Heaven Has a Wall: Religion, Borders, and the Global United States

By Elizabeth Shakman Hurd

An urgent exploration of borders as sacred objects in American culture.

Our national conversation about the border has taken a religious turn. When televangelists declare, "Heaven has a wall," activists shout back, "Jesus was a refugee." For Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, the standoff makes explicit a longstanding truth: borders are religious as well as political objects.

In this book, Hurd argues that Americans share a bipartisan border religion, complete with an array of beliefs and practices, including a reverence for national security, a liturgy for immigration, and an eschatological foreign policy. Through an analysis of the many ways the United States creates, enforces, and ignores borders at home and abroad, Hurd offers a bold new perspective on the ties that bind American religion, politics, and public life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226841200
• ISBN13: 9780226841205
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"