William Schultz is a historian of American religion with an interest in the intersection of religion, politics, and capitalism. He is a lecturer in the Department of History at Princeton University; prior to that, he completed a doctorate at Princeton and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. His book, Jesus Springs: How Colorado Springs Became the Capital of the Culture Wars (under contract with UNC Press), explains how the confluence of Christianity, capitalism, and the military made Colorado Springs, Colorado, the epicenter of a Christian movement that sought to reshape American politics in the late twentieth century.

 

This talk explores how the shifting religious and economic geographies of the United States opened a new front in the culture wars, the fierce and intertwined conflicts over gay rights, abortion, and other social issues which roiled American society at the end of the twentieth century. It traces how a network of Christian ministers, evangelical leaders, and urban boosters recruited dozens of Christian institutions to Colorado Springs, Colorado, transforming an out-of-the-way resort community into “Jesus Springs.” It also llluminates the surprising amount of religious diversity concealed beneath the city’s newfound reputation as an evangelical Vatican. Clashes between the city’s progressive community and the evangelical newcomers made Colorado Springs a microcosm of the American culture wars—and a crucial case for understanding the interplay between economic change and religious conflict in the United States.