S5E17 Dr. Lerone A. Martin - The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover REPRISE

Lerone A. Martin, Ph.D. is Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (MLKREI) and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. A prolific author, lecturer, and influencer, Dr. Martin discusses his most recent ground-breaking book, The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of Christian Nationalism with Ken. Thanks to a series of requests to and lawsuits against the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act, Martin has acquired a treasure trove of documents hidden for decades in the Bureau's file cabinets. This new biography of the man whose name became synonymous with the Federal Bureau of Investigation takes us into the up-until-now neglected religious and spiritual underpinnings of Hoover's life and mission. Of surprising interest to Ken, the book convincingly connects the dots between the lifelong FBI Director Hoover and evangelicalism's early champions: Billy Graham, Carl F. H. Henry, Dr. Nelson Bell, and Christianity Today. But the story Lerone Martin tells in his new book is much larger, exposing and expounding a virulent form of Christian Nationalism (Americanism) all the way back to the 1920s. Dr. Martin, whose academic career takes him from Oral Roberts University (first-year undergraduate and athlete), Anderson University (B.A.), Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Emory University (Ph.D.), shares his personal journey as a minister and now professor and Director of the MLKREI at Stanford University. SHOW NOTES