Reviews for Head and Heart: American Christianities

The average rating for Head and Heart: American Christianities based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-25 00:00:00 Stephen Brown I love reading Wills and this long, yet truncated, history of Christianity in America is full of great stuff. Wills, however, suffers from the tendency to see History as something made by Elites and highlighted in Documents and Theology. Black religion makes a cameo appearance. Much is made of disestablishment'not the most exciting 10% of the book. Wills' takedown of recent attempts to Christianize the Founding Fathers is satisfying and expert. While this was a nice refresher, a collage of fun-facts, the book suffers from some flaws that should keep it from being a timeless introduction. There is too much emphasis on the Founding Fathers, and 10% of the book is dedicated to the machinations of the Bush Administration. Wills' Big Claims'that there is a dialectic between Enlightenment and Evangelical currents'is fine, but not nuanced. Wills' treatment of Transcendentalism was, for me, interesting, but an elite sideshow. Absent: Mormons, New Age-y Christianity, non-denominational culture.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-05-29 00:00:00 David Vanderwoude This is a good book 3.5 about how history influenced America's character Pre-enlightenment era: Todays Evangelicals tell the truth at its foundation America has strong impulses as a Christian nation. The Puritans who were the dominant protestant force in early US because they were the most learned and thus could right their opinions done for posterity were obsessed with the Christian faith. In terms of government, it was basically a theocracy much like Iran who prosecuted people with impunity if they did not share similar religious sentiments. But despite this scary notion before the enlightenment and the subsequent idea of separation of church and state, the Puritans did set the idea of American individualism through their idea personal salvation, the idea that people were saved individually regardless of whom you were born from. Also the seeds of grass-roots democracy was born via the idea of congregationalism that is the election of the church leaders only by its congregation. The Puritans also gave the US its first universities, initally for the purposes of schooling the clergy, later for the schooling of its leaders. Pre-Enlightenment figures Samuel Sewall - was a judge who first argued that slavery was morally wrong. At the time, it was commonly believed that slavery was sanctioned by the bible because most prominent people in the bible had slaves (Abraham, King David/Solomon). But as mark of the Enlightenment period Sewall began questioning what was at the time biblical inerrancy with logic but using Scripture as the basis for the logic. For example, he states that Jesus comes with a new covenant that replaces the Old Testament and thus slavery of the past must give way to the equality of souls to the present. Also, he cites the golden rule as an antidote to the question of slavery. Roger Williams - was the trouble-maker father of Providence, RI who made Providence the seat of religious tolerance. He thought it was impossible to live in this world and be totally pure (I agree with him, if one trully wants to live by God's laws all the time one must become a secluded monk). Since the laws of God has been corrupted by man, then the laws of man needs to be followed because it is objective instead of corrupted laws of God because it has become subjective based on the religion one follows. Great Awakening: The Great Awakening (1730-40's) was the first American evangelical movement. This period is marked by what would be called today as "born-again" feeling that the holy spirit has descended and blessed the people who accept it. It is also marked by unlearned preachers who feel the spirit as opposed to the learned theologians of Harvard and Yale. It is interesting that even back then there was already a rift between the Evangelical "feel the spirit" movement and the Old Protestant order which valued the theological reason for explaining God. And it is also interesting to note that this feeling also gives it resonance to todays rift between the ivy-league learned liberals and the Evangelical Christian conservatives. Like present day evagelicals, the "unlearned" preachers of the Great Awakening used scaring congregants of the upcoming Apocalypse in order to convert them. Because if they do not repent and come into God, they will burn in the fires of hell for all eternity. It is the same formula but different time period. For these Christians, one has to know one can be damned before one can be saved but if this is so then how do the Calvanist justify predestination? Wills contends that the Enlightenment which our Founding Fathers subscribed to and our Constitution is based on was a direct reaction to the Great Awakening. Enlightened Religion Unitarianism: Their basic tenent is that there is only one God because that is the most logical belief and the trinity is illogical thus it is false. Unitarianism is thought to be of the Enlightenment because it tries to provide logical answers to God instead of