Chapter 7 of Gelernter’s book is on “The Emergence of Modern Americanism,” basically covering the period of the Second World War and the Cold War that followed. As in all his chapters, he is full of interesting and useful information, but he applies it in wildly skewed ways. If Americanism is a religion (and he …
No Unique Logres
I want to begin this next section of my review of Gelernter’s Americanism with a healthy reminder from C.S. Lewis. This comes from That Hideous Strength. “So that, meanwhile, is England,” said Mother Dimble. “Just this swaying to and fro between Logres and Britain?” “Yes,” said her husband. “Don’t you feel it? The very quality …
Monsters or Sinners?
Chapter Five is where David Gelernter and I part company most drastically, for reasons easily anticipated. In this chapter, Gelernter tackles the subject of Abraham Lincoln, “America’s last and greatest founding father.” As usual, Gelernter is uncannily accurate in his description, and flies wide of the mark in his evaluation. Lincoln was the great founder …
It Shouldn’t Be Either
“Jesus tells us that the hireling does not care for the sheep the way a good shepherd does. In saying this, the Lord was teaching in effect that the ministry cannot be allowed to become a profession. Despite this severe warning, the modern Church has steadily drifted into a compromise with what we might call …
A Busy-Pants Foreign Policy
In his fourth chapter, Gelernter addresses the rise and development of the American religion in the course of our war for independence. “The American Creed [liberty, equality, democracy] combined with American Zionism [residue of postmillennialism] yielded a full-blown American belief system. These beliefs would be refined further; they would eventually supersede Puritanism and become the …
Seamus is My Kind of Music Critic
This is Seamus James Wilson, being held by his lovely grandmother. His nicknames thus far are Seamus Jamus, or the more popular ShayJ.
See You Next Year
The photos for Trinity Fest 07 are now on-line, and you can see them all here. I have included a few of them here, just to whet the appetite. The first is of our speakers, who all got the brown khaki memo. Then there is a photo of one of the talks, followed by some …
American Zionism and the Creed
David Gelernter really celebrates the Puritans “To understand America and Americanism, you must understand those Puritans. They are a difficult proposition, an intellectual handful. They were religious fanatics. But their intolerance gave birth to toleration; their quest for religious freedom yielded freedom in general; and their devotion to the Bible and the biblical idea of …
God’s Knitting Needles
You have heard many times that this Table is not the time or place for confession of sin. If you have ignored these exhortations, and have come to the Table with unconfessed sin in your life, then confessing sin here is far better than not confessing sin at all. So take care of whatever it …
Breaking Bread Across Generations
Our gracious Father, from whom all fatherhood derives its name, we thank You for our family. We thank You for children, grandchildren, parents, and grandparents. We thank You that we are allowed to break bread across generations like this, and we are grateful for the hands that prepared this food for us. Father, we ask …