Wilson's religion as he moved from the Calvinist orthodoxy of his youth to a progressive, spiritualized religion short on doctrine and long on morality.

About the Author
Barry Hankins is Professor of History at Baylor University, as well as a Resident Scholar with the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR). His publications include Baptists in America: A History (OUP, 2015) and Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism: A Documentary Reader (NYU Press, 2008). Hankins's biography Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America: Fundamentalist Warrior, Evangelical Prophet (Eerdmans, 2008) was awarded the 2009 John Pollock Award for Christian Biography.

Reviews
Hankins' descriptive historicism and concise storytelling make the book accessible to both public audiences and scholars, especially those interested in the relationship between religion and American political history. * Morgan Frick, The University of Alabama, Religious Studies Review *
The book includes a helpful index (225-35), a selected bibliography (219-23), and recommends itself not only to scholars interested in the U.S. presidency, but also in the manifold interrelations of religion and politics in modernity, which are in such dire needof more substantial research. * Philipp Reisner, Amst *
All in all, this is an impressive brief biography, easily read by undergraduates as well as scholars in the field. ...Hankin's book is a valuable introduction to Woodrow Wilson's spiritual beliefs and to those of the Progressive Era. * Hans P. Vought, Fides et Historia *


Awards
Winner of Winner of the A. Donald MacLeod Award in Presbyterian History.



Book Information
ISBN 9780198822288
Author Barry Hankins
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 130mm * 14mm