faith&belief. Apparently the author chose John Locke as the main guy who represents Unitarianism. Even though most Christian churchs today believe in the Trinity, the Unitarianism train of thought still pervades most Protestant/ Christian teaching in focusing only on Jesus Christ instead of all three. Quakers: Their claim to fame is they were the first major religious group who decried the institution of slavery. The author chose Benjamin Lay, John Woolman, and Anthony Benezet as the three people who best represented the Quakers antipathy to slavery that later led to the abolition of slavery first in the North and then after the Civil War to the rest of society. What made them a relgious organization of the enlightenment was the fact they questioned understood dogma of the time of the issue whether slavery was in fact sanctioned by God via the bible. Basically they used biblical text to discredit people unquestionable interpretation of the bible about slavery. Deist: Most of the major figures of the Founding Fathers were Deist, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison were Deist. Deist believed in an amorphous God but not necessarily Christianity. This is consistent with the fact that Washington was a known Mason and I think Masons were Deist. This is the reason that there is religious tolerance in the Constituion and most importantly the 1st amendment in the right to practice any religion a person wants. Today's Christian right are correct in stating the US is founded as a religious nation but they are wrong that that religion is only Christianity. Disestablishment of Religion: John Locke believed that religious tolerance should be granted by the state because the state should be only concerned with civil matters whereas the church should be concerned with matters of the soul. "...the state as holder of a monopoly of force deployed to protect the civil interest of society...the church, contrast, is a voluntary society in which men join 'in order to the public worshipping of God, in such a manner as they judge acceptable to him and effectual to the salvation of their souls.' The state has no competence to decide what a man considers the proper means to please God and save his soul. And the church has no competence to use force for any means, and especially not to affect others' civil interest." John Locke wanted a society that believed in God, preferably a Christian one, but not necessarily. Jefferson makes the freedom to choose one's religion free of government intrusion and inalienable right instead of merely a tolerance that the state can take away from that person. It is clear from his Danbury letter to the Baptist that he thought that the Separation of Church and State was paramount in his thinking of the 1st Amendment. The idea of the separation of church and state is as much for the state being free of a certain religion as it is for the right of any man to profess their own religion outside any state intereference. So, I do not understand what the issue is? James Madison the actually writer of the 1st Amendment showed in his Remonstrance letter to the Virginia assembly that religion should be based on one's CONCIENCE and the reason for the clear separation of church and state is both to protect the state from unwanted influence of the church but also to protect any religion from an established church religion that has the potential of limit the competing religions. So, I do not even understand how the Christian Right can claim that the US is a Chrisitan country when US Constitution does not even mention God in its Constitution. And the separation of church and state is as important to each individual denomenation as it is to non-Christians. Although I do agree to Jefferson and Madison's assessment of things, I disagree with having church pay taxes. After all, paying taxes would make the Church supporting the State financially and thus subservient to it. ROMANTIC PERIOD: 19 century response to the rational enlightenment period in which inspiration and intuition ruled. For intellectuals, it lead to Transcendentalism and its accompanying nature mysticim and thus rejection of doctrine. For the common people, the period was ushered by the Second Great Awakening with the emphasis of personal salvation by an empathic Christ. Transcendentalism and Emerson: Emerson was the epicenter of the Transcendentalist which denied any source of Doctrine as too constricting for the human soul. They wanted the soul through self-expression to transcend the superficial confines of doctrine (which include formal churches, ministers, and biblical texts) and become one with God. They also wanted the self's soul to trully be at the heart of religion not dogma. The Transcedalist went a step further than the Unitarians and discounted the role of supernatural miracles in favor of the miracles of Nature. They believe that God spoke to them through awesomeness of nature and not through supernatural signs. This is way environmental groups of today really love the Transcendentalist especially Thoreau and Emerson. Religion of the Heart: 2nd Great Awakening - Evangelicalism was prevalent in the American Frontier because the Methodist preachers would ride out to these places and convert people. Because