After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion

by Anthony M. Petro

"After the Wrath of God is a subtle, discerning analysis of religious responses to AIDS that goes far beyond the usual attention to the Christian Right. Petro brings ecumenical Protestants, Roman Catholics, biomedical officials, and ACT UP protestors into view alongside their evangelical compatriots and in doing so creates a richly polychromatic picture of American religion, sexuality, and moral debate in the wake of the AIDS epidemic."

--Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward C. Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in St. Louis



"The AIDS crisis was not an epoch that we survived. It is a battle that we are still fighting. In this remarkable work of historical intervention Anthony Petro explores the extraordinary religious ferment that accompanied the emergence of AIDS in the United States. Petro shows that when Americans talk about AIDS they are rarely just talking about a scientific problem or a pharmaceutical solution. They are instead offering a sociology of suffering and a plan for spiritual warfare. After the Wrath of God is required reading for anyone interested in the way this powerful religious past will shape our political future."

--Kathryn Lofton, Professor of Religious Studies, American Studies, History and Divinity; Chair, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Yale University



"Anthony Petro's novel account of the role of American Christianity in the AIDS crisis moves beyond expected narratives of the rise of the right to encompass a diversity of religious responses across the 'long 1980s.' Illuminating and important."

--Margot Canaday, Associate Professor of History, Princeton University

Genres: Religion, Sexuality, History, Nonfiction, Politics, LGBT, Queer

308 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2015

About the author

Anthony Petro is an associate professor at Boston University. His first book, After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion, tells the history of American religious responses to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and their role in the promotion of a national moral discourse on sex. His latest book is Provoking Religion: Sex, Art, and the Culture Wards.

Reviews

[M- S__ · Rating 3 out of 5]

while this book is definitely informative, it was not as readable or trade-ish as i was expecting it to be. for something so personal and fraught with emotion, i often felt i was just reading lists of who said what when. though an effort was definitely made to present a clear and accurate picture of what the chritian reaction to the AIDS epidemic was and how it transformed the cultural language we used to discuss it, too often it felt like great pains were taken to present more sides than necessary and the argument felt cloudy.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book recaps the history of rough relationships between AIDS/HIV, sexuality, religion, and politics. This was a part of history that I lived through -- saw the headlines, knew the broad strokes that were being drawn -- but it was interesting to see the analysis in hindsight, learning about so many of the ways in which it touched culture at all levels. That said, it isn't the most engaging book.

It is quite hard on segments of Christianity, especially conservative, Evangelical, and Catholics for being more than just obstacles, but actively working against science, medicine, and the best interests of society. It does point out examples of some of the exceptions that have come out of faith communities to engage and address the public health problem.

I find it interesting to compare the early rhetoric and attitudes that religion had in regards to AIDS against what these same communities have toward it today. I wonder if there is a lesson there in regards to any number of the polarizing ideologies that engage energies of religious groups today.

(This is based on ARC supplied by the publisher through NetGalley.)

[Anna]

This book explores the political and religious languages of sexual morality, and how they both intertwined and diverged around the AIDS epidemic during the 1980s and early 1990s. While Petro resists a simplistic narrative of right-wing, conservative (and homophobic) religious responses to AIDS, taking care to document more sex-positive responses, the political takeaway of this history is that sexual conservatism won in the face of moral panic and the fear of a newly-recognized and fatal disease. While early responses to the virus ranged across the spectrum of sexual morality, by the turn of the 20th century a conservative sexual ethic of monogamy and marriage had become the primary public health response to AIDS across the globe. Religious responses to AIDS, and their adaptation in the nominally secular realm of public health demonstrates how morality continues to be a central discourse in the debate over who gets to be a sexual citizen. Petro's book is a well-researched contribution to a rapidly-expanding bookshelf of texts exploring the intersection of sexuality and religion in the recent American past.

[Grant Showalter-Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sobering and important documentation of the historical rise of anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion rhetoric within the American Church morphing into a conservative moral political voting block. We reap the toxic fruits of this politicized American Christianity today under the oppressive Trump regime.

[Alex Benach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a real good book. GREAT exploration of fascinating ideas and moments in American history. Sooooooo relevant even today

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best written non-fiction books I've read. This is the author's first book, so I look forward to reading what he writes in the future. According to his bio at Boston University his next two book projects look equally as interesting.

