Skip to search
Skip to main content
Catalog
Help
Feedback
Your Account
Library Account
Bookmarks
(
0
)
Search History
Search in
Keyword
Title (keyword)
Author (keyword)
Subject (keyword)
Title starts with
Subject (browse)
Author (browse)
Author (sorted by title)
Call number (browse)
search for
Search
Advanced Search
Bookmarks
(
0
)
Princeton University Library Catalog
Start over
Cite
Send
to
SMS
Email
EndNote
RefWorks
RIS
Printer
Bookmark
American covenant : a history of civil religion from the Puritans to the present / Philip Gorski.
Author
Gorski, Philip S.
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2017]
©2017
Description
xiii, 320 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Availability
Available Online
De Gruyter Princeton University Press Complete eBook-Package 2017
Copies in the Library
Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
BL2525 .G667 2017
Browse related items
Request
Details
Subject(s)
Civil religion
—
United States
—
History
[Browse]
United States
—
Religion
—
History
[Browse]
Library of Congress genre(s)
History
[Browse]
Summary note
Was the United States founded as a Christian nation or a secular democracy? Neither, argues Philip Gorski in American Covenant. What the founders actually envisioned was a prophetic republic that would weave together the ethical vision of the Hebrew prophets and the Western political heritage of civic republicanism. In this ambitious book, Gorski shows why this civil religious tradition is now in peril--and with it the American experiment. Gorski traces the historical development of prophetic republicanism from the Puritan era to the present day. He provides close readings of thinkers such as John Winthrop, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Hannah Arendt, along with insightful portraits of recent and contemporary religious and political leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Gorski shows how the founders' original vision for America is threatened by an internecine struggle between two rival traditions, religious nationalism and radical secularism. Religious nationalism is a form of militaristic hyperpatriotism that imagines the United States as a divine instrument in the final showdown between good and evil. Radical secularists fervently deny the positive contributions of the Judeo-Christian tradition to the American project and seek to remove all traces of religious expression from the public square. Gorski offers an unsparing critique of both, demonstrating how half a century of culture war has drowned out the quieter voices of the vital center. American Covenant makes the compelling case that if we are to rebuild that vital center, we must recover the civil religious tradition on which the republic was founded.--AMAZON.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Prophetic republicanism as vital center
The civil religious tradition and its rivals
The Hebraic moment: the New England Puritans
Hebraic republicanism: the American Revolution
Democratic republicanism: the Civil War
The progressive era: empire and the republic
The post-World War II period: Jew, Protestant, Catholic
From Reagan to Obama: tradition corrupted and (almost) recovered
The civil religion: critics and allies
The righteous republic.
Show 7 more Contents items
ISBN
9780691147673 ((hardcover : acid-free paper))
0691147671 ((hardcover : acid-free paper))
LCCN
2016013496
OCLC
956583454
Other standard number
40026858992
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
Read more...
Other views
Staff view
Ask a Question
Suggest a Correction
Report Harmful Language
Supplementary Information
Other versions
American covenant : a history of civil religion from the Puritans to the present / Philip Gorski ; with a new preface by the author.
id
99125524045806421