it was the Frontier where "old-world" position mattered less, there was certain egalitarian feeling akin to todays entrepreneurial spirit in which anyone with creativity can become rich. Also since it was the frontier era, there was essentially no government so non-profits usually via evangelical religions took over what the community needed (ie: social services)If it worked back then I do not understand why it would not work now, that is faith-based initiatives taking over social services. What better way to help people by giving them a chance to turn over their lives while saving their souls. Also the preachers of this period counted their successes by the number of people they convert and who attend their services not what seminary they went to or educational pedigrees they had. I think this the reason most evangelical preachers today are obsessed with conversion of souls because it is the only marker to show how successfult they are. Schism over Slavery - Although Protestant America was initially unified in its Anti-Papist stance, it split due to the issue of Slavery. Whereas the south actively promoted the biblical condoning of slavery, the north condemned it as an abomination. God of Battles - Both the North and the South believed that they were right in the eyes of God and the other was doing the work of the anti-Christ. Although it has been always been portrayed that the abolutionist justified a holy war, the book showcase the fact that the south cursed Lincoln and portrayed him seriously as the Anti-Christ that was sent here to do the work of the devil. In fact far from being Evangelical, Lincoln subscribed to Black Religion in that he believed that Christianity had to save an entire people not just one soul at a time. Religion of the Gilded Age - Although Non-evangelical ministers gradually lost clout, the Evangelical ministers of the period gradually gained it especially because it was funded by robber barons of the period in the form of the "Moody empire". Moody preached personal salvation through hard work (very entrpreneurial in thought). One of the main characteristics of Moody's movement was The Holiness Movement meaning having total trust in God through being "saved". The reason rich people funded this sort of evangelical movement was because this movement was against unions. To them unions were dangerous because it showed men can solve their own problems without the help of God whereas individual salvation was entrepreneurial by nature that is the individuaal wants to be saved and thus become saved by the Grace of God, similarly if a person wants to be rich, he does. Culture Wars: Doomsday or Progress? 2nd Coming Theology - A further influcence of Moody was his 2nd coming Theology in the form of his associate Torrey - Torrey the most influential man of the Premillenialist movement used John Nelson Darby's rapture movement to preach the imminent 2nd Coming of the messiah, thus giving greater urgency to converting the unrepentant. 2nd Coming Politics - Because these Evangelical Fundamentalist thought the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ and the havoc that it will create, they initially did not want to be involved in worldly affairs because to be involved in politics would take away from the urgent affairs of trying to save the damned. They also want to hasten Armageddon via demolishing the Islamic Dome of the Rock and rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem. They rejoice in building weapons for that purpose such as nuclear weapons and see 9/11 as fulfillment of prophesy. Before reading this book, I use to think the alliance between the Evangelical Christian right and the American military was a weird one but now that I have read this book it makes sense. The Christian right wants a strong military because in their mind it will serve as the Army of God in an impending Armageddon and since the end is near then US government should solely focus on the military and not social services which they think detract from people relying on God for their needs and instead shift their reliance toward the State. The Social Gospel - Wereas the Religious right were concerned in saving individual souls, the Religious left (progressives for cities) were concerned in saving American societies. The only problem with the left @ the beginning of the 20 century is they were tied to Christian Imperialism in the form of American Imperialism in order to "Christianize the natives" (ie: Philippines). Culture Wars: Reversals Evangelicals riding high - The major enemy which the evangelicals eventually won was prohibition. Frances Willard used the Temperance movement as a social vehicle toward other women issues such as women's sufferage, prison reform, 8 hour day, and federal aid to education Wayne Wheeler was the first man who used get out the vote for a single issue of prohibition and succeeded by using Christian values in influencing politics. Billy Sunday was a layman without any theological background who succeeded Moody as being the most celebrated televangelist of his day. His strength lies in the fact that he was so common. And as always WWI cemented the religious fervor of the US. Evangelicals riding low - Although Wayne Wheeler used tough