AMONG THE MANY FAULTS charged against George W. Bush it is probably his conservative Christian faith that most troubles the people who dislike him–or most infuriates the people who hate him. Kevin Phillips has gone so far as to argue that Bush has reshaped the Republican party into a coalition “unprecedentedly grouped around and influenced by Southern evangelical and fundamentalist voters and their wackier leaders.” This is one of those truisms that is routinely heard at Blue State cocktail parties.

But what exactly is Bush’s religious belief and is there any way it can be explained without worrying Kevin Phillips even more? In “The Faith of George W. Bush” (Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Penguin, 200 pages, $19.99), Stephen Mansfield relates, with obvious sympathy, a story of spiritual awakening whose outline is well-known to Mr. Bush’s friends and enemies alike.