What makes America unique, Prothero convincingly argues, is that the words that manifest its "core ideas and values—" from the Declaration of Independence to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged—continue to be debated by its citizens. To illustrate this, Prothero (God Is Not One) takes excerpts from important American speeches and documents and places them next to various commentaries. A particularly rich result of this juxtaposition comes in the supplements to John Winthrop's 1630 sermon "A Model of Christian Charity," wherein themes from Winthrop's speech are used by John O'Sullivan to justify Manifest Destiny, by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson to posit the 9/11 attacks as divine retribution, and by Sarah Palin to praise America while misattributing the coinage of the "shining city on a hill" to Ronald Reagan. Despite the book's arrangement according to biblical headings (e.g., Genesis, Acts, Law, Epistles, etc.), Prothero deftly balances the debate between religious and secular voices, such as on the godlessness of the Constitution. The book's greatest strength lies in this neutrality, offering commentaries from both sides of the discussion—all enlightening, encouraging, and frustrating in equal measure. (June)
The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation
The New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One presents a provocative crash course in the great “American scriptures”-those texts that have both divided and defined our understanding of what it is to be American. Stephen Prothero, a go-to expert on religion and media for none other than Stephen Colbert, gives readers an exciting and user-friendly introduction to American cultural history in The American Bible. Highlighting the touchstones of our collective cultural legacy, from the Bill of Rights to the Gettysburg Address, from Moby Dick to The Catcher in the Rye, from “Yankee Doodle” to “The Star-Spangled Banner” and beyond, Prothero's stirring and provocative handbook peels back the curtain on the inner workings of what makes America tick.
1110766601
The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation
The New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One presents a provocative crash course in the great “American scriptures”-those texts that have both divided and defined our understanding of what it is to be American. Stephen Prothero, a go-to expert on religion and media for none other than Stephen Colbert, gives readers an exciting and user-friendly introduction to American cultural history in The American Bible. Highlighting the touchstones of our collective cultural legacy, from the Bill of Rights to the Gettysburg Address, from Moby Dick to The Catcher in the Rye, from “Yankee Doodle” to “The Star-Spangled Banner” and beyond, Prothero's stirring and provocative handbook peels back the curtain on the inner workings of what makes America tick.
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The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation
![The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.12.6)
The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation
44.99
In Stock
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940170180035 |
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Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
Publication date: | 05/29/2012 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
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