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Books in Brief

March 28, 2023

The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism

Author: Lerone A. Martin

Via Princeton University Press

On the left is the cover of the book The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover with gold words over a black background followed by a gold law enforcement badge with a white religious cross attached to it. On the right is a phot of the author, Lerone A. Martin, wearing a blue suit and looking away from the camera but smiling ​
Book image courtesy of Princeton University Press. ​Lerone A. Martin. Photo by Misha Bruk / Stanford University.

“Lerone Martin draws on thousands of newly declassified FBI documents and memos to describe how, under Hoover’s leadership, FBI agents attended spiritual retreats and worship services, creating an FBI religious culture that fashioned G-men into soldiers and ministers of Christian America. Martin shows how prominent figures such as Billy Graham, Fulton Sheen, and countless other ministers from across the country partnered with the FBI and laundered bureau intel in their sermons while the faithful crowned Hoover the adjudicator of true evangelical faith and allegiance. These partnerships not only solidified the political norms of modern white evangelicalism, they also contributed to the political rise of white Christian nationalism, establishing religion and race as the bedrock of the modern national security state, and setting the terms for today’s domestic terrorism debates.”

Learn more about Martin's book. 

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