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Reviewed by:
  • Americanism: the Fourth Great Western Religion
  • Rachel Gordan
David Gelernter . Americanism: the Fourth Great Western Religion. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2007. Hardcover $24.95. ISBN 0385513127.

David Gelernter's book is an "essay in 'folk philosophy'" that explains the evolution of Americanism—a religion, that despite its Biblical and Judeo Christian roots, is one which even atheists "can and do profess ardently" (11). While Gelernter traces a history that is largely devoid of Jews—the Puritans, Abraham Lincoln, and various American presidents are among the leading characters, it is clear from the opening pages that Jews have a special relationship with Americanism, as the "ultimate insiders" and "ultimate outsiders." [End Page 146]

Little books take great courage, and this one is no exception. In forthright prose, Gelernter chooses the most powerful episodes and characters in American history to make his point about the nature of Americanism—this country's biblical religion—and the result is a generally rewarding and very fine read. Originally published in Commentary, Gelernter's Americanism is no history book; the author warns readers that he is not providing an objective, balanced view of the past or present. Instead, he attempts to right a perceived misconception about America: America is not a secular country, nor was it founded on secular principles. "If we look the facts in the face and don't flinch, we will see America the biblical republic and Americanism the biblical religion emerge clearly" (italics in original, 2). And yet, Gelernter maintains that there's no need for secularists to start packing; anyone who objects to the "fanatical careerism—the enemy of spirituality—that has gripped this country by the throat," (12) can find a place at Americanism's table. Here, writing with the passion of a partisan, Gelernter names his bête noire and his desideratum: "American must remember the intensity of its onetime love affair with spiritual things" (12). So why doesn't Gelernter simply write about idealism and chivalry in America—two topics he takes up at length, and explains as integral to Americanism? Why must this all come under the category of "religion"? Gelernter might respond that this very question bespeaks secularism's ascendancy in our culture, but he does marshal some interesting evidence on the way generations of Americans, and admirers of America, have related to this country, religiously.

Judaism and Christianity are the roots of this religious identification with America, Gelernter explains, as Americanism expresses the biblical ideas of a "chosen people in a promised land" (3). By putting at the center of his story Jews—as well as countless other non-Christians who have been inspired by America—Gelernter changes our understanding of America's "divine-mission complex," and Americanism becomes the religion of those determined to work for its ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy. In chapters on the influence of the Bible, "American Zionism" and "Revolution and the American Creed", the author lays out the key ingredients of this "fourth great Western religion," guiding readers from its biblical origin, through the Puritans' shaping of it into American Zionism and democratic chivalry, and its role on the American Revolution. For those accustomed to an intellectual history that presumes a break in the influence of the Bible and Christianity during the Revolution, Gelernter offers a corrective for what he sees as the distorted view that "somehow a bunch of austere Puritans metamorphosed into affable Enlightenment philosophers, debating the nuances of the social contract over their colonial cappuccinos" (75). It is no surprise, then, that readers find religion playing a large role throughout American history, in Gelernter's narrative, although it is World War I that Gelernter cites as the crucible in which contemporary Americanism was forged.

Gelernter's greatest contribution is his talent for asking illuminating questions, and viewing history from new angles. Thus, his approach to the founding fathers is stunning in its simplicity: "What made the nation's founders so sure they were on to something big?" is how Gelernter interrogates their [End Page 147] confidence that they were a light unto other nations. This question allows him to prove the importance of the Bible in the nation's founding, and to trace...

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