Description
Book SynopsisCan America be a nation without a common faith? This text argues that America's national identity depends too heavily on its connection with religion to survive without it. It demonstrates how America has been defined by a series of voluntary cultural-religious establishments.
Trade ReviewA keen observer of history. . . . This book is a rebuttal to those writers and politicians who see the U.S.'s demise in multiculturalism, revisionist history, and a lack of respect for the canon in American universities. Highly recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above. -- J.D. Rausch, West Texas A&M University * CHOICE *
An engaging book. -- R. Jonathan Moore * The Christian Century *
This is a wide-ranging, heady, and provocative book. Its novel interpretations and insights succeed in leading the reader to rethink just about everything she or he knows about American history. * The Common Good *
The book is indisputably rich in its use of history and tight in its argument. Its powerful thesis makes it perhaps the most convincing recent interpretation of the history and present condition of what is now being called 'religion and American public life.' I hardly need to add that it should be carefully read by those interested in the religious criticism of U.S. Culture. -- William D. Dean, Iliff School of Theology * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *
Offers interesting insights into the dilemmas posed by the relationship between politics and religion in the USA. * Political Studies Review *
A grand jeremiad. America's multicultural moral discourse, argues Eldon Eisenach, has become incomprehensible and dangerous. It threatens our common future. Even readers who disagree will find much to ponder in this learned, powerful, passionate, dazzling call for a shared American identity. -- Brown University, James A. Morone, Brown University
Few political philosophers have analyzed the significance of religion in the nation's self-understanding as well as Eldon Eisenach does in this work. This book initiates a significant discussion among philosophers, theologians, ethicists, historians, and others concerning the necessary place of religion in national political identity. This is a novel book that greatly advances the current discourse about public religion and national identity. * Theology Today *
Eisenach's jeremiad is both provocative and useful for our time and may well stir the fruitful controversy he admittedly seeks. -- Peter Dennis Bathory * American Political Science Review *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Identities: Personal, Religious and National Chapter 3 Regimes, Religious Establishments, and Political Orders Chapter 4 Theologies/Ideologies: National, Political, and Religious Chapter 5 Institutions: Theocracies and Clericies Chapter 6 Alternatives: Universalism, Restoration, and Nationalism Chapter 7 Signs: The Past and Future Establishment Chapter 8 Conclusion: Pragmatic Nationalism and the Rebirth of Toleration
