For Immediate Release

Princeton Seminary Professor Publishes New Book on American Imperialism Post-9/11
—November 1 release party at Princeton Barnes & Noble to include book signing and talk by Professor Mark Taylor—

Princeton, NJ, October 13, 2005– Princeton Theological Seminary professor Mark Taylor will sign his new book, Religion, Politics, and the Christian Right: Post-9/11 Powers and American Empire, on November 1 at 7:00 p.m. at a release party at the Princeton Barnes & Noble Booksellers, located in the MarketFair, 3535 US Route 1 South. As part of the event, Taylor will give a talk titled “Neocons, Corporate Power, and the Christian Right: An Imperial Triumvirate?”  

In his book, published by Augsburg Fortress Press, Taylor critiques the recent rise of American imperialism, placing it in historical and theological context and offering a new vision of what it means to be an American and a Christian after 9/11. Fortress says, “The real gift of Taylor’s book is his argument that this militant Christian faith must be viewed against a backdrop of American political romanticism and corporate liberalism of U.S. past and present. Taylor uses the best of cultural and historical studies, while deftly drawing lessons for American readers from theologian Paul Tillich’s analysis of power and religion during the rise of fascism and nationalism in the Germany of the 1930s. . . . Moving beyond lament, Taylor also leaves readers with a new romance of revolutionary traditions and a new more radical liberalism, revitalizing American visions of spirit that are both prophetic and public for U.S. residents today.”

Finding ways to uphold Jesus’ prophetic struggle for justice in the context of overwhelming imperial power is Taylor’s passion. In this book, he challenges readers to question America’s “War on Terror” and to resist the co-opting of our freedom as Americans and as Christians following a Jesus who was terrorized and executed by the Roman Empire.  

“As a Christian, I was disturbed to see a version of Christianity, the militant religious right, lead the way after 9/11 in destructive war campaigns (especially in Iraq), in rationalizing torture, and in curtailing civil liberties,” Taylor says. “But also, simply as a citizen and a human being, I wanted to sound an alarm about how other political forces—neoconservatives with power in the Pentagon and key sectors of corporate power—were working together with the religious right. To do this without simply recycling another ‘conspiracy theory’ is the challenge of the book. Increasingly, though, I saw this crisis as an opportunity to rediscover the deepest well-springs of our democratic practice and struggle for justice. So, as a matter of hope, the book enables me to point myself and others toward a new public spirit of democratic aspiration.”

In reviewing the book, Sharon D. Welch, professor of religious studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia, says, “Mark Taylor’s critique of American imperialism is searing, and his vision of radical liberalism is creative, insightful, and inspiring. Essential reading for all committed to the revolutionary spirit of democratic governance and ongoing emancipation.”

Taylor is the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Theology and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is author of Remembering Esperanza: A Cultural-Political Theology for North American Praxis (Orbis, 1990) and The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America (Fortress Press, 2001). 

For more information about the book signing, call 609-716-1570.