Steven K. Green

In Inventing a Christian America, Steven K. Green provides a very well-researched, detailed and nuanced history of religious thought during the time of the colonists, at the founding of the new country and how the past was manipulated to create the myth we now know as a "Christian America." It is balanced and debunks many talking points on both sides of the current arguments about the founding of the country.

I believe this is one book that could be done an injustice by trying to summarize it briefly. It is extremely nuanced and any brief overview will skip parts of the story that together make the overall argument. Let me just say that unless you're more interested in having your way than exploring the truth, this will be a rewarding read.

I highly recommend this book for anyone either involved in, or interested in, the contemporary debates over whether or to what degree America might be a "Christian country."

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (meer)

A thoroughly researched and cited investigation into the religious claims and views about the founding of America from the Puritans until the 1830s.

The author's purpose is to consider the view that America was founded as a "Christian nation" and on Biblical principles and that America has been a beacon for religious liberty since the Puritans. He demonstrates that such claims are overstated. He begins with claims of religious liberty, systematically exploring the various colonies and finding that almost all of them, including the Puritan colonies, did not really affirm religious liberty but expected conformity.

The bulk of the book explores the religious views of the founders and the founding documents, and the author provides a nuanced picture. Many did have very strong Christian views, others tended more toward Deism, but the foundation of their claims about the legitimacy of their endeavor rested upon a Lockean understanding of natural law and the need to resist tyranny. It would be expected to speak of these events in religious terminology considering the time; nevertheless, within a few years of the nation's founding, as the French experiment went south, many pious Americans began to feel uneasy with the "secular" foundation of the American governmental system and in its documents.

The author concludes with an exploration into the first few decades of the 19th century and the establishment of the "Christian nation" myth, charting its primary authors and their endeavors to "baptize" the founders and the founding documents while propping up the Puritans as those seeking religious liberty and establishing a haven for religious liberty.

A very relevant book in light of current arguments about the United States and its beginnings.

**--galley received as part of early review program… (meer)