Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts The Myth of the Secular: Religion, War, and Politics in the 20th Century and Beyond

A nation must think before it acts.

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VENUE:Museum of the American Revolution

The Myth of the Secular: Religion, War, and Politics in the 20th Century and Beyond

| Center for the Study of America and the West

About the Event

The apparently sudden resurgence of religious movements in world politics since the 1970s stunned scholars of international relations who had clung to that myth that the secularization of politics and diplomacy began when the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 abruptly ended Europe's "Wars of Religion."  In this 23rd Annual Templeton Lecture on Religion and World Affairs, Walter McDougall challenges that myopia, arguing that even (or especially) in the 20th and 21st centuries religion remains a principal driver of politics in European Civilization and the current "Clash of Civilizations.

The Ginsburg-Satell Chair of FPRI's Center for Study of America and the West, Walter A. McDougall is the author of several critically acclaimed books including: The Tragedy of U.S Foreign Policy (2016), Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History 1585-1828 (2005), Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829-1877 (2008), and Promised Land, Crusader State (1997). He won a Pultizer Prize for his book The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago and is a veteran of the Vietnam War. He is the founding co-chairman of FPRI’s Butcher History Institute for Teachers.

For access to previous Templeton lectures, click here. 
 
For access to McDougall's recent Ginsburg-Satell Lecture on Benjamin Franklin and the Crisis of the British Empire, click here. 

Venue

Museum of the American Revolution

101 S. 3rd St
Philadelphia. PA. US. 19106


Registration

Free for Members of FPRI at the $100 level; $10 for Non-Members.

*All FPRI events are free to students with valid student ID. To receive this offer, students must RSVP to [email protected], not by clicking the registration link. This offer excludes the Annual Dinner and Spring Brunch.

Dinner immediately following exclusively for Silver Partners ($5,000) of FPRI. However, space is limited and reservations will be taken on a first come, first serve basis. 

Click here to register for this event.

For more information, contact Jessica Taylor at [email protected] or at 215-732-3774 ext. 200


Speakers

Walter A. McDougall

Walter A. McDougall - Walter A. McDougall is the Ginsburg-Satell Chair of FPRI's Center for the Study of America and the West. He is also the Co-Chair of FPRI’s Madeleine and W.W. Keen Butcher History Institute, Chairman of FPRI Board of Advisors, and sits on the Board of Editors for FPRI’s journal, Orbis. He is the Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations and Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.

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