Mark A. Noll (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University) is one of the premier historians of the Christian experience in the United States. He is Francis A. McAnaney Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame, having previously held the McManis Chair of Christian Thought at Wheaton College. In 2005, Professor Noll was named by Time magazine as one of the twenty-five most influential evangelicals in America and the next year was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush. He is the author of many books, including The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Eerdmans) and In The Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783 (Oxford).

In this interview, Mark Noll helps us understand the Trump phenomenon among white American evangelicals, connecting the thought processes involved there with problems he spotted decades ago in the evangelical mind. The “fear factor” also comes into view for those evangelicals, particularly in regard to the question of cultural control. But Noll also highlights evangelical boldness in appropriating the latest in mass media to spread the old-time gospel. Perhaps most surprising is that Mark Noll actually finds Canadian history interesting—and recommends it strongly to his fellow Americans.

Mild, but direct, and courtly, but also confrontational, Mark Noll demonstrates the power of the evangelical mind at its best. Join John Stackhouse as he once again enjoys learning from Professor Noll.