Abstract

Since the inauguration of the civil religion debate in the United States in 1967, it has been argued that the religious dimension of American presidency should be understood as a kind of civil religion, normally based upon the definition of Jean Jacque Rousseau or variations of his definition. However, in this article the author argues, based upon the empirical material presented in Public Papers of the President and elsewhere, that a more accurate description of the religious dimension of some modern presidencies is public theology. He uses the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush as case studies.