It's the Maxwell Institute podcast.

I'm Blair Hodges.

What comes to mind when you hear the term American Christians?

Most people today think of the so-called religious

right, a loosely knit group of conservative Christians who oppose legal abortion favor gun

rights and hail Ronald Reagan as like unto Moses. Matthew Bowman's latest book is a wake-up call,

reminding us that there's no such thing as American Christianity. There are Christianity's,

ranging from conservative to liberal all over the political

spectrum. In this episode, we'll complicate the simple story and try to find out who gets to

decide what counts as Christian in the United States. Matthew Bowman joins us to talk about his

latest book, Christian, The Politics of a Word in America, from Harvard University Press.

Stick around at the end of the episode for our review of the month.

You can send questions and comments about this and other episodes to me at MI Podcast at

BYU.edu.

Matthew Bowman, welcome to the Maxwell Institute podcast today.

Thank you. Glad to be here.

I should let people know. I know you have known you for a long time.

I'll call you, Matt.

I think you're okay with that.

We're talking about your book, Christian, the politics of a word in America.

Christian, that's a bold title, Matt.

So the subtitle clarifies, but I want to hear how you arrived on just the word Christian is the title.

...