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Though Reagan grew away from his religious upbringing, he never repudiated it. Kengor makes a decent case that certain aspects of the Disciples of Christ—its anti-Communism; its free-church skepticism of the federal government; its emphasis on the horrible this-worldly effects of sin; its insistence that faith, hope, and charity could lay waste to any problem; its belief that God had a special plan for each and every one of us—provided the major themes of Reagan's presidency.

Kengor also sheds light on another mystery of Reagan's faith. In the '84 re-election campaign, conservative journalist Fred Barnes ambushed the president with a question about why, as a man of faith, he didn't make it to church on Sundays. Reagan said that, well, after the shooting, the Secret Service informed him that the security measures would impose an undue burden on a congregation. In truth, he hadn't regularly gone to church for a good many years and didn't appear to be troubled about this. Kengor explains that because of the huge number of moves as a young child, Reagan didn't make friends easily and was more introspective than most. Before the Disciples of Christ provided some stability and community in his teen years, the young Dutch conceived of his relationship with the Almighty in entirely solitary terms: God was there for him when no one else could be. For Reagan, church was but one possible manifestation of that relationship, ending Communism another.

Jeremy Lott is assistant managing editor of The American Spectator.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life is available from Amazon.com and other book retailers.

Also posted today is Books & Culture's Baseball Preview.

Books & Culture Corner appears every Monday. Earlier editions of Books & Culture Corner and Book of the Week include:

How Do You Live with a Torturer? | A novel of Haiti by the brilliant young writer, Edwidge Danticat. (March 08, 2004)

God Is in the Details | A scientist affirms his faith. (Feb. 23, 2004)

History Repeats Itself, Sort of | How the fate of Eugene McCarthy's insurgency against LBJ sheds light on the 2004 presidential campaign. (Feb. 16, 2004)

The Worst President Ever? | Former Nixon aide John Dean attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of Warren G. Harding. (Feb. 09, 2004)

Wholly, Wholly, Wholly | Calvinists and conga drums in Grand Rapids: a report from the seventeenth annual Calvin Symposium on Worship and the Arts. (Feb. 02, 2004)

The Doom of Choice | Fate, free will, and moral responsibility in Tolkien. (Feb. 02, 2004)

A Rose Among Thorns | A new novel by the author of Father Elijah illumines the spiritual consequences of our simplest decisions. (Jan. 26, 2004)

Baptized in Fire | A new book on Martin Luther King, Jr., emphasizes his spiritual transformation. (Jan. 19, 2004)

O'Connor v. the Antichrist (Jan. 12, 2004)

Moody, the Media, and the Birth of Modern Evangelism | A cautionary tale. (Jan. 05, 2004)

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March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48