About the Author

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.

Reviews

"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