R. Marie Griffith is the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where she directs the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
"Moral Combat is a momentous book about the deep, irreparable
divisions that the politicization of sex has inflicted on our
society for the past century. Loaded with memorable characters and
keen insights, Marie Griffith's elegantly written account of the
culture wars' most heated flashpoint is both absorbing and
sobering. And it is required reading for anyone trying to
understand the fiercest political agitations of our day."--Darren
Dochuk, author of From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion,
Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism
"Moral Combat ably examines the sharp intra-Christian divisions of
opinion on twentieth-century flashpoints of controversy over
contraception, obscenity, interracial sex, sex education, abortion,
sexual harassment and same-sex marriage. By tracing these
divergences to their embeddedness in differential responses to
feminism and women's self-determination, Marie Griffith supplies an
analysis needed to understand the conflicts and blind spots in
sexual attitudes today."--Nancy F. Cott, author of Public Vows: A
History of Marriage and the Nation
"Moral Combat is a vivid illustration of a principle that liberals
understand well and that religious conservatives usually do not:
Culture precedes politics."--Wall Street Journal
"[An] exceptional cultural history...Griffith's remarkably
comprehensive book will be of interest to scholars and lay readers
alike."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[Griffith] shows that at every turn in the culture wars of the
last century or so, religious leaders have battled to obstruct
gender, sexual, and racial equality.... The juxtaposition of deep
dives and aerial views makes...a propulsive read. As do the
wrinkles that complicate any easy political assumptions."--Laura
Kipnis, New York Review of Books
"An in-depth history of how American Christians have divided into
two warring factions...and how the impassable divide between these
two groups created the 'culture wars' of today."--Book Riot
"For those of us wondering how the United States got to be the way
it is today--religiously, sexually, and politically--Moral Combat
is essential reading. R. Marie Griffith, a distinguished historian
of American religion, shows that the fierce and bitter contests
among Christians in the twentieth century over good religion vs.
bad religion, good sex vs. bad sex, have been and remain at the
core of the most explosive issues of American public life. Women's
health, African American civil rights, marriage, the cruel fantasy
of white supremacy, workplace behavior, the public reputation of
science, and more--God and sex are implicated in all of them. The
United States is not a God-obsessed nation, as some would have it;
it is a God-and-sex-obsessed nation. And the stakes are high: at
the heart of this brilliant work of religious and political history
is the question of the future of American democracy
itself."--Robert A. Orsi, author of History and Presence
"Griffith has undoubtedly performed a great service in documenting
the influence of these largely forgotten reformers and ecumenical
bodies. Her book is deeply researched, nuanced in its portrayals of
activists on both sides, and thoroughly entertaining to boot."--Los
Angeles Review of Books
"Griffith offers a carefully reasoned examination of the
century-long political and religious controversies over sexuality
that color our national character. Given the passions engendered by
these controversies on both sides--conservative and liberal--she
demonstrates that comity and compromise are perennially elusive,
while consensus seems to be a word in an incomprehensible language.
Happily Griffith brings welcome clarity and light to what otherwise
might have been impenetrable murkiness."--Booklist
"Griffith...dissects the sweeping cultural change that tweaked
religious and well as secular morality in America."--Washington
Times
"Highly informative."--The Gospel Coalition
"Magisterial...Griffith's observations are eerily prescient...Moral
Combat is an impressive history of a massive fault line running
through American history and politics: namely, sex."--Washington
Post
"Marie Griffith...reviews a century's worth of American cultural
conflict over sexuality, fueled by a growing divide between
religious subcultures. Readers will benefit from her clear
presentation of the longer history and larger significance of our
sexual conflicts."--Christianity Today
"Takes the reader through a history of sexual politics since 1920
focusing on this ongoing struggle for women's rights, and with a
special emphasis on the part religious faith has played in all of
it.... Highly recommended."--Decatur Daily
"The story Griffith tells is crucial.... Her contribution is part
of a much-needed sex education, and like all good teachers she
presents it vividly."--Linda Gordon, New Republic
"The strength [of Moral Combat] is a coherent narrative that seeks
to understand the history of legislating sex through
Christianity... This book will appeal to a range of readers seeking
an entry point into the historical and religious context of today's
high-stakes political struggles."--Library Journal
"Thoughtful study of the great schism between religious
conservatives and progressives about women's control over their own
bodies."--Kirkus Reviews
"With grace and insight, Marie Griffith has taken on one of the
most intractable and enduring issues in American life and faith:
that of the role sexuality plays in our religion and in our
politics. A force of division and of fascination since Eden, sex is
a perennial theme in the human story, and Griffith's intelligent,
sober, and illuminating book offers us new ways to think about the
most ancient--yet urgent--of questions."--Jon Meacham, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of Destiny and Power
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