What the World Should Be: Woodrow Wilson and the Crafting of a Faith-based Foreign Policy [Hardcover]

Malcolm D. Magee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2008

In What the World Should Be, Malcolm Magee demonstrates that Woodrow Wilson was immersed in a Presbyterian tradition that shaped his presidency. He argues that Wilson's religious convictions shaped his concepts of effective leadership, the way he reasoned, and his use of language. In particular, Wilson's religious beliefs accustomed him to the theological principle of antinomy: that two principles could both be right even when, considered only in the light of logic, they appear mutually contradictory. These convictions ultimately made Wilson believe he was providentially chosen to bring divinely ordered freedom to the nations and peoples of the earth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Finally, we now have a serious examination of Woodrow Wilson's theology. In this thoughtful, well-researched book, Malcolm Magee goes beyond the usual stereotypes of Wilson to reveal a complex, deeply spiritual man who was both beholden to religious and political thought in equal measure. In terms of both history and historiography, students of American foreign relations are in Magee's debt. An excellent book. --Andrew Preston, Faculty of History, Cambridge University

Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --CHOICE

This elegantly written narrative makes an utterly convincing argument: religious belief was at the heart of Wilson's vaunted idealism. After reading Magee's book, you will never see the diplomatic history of the World War I era in the same way again. --Michael Kazin, Professor of History, Georgetown University

Finally, we now have a serious examination of Woodrow Wilson's theology. In this thoughtful, well-researched book, Malcolm Magee goes beyond the usual stereotypes of Wilson to reveal a complex, deeply spiritual man who was both beholden to religious and political thought in equal measure. In terms of both history and historiography, students of American foreign relations are in Magee's debt. An excellent book. --Andrew Preston, Faculty of History, Cambridge University

About the Author

Malcolm D. Magee (Ph.D. Michigan State University) is the director for The Institute for the Study of Christianity and Culture and has taught history and religious studies at Michigan State and continues to teach in the history department as a visiting faculty.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Baylor University Press (July 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602580707
• ISBN-13: 978-1602580701
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,215,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Malcolm Magee received his Ph.D. in the history of international relations following a career in religious and non profit organizations. His fields of interest include American religious history, progressive era politics and 19th century political and religious thought. His book What the World Should Be: Woodrow Wilson and the Crafting of a Faith Based Foreign Policy was released by Baylor University Press in 2008. In 2009-10 he worked on a Teaching American History project in Battle Creek. Currently he is working on a chapter in the Blackwell companion series on Woodrow Wilson, a work on religion and the Great War and a novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh look at Wilson, November 1, 2008

By 

Douglas Hon (St. Louis) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What the World Should Be: Woodrow Wilson and the Crafting of a Faith-based Foreign Policy (Hardcover)

Dr. Magee captures what many historians have failed to recognize: the powerful influence of faith on the decisions of Wilson, and thus the direction of history. Magee masterfully documents the influences of theologians like Hodge and Warfield on the formation of Wilson's views of national and personal life, duty, and destiny. This book walks down neglected paths of analysis by digging past simply objective facts to examine the subjective influences.