The Kingdom of God Has No Borders: A Global History of American Evangelicals

Most histories of conservative Protestantism in the twentieth century focus on the domestic agenda of the Religious Right. The Kingdom of God Has No Borders offers a new perspective by focusing on the global context. McAlister argues that understanding US evangelicalism in an international frame reveals its multiracial character, and shows us how, over the last sixty years, US evangelicals’ politics evolved, as they became more liberal on race but remained deeply conservative on gender and sexuality, and increasingly focused on Islam as a threat—all positioned shaped by their international ties.

Melani McAlister is Professor of American Studies and International Affairs at George Washington University. She is a cultural historian of the US the world, with particular attention to the role of religion and the politics of culture. In addition to The Kingdom of God Has No Borders, she is author of Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and US Interests in the Middle East since 1945 and co-editor of Religion and Politics in the Contemporary United States. She has contributed to the Washington Post, New York Times, Al-Jazeera, BBC, and Voice of America, among other outlets.

The Washington History Seminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University) and Christian Ostermann (Woodrow Wilson Center) and is sponsored jointly by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year. The seminar thanks the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and the George Washington University History Department for their support.