Lienesch, Michael 1948-

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Lienesch, Michael 1948-

PERSONAL:

Born November 5, 1948, in IL. Education: University of Illinois, Urbana, B.A., 1970; University of California, Berkeley, M.A., 1971, Ph.D., 1977.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NC. Office—361 Hamilton Hall, CB 3265, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3265. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, adjunct professor of American studies.

WRITINGS:

New Order of the Ages: Time, the Constitution, and the Making of Modern American Political Thought, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1988.

(Editor, with Michael Allen Gillespie) Ratifying the Constitution, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 1989.

Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christian Right, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 1993.

In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Making of the Antievolution Movement, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and educator Michael Lienesch earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana, then continued his education at the University of California at Berkeley, earning both his master's degree and his doctorate. Lienesch serves on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is an adjunct professor of American studies in the department of political science. He is also the author of a number of books, including New Order of the Ages: Time, the Constitution, and the Making of Modern American Political Thought, Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christian Right, and In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Making of the Antievolution Movement. He is also the coeditor, along with Michael Allen Gillespie, of Ratifying the Constitution.

Redeeming America addresses the political theories of the Christian Right, particularly those included in various books and in the speeches and presentations of the leaders of that political persuasion. It focuses on theories over actions, and takes a serious approach to the ideas that the Christian Right espouses, including an analysis of the religious and philosophical ideals that serve as the foundation for the political counterparts. The book also addresses various concerns about those ideas and political concepts, pointing out any inconsistencies in the arguments and revealing the more ridiculous claims for which there is either no proof or there is ample evidence to rebut. Lienesch begins with an overview of current political ideas linked to the Christian Right, and then goes on from that foundation to address those political concepts in relation to various groups and their rights, including the rights of the individual, the family, the economy, the political sphere, and the global arena. Matthew C. Moen, writing for the American Political Science Review, commented that "Lienesch has been immersed in the published work of Christian Right leaders, and he has produced an interesting and important book."

In the Beginning takes a look at the famous Scopes trial of 1925, in which John Thomas Scopes, a schoolteacher in the Tennessee town of Dayton, was accused of wrongdoing by daring to teach his class the new modern theory of evolution. The trial itself became a three-ring circus, with noted attorney Clarence Darrow, famous for his agnostic leanings, taking up Scopes case as the defense attorney, and William Jennings Bryant, a learned and religious politician who had run for president several times, standing up for the prosecution. Due to lack of a credible scientific witness and hard evidence, Darrow used the opportunity of the trial to mock Bryant's literal adherence to the writings in the Bible. Darrow ultimately lost the case, with Scopes being convicted, though the decision was later overturned during an appeal. However, the overblown aspects of the case and the trial are well known and, in far more modern, scientifically-minded times, are often exaggerated. In reality, Bryant was not nearly as literally minded as he was presented, Darrow was primarily seeking publicity as opposed to merely looking for justice to prevail, and the town itself had decided that the trial would result in increased business on their streets. The complexities of both the case itself and the mood of the country, in particular the South, leading into the trial offer ample material for an in-depth analysis in a well-researched book. Michael Ruse, however, pointed out in a review for Church History that the need for such a work was dubious, as another existed, written by Edward Larson approximately a decade prior to Lienesch's offering. Ruse concluded: "I want to stress that In the Beginning is not a bad book and, taken on its own, not a bad read…. However, I think this is a book too far."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Political Science Review, December 1, 1989, Garrett Ward Sheldon, review of New Order of the Ages: Time, the Constitution, and the Making of Modern American Political Thought, p. 1390; June 1, 1994, Matthew C. Moen, review of Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christian Right, p. 479.

American Scholar, September 22, 1990, Marc M. Arkin, review of New Order of the Ages, p. 608.

Canadian Journal of Political Science, June 1, 1989, Richard Myers, review of New Order of the Ages, p. 444.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, March 1, 1994, D.F. Anderson, review of Redeeming America, p. 1208; February 1, 2008, J. Stauder, review of In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Making of the Antievolution Movement, p. 1038.

Church History, December 1, 2007, Michael Ruse, review of In the Beginning, p. 870.

Contemporary Sociology, March 1, 1995, William K. Bunis, review of Redeeming America, p. 181; March 1, 2008, Rory McVeigh, review of In the Beginning, p. 166.

Eighteenth-Century Studies, spring, 1990, John Allphin Moore, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 355.

Harvard Law Review, November 1, 1989, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 403.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, June 1, 1994, Christopher Gray Wheeler, review of Redeeming America, p. 182.

Journal of American History, September 1, 1989, Daniel T. Rodgers, review of New Order of the Ages, p. 584; December 1, 1990, Richard B. Bernstein, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 1005; March 1, 2008, John P. Jr. Jackson, review of In the Beginning, p. 1294.

Journal of Church and State, fall, 1995, Peter Kivisto, review of Redeeming America, p. 894.

Journal of Politics, May 1, 1990, Calvin Jillson, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 682; February 1, 1995, review of Redeeming America, p. 268.

Journal of Southern History, November 1, 1990, Jere Daniell, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 744.

Journal of the Early Republic, winter, 1989, Steven R. Boyd, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 555; summer, 1991, Jon Kukla, review of New Order of the Ages, p. 253.

Library Journal, August 1, 1993, John Moryl, review of Redeeming America, p. 110.

Presidential Studies Quarterly, fall, 1990, Donald L. Robinson, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 826.

Queen's Quarterly, spring, 1990, review of New Order of the Ages, p. 198.

Reference & Research Book News, May 1, 1994, review of Redeeming America, p. 4.

Reviews in American History, June 1, 1989, Lance Banning, review of New Order of the Ages, p. 199.

Times Literary Supplement, September 8, 1989, William Brock, review of New Order of the Ages, p. 979.

William and Mary Quarterly, April 1, 1990, Robert A. Becker, review of Ratifying the Constitution, p. 316.