tactics to allow the 18th Amendment to pass, because he pushed aggressively the enforcement of Prohibition, he unwittingly led to its demise because of the impossibility of enforcing it (it would be like trying to outlaw and enforce home porn laws today). Secondly, the Scopes Trial which created the ACLU was a trial against Darwinism because in the belief that Darwinism challenged biblical innerancy about the creation of man. James Cannon in campaining for Herbert Hoover against the Irish Catholic Al Smith realigned the Democratic party as the party for immigrants because of his constant linking of immigrants with the Democratic party. I always wondered why Evangelical Christians had such animosity toward the ACLU; now I know it is due to the Scopes Trial and the way the ACLU's first big case challenge biblical inerrency via defending Darwinism to be taught in schools. Religion in a Radical Time - Ironically, there was no significant religious revivals in the Great Depression. Rather the "Puritanism", came from the Catholic and Jewish segments of the society in the form of cinema censorship and clamping down of Protestant Hollywood excesses of the Roaring 20's. FDR provided the country with the first administration with a broad based religious coalition of Catholics/Jews which represented a fifth of his administration. Also the leading critic of his at the time was Father Coughlin. Religious Nation: Euphoria The Great Religious Truce - Immediately after WWII, the feeling of America was elation and gratefulness to God for vanquishing the evil Nazi empire. During Eisenhowers administration, the feeling of the communist threat was so real that "Under God", was placed into the pledge of allegiance just to distinguish intself from the godless Communism. For all intents and purposes, America embraced Judaism and Catholicism as as pro-American as Protestanism and Billy Graham was America's pastor because of his ecumenicism. The Rights Revolution of the 1960's were religious in nature from the Civil Rights, which garnered support from Black Church leaders and Northern church leaders of Protestant, Evangelical, Catholic, and Jewish persuasion, to Women's Rights which allowed all women be common in the work place and right to abortion, to Catholic liberation in denouncing the thought that Jews were Christ killers, to saying the pluralistic democracy was okay, to gay liberation via the Stonewall Revolution that led to the Gay Liberation Front, to American Indian Rights by Vine Deloria, to American Latino migrant workers rights via Cesar Chavez. Evangelical Counterattack happened because Evangelicals thought that God's way was being attacked by the Supreme Courts by not allowing school prayer and allowing evolution to be taught. They generally regard the Human rights revolution of the 60's as part of the SECULAR HUMANISM plot to do the bidding of the Devil. They do not like anything that impinges the on core family which includes women's rights, children's rights, abortion rights, gay rights, prevention of AIDS (God's scourge toward homosexual), and sex education because they think it promotes promiscuity. Thus, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, Pat Robinson's Christian Coalition to Gary Baur Research on the Family were movements that capitalized on these prevailing sentiments. Religious Nation: The Karl Rove Era Faith-Based Government - W. was the pinnacle of the mixing b/w Faith and Governmet. Faith-based Justice with John Ashcroft thought the walls between church and state as oppressive. Thus under his rule, violence against abortion clinics were not prosecuted. The civil rights department now had religiou wing that enforced partial-ban abortions. Furthermore, Bush pushed for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Faith-based Social Services meant federal money were given to churches who performed social services especially to Black Churches who are more accustomed to help their congregants in exchange for voting for W. Faith-based Science was used to dispel the truthfulness of Darwanism and Global Warming in favor of faith. I think Faith-based Science is a contradiction in terms. Science is science and faith is faith. Faith-based Health in the form of no contraception especially condom use and abstinence only education in combination with Terri Schiavo case which is not life because she needed a machine to survive. Faith-based War in which General William Boykin used believed with all his heart that the axis of evil was really Satan's army. Ecumenical Karl - Karl Rove wanted to unite all the religious leaders behind whatever their beliefs are behind value-based system and thus to vote for W. To this, he used wedge-issues such as the pro-life movement and anti-gay marriage that are near and dear to people who are religious. Eventually their was a backlash from the middle who thought Bush was really a big spending liberal and overreach of his evangelical base. Separation not Supression - I agree with his assessment that religion should inspire policy but should not intertwine with it. I believe social services should naturally be faith-based but it should be faith-based without government support such as what happened in the 2nd Great Awakening period.