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From: gtaylor@lasspvax.UUCP (Greg Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Black replies.
Message-ID: <241@lasspvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 15-Mar-85 11:08:49 EST
Article-I.D.: lasspvax.241
Posted: Fri Mar 15 11:08:49 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 17-Mar-85 01:27:24 EST
References: <1072@decwrl.UUCP> <>
Reply-To: gtaylor@lasspvax.UUCP (Greg Taylor)
Organization: LASSP, Cornell University
Lines: 34
Summary: 

In article <> cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) writes:
>	Do Americans have a special, unique role to
>play in God's plan for the world?

One book sure to offend this viewpoint (although I think it will by
its gentle and corrective tone-always the best way to dispute-perhaps
not satisfy the virulent non/antiChristian) that you might wish to take
a look at is "the Search for Christian America" by George Marsden,
Mark Noll, and Nathan Hatch (not sure about him....I think he's the 
other author). The book is written from within the Christian subculture
by a trio of historians who have some rather strong disagreements with
the whole "America as chosen nation" idea. They are all social historians
whose scholarly work covers the colonial-present period. Basically, they
argue that the notion of America as a chosen nation with a golden past
to which we can or should return holds no water whatsoever. That's the
blunt business of it. The further historical argument is that in many
cases the American Evangelical Fundementalists of the late Nineteenth
century were actively engaged in promoting the Secular Humanism that
the modern Falwellian so despises. Beyond that, the whole current argument
of American "chosen-ness" damages the ways in which (the authors argue)
that Christian Americans of "any" serious conviction should pursue justice and
fairness for their cause.

When you're done with that book, pick up a copy of George Marsden's
"Fundamentalism and American Culture (Oxford University Press)". It
will go a long way toward pointing out where all the stuff comes from
in the first place. The historical period covered is approx. 1830-1940.
It is a real eye-opener of a book if you grew up in the tradition (I
spent my adolescence in it), and pretty involving even if you aren't.

I read Marsden first, but don't hold yourself to *my* way. Both books
are short on the vitriol and long on the history (actually, Marsden
is the more thoroughgoing of the two, since TSFCA is specifically intended
to unconvince a rather general audience).