Jesus in America: Personal Savior, Cultural Hero, ... (ISBN 0060628731)

Amazon.com Review:
Historian Richard Wightman Fox casts a wide net over the role Jesus has played throughout American history. No question about it: Fox is thorough, insightful and well researched--qualities readers have come to expect from this established teacher and historian, now based at the University of Southern California. Starting with the early 1600s and the Puritan missionaries' determination to persuade Native Americans to convert to Christianity and moving on through the early 21st century, in which he references the influence of the bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, Fox is an informed and intelligent narrator. But as a storyteller, Fox frequently falters. It appears Fox was victim to an over-researched and poorly contained project. His chapters are often vague in theme and tend to jump around in focus. This is unfortunate, because Fox, who masterfully wrote Trials of Intimacy, does have the capacity to set a strong scene and spin a riveting story. But this time his skills only shine in disjointed segments. His first-person narrative is especially strong, such as describing when he was an intern for the U.S. Senate in 1965 and saw the smartly dressed Billy Graham for the first time. Fox does have interesting information and viewpoints to add to the American interpretation of Christ. In lieu of the hubbub over Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, readers will particularly enjoy Fox's analysis of the American movie industry's interpretations of Christ, especially his take on Jesus Christ Superstar. Readers who are accustomed to theological discussions may find this a satisfying read, but the average reader looking for a more focused history lesson may be better off with American Jesus. --Gail Hudson

Fascinating Overview of American History:
Richard Fox's book is not a Church History, a Christian History, or even a religious history. What it is is an American History analyzed through the lens of how people responded to the life, example, and image of Jesus. It takes the reader through the life of the early Catholic missionaries, then the Protestant Puritans, the American Revolution, the Revival Movements, World War I and pacifism, to modern evangelicism. I believe that every high school student should be required to read this book in order to develop a more balanced view of the role of religion in American culture and government.

the many faces of the savior:
Think about your earliest memories and images of Jesus. If you are a white, American Protestant, it is likely that you will recall a painting by Warner Sallman, The Head of Christ (1940)--Jesus with flowing blond hair and saccharine blue eyes. This painting has enjoyed some 500 million copies, and is a reminder that in America, but not only in America, the ideas and images about Jesus are extraordinarily malleable. There is clearly no interpretive monopoly upon Jesus; instead, at least to some extent, each believer and generation, across times and cultures, creates Jesus in its own image. That is what these two theological and cultural histories explore. Of course, every sincere believer longs for the "real" Jesus, Jesus pure and pristine, original, "unbesmirched by tradition." But that is impossible. So, for example, Frederick Douglass excoriated a "slave holding, women-whipping" Christendom. Thomas Jefferson took scissors to all he did not like and ended up with Jesus as sage. George Bush claimed him as his most important political philosopher. And on it goes. These two books take us through the almost limitless images of Jesus we have created--in stage and theater, movies and song, portraits and theological texts, Jesus of the the intellectuals and Jesus of uneducated peasants, Jesus of the European colonizers and Jesus of the beleaguered slaves, and even Jesus of cultural kitsch. The elasticity of these images is disconcerting; we should be very wary about absolutizing the relative. Countee Cullen, author of the long narrative poem "The Black Christ" (1929), was at least aware of the dangers: "Lord, forgive me if my need/Sometimes shapes a human creed."

Personal Jesus:
My first take on this book is that Wightman has been reading Jaroslav Pelikan's masterful and readable Jesus Through the Centuries. What he shares with Pelikan, however, is not so much a thesis as an angle of approach. When Wightman declares, late in the book, that he teaches a class on the subject, you realize that this book was probably pulled together from his class notes. Regardless, it will prove both enjoyable and intriguing to those interested in either the time period (pre-Colonial to the present) or the subject (cultural history). Wightman almost never plays his hand as to his own viewpoints, but his enthusiasms are entirely evident. This is to the good, as they are the best parts of the book. All the better that his heroes are not an obvious mix. He obviously likes or is interested in Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards and Emerson. Being so partisan to them perhaps enables him to be more honest than many reviewers who lightly gloss over those they induct into the pantheon of American heroes. I found the parts about Emerson as a Unitarian to be the most gripping, and why in the millieu of Transcendentalism, Mormonism, Christian Science and New Thought, he among others rejected the creed of the Trinitarian churches (and why those churches didn't). The other topic he is absolutely mad about is the trinity of liberal Protestant thinkers in the 'fifties: the brothers Niebuhr and Paul Tillich. Surprisingly, though, he spends no time on Tillich, whose The Courage to Be was a bestselling touchstone of 'fifties liberal Protestants, and all of his time on the Niebuhrs. At this point the book also bogs down, with all sorts of pyschological terminology introduced to take the place of the traditional language jettisoned in the 'fifties. But Wightman, nearly alone of his ilk, is mostly fair to the various believers who at least make cameos in his book (except to Billy Graham who was disliked by the Niebuhrs). As he points out, when then governor George W. Bush named Jesus as his favorite philosopher, it may not be the choice of trendy thinkers, but it's what a lot of Americans would do. This is also one of the few books to even consider the Catholic presence and viewpoint in relation to largely Protestant American history. The ideas and vocabulary of the misunderstood Puritans, no more than the lionized Transcendentalists meant different things then than they do now, as Ellwood Johnson points out in The Goodly Word, where he examines the seminal ideas of both the Puritans and their secular offspring rather more clearly than does Wightman. A subtle undertone in the book is taken from Charles Sheldon's 1896 novel, In His Steps, in which characters ask a question that would resonate a century later: "what would Jesus do?" That's a question liberal Protestants of the 'fifties would continue to ask long after they had ceased asking the questions posed by Protestants and Catholics in this book about who Jesus is.

Jesus' Influence on American Culture:
Richard Wightman Fox's "Jesus in America" gives a more complete picture of Christianity as it has evolved over hundreds of years in America. While he seems to focus mostly on events from the seventeenth to the twentieth century he does cover topics as diverse as seventeenth-century martyrs, movies about Jesus and "the Da Vinci Code." While it is true that you will learn more about Jesus from reading His words in the Bible, this book shows how a belief in Jesus influences people's ideas about slavery and war and how each generation attempts to mold the image of Jesus for their own purposes or causes. This book takes forever to read but it is worth the effort. The only shocking thing in this book is probably the story of how Benjamin Franklin tried to change The Lord's Prayer. What audacity! It is also interesting to see how religious people continued to try to de-divinize Christ. After reading this book you are left with a feeling of love and respect for the greatest teacher of all time. For Christians this will deepen their respect for Christ the Savior and for unbelievers it shows Jesus' influence on American culture. If you are interested in other items that I loved and reviewed, here are a few items you might enjoy: 7 Signs of Christ's Return The End Times : In the Words of Jesus What Jesus Demands from the World The Gospel According to Jesus Jesus Jesus (2000) No Wonder They Call Him the Savior: Chronicles of the Cross Just Like Jesus Jesus: An Intimate Portrait of the Man, His Land, and His People What Christians Believe ~The Rebecca Review

Inclusive and indepth...Jesus:
Detailed, long lasting impressions are what you are left with after reading and hopefully chewing over key issues in this book. I love seeing Christ move across our country in bold and vivid color. This book gave me an appreciation for the Catholic church and insight into modern day Calvinism and more. Great read for the serious students of theology. However, this book tends to manifest Christ in a way that takes Him out of your heart and places Him into your head. That was kind of a bummer to me. Good read but my money is on the bible.