American Gospel, Jon Meacham
American Gospel, Jon Meacham
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American Gospel
God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation

Author: Jon Meacham

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Unabridged: 7 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/04/2006


Synopsis

In American Gospel (literally meaning the "good news about America"), New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham sets the record straight on the history of religion in American public life. As Meacham shows, faith --meaning a belief in a higher power, and the sense that we are God's chosen people-- has always been at the heart of our national experience, from Jamestown to the Constitutional Convention to the Civil Rights Movement to September 11th. And yet, first and foremost, America is a nation founded upon the principles of liberty and freedom. Every American is free to exercise his own faith or no faith at all. And so a balance is struck, between public religion and private religion; and religious belief is distinct from morality. As Meacham explains, the well-known "wall" between church and state has always separated private religion from the business of the state, yet religious belief is part of the basic foundation of government. Brilliantly articulating an argument that links the Founding Fathers to an insightful contemporary point of view, American Gospel renews our understanding of history, and what public religion has meant in America, so that we can move beyond today's religious and political extremism toward a truer understanding of the place of faith in American society.

About The Author

Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer. The author of the New York Times bestsellers Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, Franklin and Winston, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, and The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, he is a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, a contributing writer for The New York Times Book Review, and a fellow of the Society of American Historians. Meacham lives in Nashville and in Sewanee with his wife and children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bernard on February 24, 2013

In my years as a minister, I came to believe that The United States of America was founded as a Christian nation and, somehow, fell away from the true faith. As most Fundamentalists, I believed that America is the New Israel, chosen by God to be a haven of holiness and a light to the world, the Shin......more

Goodreads review by Kate on January 27, 2009

When I hear the claim that America needs to get back to being a "Christian nation," it makes me uncomfortable, and the reason is that the "gospel" of American public religion and the gospel of true Christianity are two different things. American public religion is based on the "God of Nature" of man......more

Goodreads review by Greg on July 08, 2021

One of the trickiest subjects to discuss at any time is that of religion and, in these currently divisive and angry times, it is even more of a delicate matter. As an American historian -- one who taught college early in my adult life and then a person who has always read deeply in history -- I frequ......more

Goodreads review by Jim on December 29, 2019

#1 Best Book I Read in 2019 "The safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgement of this truth is ... an indispensable duty which the people owe Him." - John Adams "The government of the United Stat......more

Goodreads review by Josh on August 23, 2007

Don't get me wrong, this book covers all the basic points of American religious history. Meacham does a decent job of telling the important - not just the popular - stories of the American religious experience; however, it is written like a Newsweek feature piece. It uses broad sweeps and makes broa......more


Quotes

“Thoughtful . . . The vitality of Americans’ religious faith explains the persistence of a ‘public religion’ that continues to trouble unbelievers and secular thinkers.”The Washington Post

“[A] sensibly balanced and engaging narrative account of religion’s role in our nation’s history.”Los Angeles Times

“Jon Meacham has given us an insightful and eloquent account of the spiritual foundation of the early days of the American republic. It is especially instructive reading at a time when the nation is at once engaged in and deeply divided on the question of religion and its place in public life.”—Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation

“Employing the cadence and elegance of language crafted by America’s Founding Fathers, Newsweek managing editor Jon Meacham has written a thoughtful history of America in which religion imbued, but did not overpower, its construction. . . . A lively combination of history and literature. At a time when the mix of religion and politics is fraught with tension and toxicity, Meacham’s book is a deft reminder of the carefully planted American roots that have given freedom and religion such fertile ground in this country.”The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A nimble examination of how American leaders . . . have wrestled with God personally and publicly . . . an enlightening look at how the founders discovered ways to tame but not extinguish the fires of faith.”USA Today

“Jon Meacham provides a refreshingly clear, balanced, and wise historical portrait of religion and American politics at exactly the moment when such fairness and understanding are much needed. Anyone who doubts the relevance of history to our own time has only to read this exceptional book.”—David McCullough, author of 1776

“Lively, accessible, and persuasive . . . [a] wonderful new book.”The New York Sun

“An absorbing narrative full of vivid characters and fresh thinking, American Gospel tells how the Founding Fathers–and their successors–struggled with their own religious and political convictions to work out the basic structure for freedom of religion. For me this book was nonstop reading.”—Elaine Pagels, professor of religion, Princeton University, author of Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

“Jon Meacham is one of our country’s most brilliant thinkers about religion’s impact on American society. In this scintillating and provocative book, Meacham reveals the often-hidden influence of religious belief on the Founding Fathers and on later generations of American citizens and leaders up to our own. Today, as we argue more strenuously than ever about the proper place of religion in our politics and the rest of American life, Meacham’s important book should serve as the touchstone of the debate.”—Michael Beschloss, author of The Conquerors

“At a time when faith and freedom seem increasingly polarized, American Gospel recovers our vital center–the middle ground where, historically, religion and public life strike a delicate balance. Well researched, well written, inspiring, and persuasive, this is a welcome addition to the literature.”—Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, author of American Judaism: A History