Skip to main content
SmithsonianAssociates.org will be offline for scheduled maintenance on Sunday, October 6, between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. ET.
Your Encores will also be unavailable during this time. We will be extending the viewing time of your Encores by an extra day so you will still have time to watch your recordings. If you still feel you need extra time to watch your Encores recordings, please contact us and let us know.

Evangelicalism in America

This program is over. Hope you didn't miss it!

Evangelicalism in America

Evening Lecture/Seminar

Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. ET
Code: 1H0805
Location:
This online program is presented on Zoom.
Select your Registration
$20
Member
$25
Non-Member
Powered by Zoom

From left, Billy Graham, Nancy Reagan, and President Ronald Reagan at the National Prayer Breakfast, 1981 (PD / White House Photographic Collection)

Every election cycle, American evangelicals are heavy hitters on the demographic scene and a force to be reckoned with for journalists, pundits, politicians, and political strategists. But it was not always so. Who exactly are the evangelicals, where did they come from, and what does the term “evangelical” even mean?

Joseph Slaughter, assistant professor of history at Wesleyan University, addresses these questions as he examines the complexity of a group that spans multiple denominations, regions, and ethnicities. Slaughter traces the 400-year-old story of evangelicalism in America, stretching back to the first decades of European settlements in North America. From its origins in the 16th and 17th centuries to its periods of growth in adherents and influence from the 18th through the 21st, he highlights key doctrines, figures, and events that shaped and transformed what it has meant to be an evangelical in America.

General Information