I understand how the Cold War affected the balance between "Conservative" and "Liberal" Christians in the United States. But did the Cold War also change the theology of the "Conservatives?"

by sick_burn_bro

Forgive the cheesy air-quotes; I just think that when talking about doctrine, the left-right divide can be misleading.

I'm familiar with the influence of Billy Graham, the Southern Strategy, ideas of opposing the "godless" Soviet Union - all of these ideas seem to be based on the growing "conservative" theology in the United States. But given how we've seen ideas like this as far back as Edwards in the U.S. (and probably farther than that), I'd like to hear whether or not the so-called conservative Christianity was also changed by the Cold War.

More to the point, what sort of primacy sources can be utilized for this? What's controversial? What beliefs or interpretations of available evidence shape the controversy?

Domini_canes

I can only speak to the relationship between Catholicism and communism, and the tension between them goes back long before the beginning of the Cold War. In May of 1891, Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum. This document is noted as the beginning of the crystallization of modern Catholic social justice thought. In it, the pope affirms the need for assistance for the working poor. However, he also rejects communism as an ideology. At the same time, he also rejects unrestricted capitalism, but affirms the right to private property.

This encyclical has been commemorated and updated by other pontiffs. Pius XI issued Quadragesimo Anno in 1931, John XXIII followed with Mater et Magistra in 1961, and John Paul II marked the centennial with Centesimus Annus in 1991. Each pontiff built on the last in delineating Catholic positions on social justice and economics, all of which were unfavorable to communism. This is speculation, but 2016 will mark the 125th anniversary of the encyclical, and I would be surprised if we don't see another economic and social justice encyclical on that date.

In March of 1937, Pius XI issued the most important document regarding Catholicism and communism--Divini Redemptoris. In it, the basic incompatibilities between the two ideologies are outlined. From section 3:

  1. This all too imminent danger, Venerable Brethren, as you have already surmised, is bolshevistic and atheistic Communism, which aims at upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization.

Then we have the outright rejection in sections 12 and 14.

  1. What would be the condition of a human society based on such materialistic tenets? It would be a collectivity with no other hierarchy than that of the economic system. It would have only one mission: the production of material things by means of collective labor, so that the goods of this world might be enjoyed in a paradise where each would "give according to his powers" and would "receive according to his needs." Communism recognizes in the collectivity the right, or rather, unlimited discretion, to draft individuals for the labor of the collectivity with no regard for their personal welfare; so that even violence could be legitimately exercised to dragoon the recalcitrant against their wills. In the Communistic commonwealth morality and law would be nothing but a derivation of the existing economic order, purely earthly in origin and unstable in character. In a word. the Communists claim to inaugurate a new era and a new civilization which is the result of blind evolutionary forces culminating in a humanity without God.
  1. Such, Venerable Brethren, is the new gospel which bolshevistic and atheistic Communism offers the world as the glad tidings of deliverance and salvation! It is a system full of errors and sophisms. It is in opposition both to reason and to Divine Revelation. It subverts the social order, because it means the destruction of its foundations; because it ignores the true origin and purpose of the State; because it denies the rights, dignity and liberty of human personality.

So from this we can see that the divide between the Vatican and communism goes back at minimum to 1937--nearly a decade before the beginning of the Cold War. Each pontiff since then up to the present day has reaffirmed the ideas seen in Divini Redemptoris.

Again, the above is only applicable to Catholicism and specifically the papacy, but followup questions from OP and others are encouraged.