This book is about the religious rhetoric used during the early years of the AIDS crisis and how that rhetoric shaped public policy. This is a fascinating study exploring how left, right, and center developed moral language to grapple with the crisis. The study refutes any reductionistic notions of religious conservatives versus secular leftists.

The final two chapters discuss Cardinal O'Connor and ACT UP's confrontation of him. Reading those chapters made me very angry at the Cardinal.

In the final section the author explores how AIDS and gay activists developed their own religious and moral language, but he left me wanting more. I hope that comes in subsequent books.

Also, while he does treat of progressive Christian responses, they don't get as much discussion as conservative responses. This is probably because conservative responses dominated much of the public health debates at the time.

Petro is a keen intellect and engaging writer.

[Evan Streeby · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot to be liked about this book; including a focus on actors often ignored (Bishop O’Connor, Surgeon General, etc.) for easier targets (Reagan, CDC) and an in depth look at organizing around AIDS.

A major frustration was that the author seemed to conflate homophobic opposition to sex-ed with queer concern with the efficacy of those measures. One which clearly comes from a place of intolerance, the other from a real concern for their fellows. It reeks of that old liberal “well since X group can’t come to a consensus prescription, that means all ideas are equally good” pov which has done nothing but advance misery.

Aside from that, it was interesting to learn about the sociopolitical environment of the 80s during their early but similar culture wars. Sad to see that conservatives then also believed that their symbols and ill-held beliefs were more important than actual lives, and the ghouls that entertain them used the same asinine rhetoric to rile the masses.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

a really important history about the role of religion in crafting the moral rhetoric around the AIDS crisis in the late twentieth century and how that rhetoric has persisted today. i felt like some of the theoretical interventions around secularism and the dialectics of anti-religious activism were not explained as well as i had hoped, but the propositions themselves were fascinating. and while the book attempts to articulate religion beyond a narrow conception of conservative evangelicalism, the book primarily remains focused with christianity. i would be interested in other american religious perspectives (judaism, buddhism, islam, etc.) to think more broadly. but of course that would greatly increase the challenge of the project. either way, this is more a christian history than a religious one.

[Aaron Pattillo-Lunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Petro does a fantastic job detailing the religious responses to the AIDS epidemic in the United States. In particular, he complicates the commonly held belief that such responses came only from conservative religious actors, showing how religion motivated supporters of gay rights and humanitarian efforts throughout the crisis. It’s a wonderfully written book that draws on fantastic sources throughout. The afterword was especially fascinating to me. Petro connects the effort to combat AIDS to the creation of a new, conservative sexual ethic that prizes monogamous relationships as a way to both prove maturity and end the spread of AIDS. It’s a fascinating commentary embedded in a truly wonderful book.

[Lucy]

read this for a school final project on american religious bodies during the AIDS crisis, so it was very helpful to my research, but I'm not sure I would recommend this to just someone wanting to get an overview of the crisis. It has a very specific focus and reads much more like an academic journal than many other nonfiction books, which works for what it's trying to be, but is why I wouldn't say it's any ~required reading~ or vital text in the literature on AIDS generally. My only real complaint is that I wished it would have touched on non-Christian religions more and had more to say about religious groups that aren't mostly white/led by white people (such as Black Churches).

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really good, and the concept of "moral citizenship" was a really interesting way to look at how people reacted and treated each other. I used it for a project on the intersection between AIDS and religion (specifically the Episcopal Church and St. Aelred of Rievaulx, who was added to the calendar at the request of LGBTQ activists in 1985)

[Caroline Loves2Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Ramachandran and forgot abt it my b. BRUTALLY painful and slow read at times but when it wasn’t it was wowie

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical recollection of the AIDS crisis and its underlying tie in religion

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"After the Wrath of God argues that through the AIDS epidemic, American Christians helped build a national movement for sexual reform, one that sought to correct the purported moral declension witnessed in the 1960s and 1970s. If AIDS did not spark the creation of this moral rhetoric, it did quicken efforts to advance a larger moral agenda regarding sex. This new program succeeded precisely because it denied that AIDS was God’s wrath on homosexuals. It suggested instead that the epidemic provided divine evidence for God’s sexual morality. Christian or not, and for better or for worse, we live with that morality today" (p.198).

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone who went through the Reagan Years of the 80's. Petro gives an in depth look how US Government policy was influenced by the conservative religious right and setting a moral agenda in handling the AIDS crisis.

[Mills College Library]

261.83219 P4971 2015