The Sunday Interview: How Christianity Shaped America: Matthew Avery Sutton on Power, Evangelicals, and the “Chosen Land”

Straight White American Jesus

Axis Mundi Media: Bradley Onishi + Daniel Miller

News, Politics

4.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Sunday Interview, Bradley Onishi sits down with historian Matthew Avery Sutton to discuss his sweeping new book Chosen Land. Sutton argues that from the colonial era onward, Americans have pursued a centuries-long project to transform North America into a “holy land” that could usher in God’s millennial kingdom. Paradoxically, the founders’ decision to create a secular Constitution and protect religious freedom through the First Amendment helped fuel the explosive growth and innovation of American Christianity. Without a state church, religious leaders became entrepreneurs—competing for followers through media, technology, and spectacle—helping make the United States far more publicly religious than many other Western democracies. The conversation explores how a long-standing Protestant cultural dominance shaped American politics and public life, from Abraham Lincoln navigating religious expectations in the 19th century to Barack Obama confronting controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Sutton also explains the decline of mainline Protestantism, the rise of evangelical branding, and why the very term “evangelical” is largely a modern reinvention rather than a continuous tradition stretching back to figures like Jonathan Edwards. The episode closes with a look at today’s Christian nationalism, culture-war politics, and apocalyptic thinking—from debates about Israel to interpretations of global conflict—asking whether the United States is witnessing the last gasp of white Protestant dominance or simply another revival in a long and turbulent religious history. Subscribe for $3.65: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠ Subscribe to our free newsletter: ⁠https://swaj.substack.com/⁠ Order American Caesar by Brad Onishi: ⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠ Donate to SWAJ: https://axismundi.supercast.com/donations/new Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Axis Moondy
0:10.0	There's a world of opportunity out there, beyond the typical 9 to 5, where purpose and grit come together, where the American spirit and ingenuity are welcomed,
0:23.0	in places that could really use your skills and your experience.
0:27.2	We're talking about the Peace Corps, with volunteers living and working communities around the
0:31.4	globe. It's been called the toughest job you'll ever love. Tough because it asks so much of you
0:36.4	to dig deeper. Get your hands dirty.
0:39.3	Go that extra mile. Rise to the occasion. And meet challenges head on. And the love part,
0:45.2	that comes from being part of something bigger than yourself, from building bonds that last a lifetime.
0:50.1	It's knowing your hard work transformed lives, including your own.
0:58.9	After 65 years, the Peace Corps is still the toughest job you'll ever love.
1:04.5	Explore opportunities in more than 60 countries, learn about benefits, and apply at at Peacecore.gov slash serve.
1:08.1	That's peacecore.gov slash serve. That's peacecore.gov slash serve.
1:26.9	Welcome to straight White American Jesus.
1:28.8	Great to be with you today for the Sunday interview.
1:31.9	And I'm welcoming back someone who has not been here for a long time,
1:34.6	but has written just an amazing new book called Chosen Land all about how Christianity
1:39.5	formed America and Americans reshaped Christianity.
1:43.8	So welcoming Dr. Matthew Avery Sutton.
1:46.7	He is the Claudius Owen May W. Johnson, distinguished professor and chair of the Department
1:51.7	of History at Washington State.
1:54.1	He earned his Ph.D. just like me at UC Santa Barbara.
1:57.4	In 2016, he was appointed a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and is also the author of American Apocalypse, Double-Crossed, Jerry of Falwell and the Rise of the Religious Right, and several other books. Matt, thanks for being here. Thank you, Brad. It's been too long. Yeah, it has. And I just realized today, I don't know why I didn't have this clocked in my brain, that you are also a UCSB alum. You're a gaucho. So that makes this even better. And all right, I want to jump in here to what is just a rich and fabulous book. This is an ambitious book. This is a history of Christianity in the United States in some form.
	...

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