Oil and American religion set stage for current political divides, historian finds | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Oil and American religion set stage for current political divides, historian finds Oil and American religion set stage for current political divides, historian finds Published: July 15, 2019 Author: Amanda Skofstad ND Experts Darren Dochuk Professor of History Darren Dochuk In his newest research, Darren Dochuk, associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, chronicles North America’s age of oil — in particular, crude’s inseparable relationship to Christianity. He finds that since the Civil War-era discovery of oil, Americans have consistently claimed black gold as a spiritual blessing, a sacred burden and an emblem of national identity and mission in the world. In “Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America,” Dochuk’s comprehensive study of the symbiotic relationship between American religion and oil, he introduces two main characters and their attendant belief systems. The first is major oil’s civil religion of crude, most clearly manifested in the sprawling and centralized business, faith and philanthropy of the Rockefeller family. The second is independent oil’s populist, boom-bust style of “wildcat Christianity,” represented by oil families like the Pews and Hunts and rooted in the Southwest. Dochuk links both to deep divisions in American politics over human ownership of — and responsibility for — earth’s natural resources and the environment.   According to Dochuk, religion and oil form “the twin pillars of American exceptionalism,” but scholars have largely studied the two topics in isolation. His research delves into the archives of large oil corporations, among many other sources, to reveal strategies for industry dominance that echo particular theological commitments and rhetoric. “What comes to light are the expansive, joint efforts of oilmen and churchmen to make America in their image,” Dochuk said. Dochuk traces competition between the two sectors of Christianity and petroleum from West Texas and California to Saudi Arabia, China and the Alberta tar sands. He shows not only how American religion and oil were essential to the nation’s ascent to global power, but also how the values attached to them gave rise to the religious right and fraught cultural-partisan divides in contemporary politics. “If the dual authority of oil and religion rests at the heart of America’s modern moment, it also stands as the fulcrum of so much schism in modern American life, rooted divisions that extend beyond the internal workings of the petroleum industry and its quest for world reign,” Dochuk notes in his introduction. Looking ahead to the 2020 presidential race, Dochuk believes the oil-and-religion political stakes are high, especially for the American Southwest’s independent oilmen and their wildcat Christianity, which now champion a fuel-and-family-values agenda that aligns with the Trump administration’s “America First” energy platform. “It is clear that energy issues — deregulation of western oil and gas fields, an emphasis on domestic oil and gas production and on the nation’s energy independence — will register alongside social ones (most notably abortion) as key to the president’s chances to secure the votes of the Southwest and recapture the White House,” Dochuk said. Even as he investigates the political relationship of oil and religion, Dochuk believes Americans’ relationship to petroleum is, at its core, a spiritual issue. “Much more than a material form, a commodity around which the U.S. economy circles and politicians rally, oil is an imprint on America’s soul,” he said.   Posted In: Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related October 05, 2022 Astrophysicists find evidence for the presence of the first stars October 04, 2022 NIH awards $4 million grant to psychologists researching suicide prevention September 29, 2022 Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants September 27, 2022 Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis September 22, 2022 Climate-prepared countries are losing ground, latest ND-GAIN index shows For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn