The House that Jerry Built: An Analysis of the Rhetorical Conceptualization of Religious Identity in the Political Sphere By Reverend Jerry Falwell, Sr.

One piece of the larger question of how a specific section of evangelical Christians came to be deeply tied to the Republican party is answered in an analysis of the rhetoric of the Reverend Jerry Falwell, Sr. within the context of his rise as a prominent leader within religion and political activism. Falwell, Sr.'s construction of American politics and culture through a specific interpretation of evangelical Christian theological practice rendered his mandates both divine and directable, creating a space within the overlap of the secular and the sacred wherein he built a powerful physical and cultural movement and a theopolitical empire. This capstone presents the aspects of the evangelical faith specifically interpreted by Falwell, Sr., and further demonstrates how this background was incorporated by Falwell, Sr. in an advantageous and adaptable approach to the intersection of morality, religion, and politics.