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American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon
Jesus the Black Messiah; Jesus the Jew; Jesus the Hindu sage; Jesus the Haight-Asbury hippie: these Jesuses join the traditional figure of Jesus Christ in American Jesus, which was acclaimed upon publication in hardcover as an altogether fresh exploration of American history--and as the liveliest book about Jesus to appear in English in years.
Our nation's changing images...more
Our nation's changing images...more
Paperback, 376 pages
Published
September 18th 2004
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 2003)
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Jesus was a masterful Jewish rabbi, many will agree. He was the Messiah, many others will assert. But for others in the long and polyglot religious history of America, he has also been an Asian who was the truest expression of Hinduism, a black man who is the liberator of his people from slavery, a meek, gentle, feminized teacher, a strong, muscular, vigorous Savior, a sacrificial lamb, a wise man who performed no miracles, and almost any other manifestation you can think of.
These are just some...more
These are just some...more
I teeter between atheism and agnosticism with a side order of I really could care less. However, I am interested in why people are drawn to religion to the point of religious fanaticism.
I found this book to be informative with a non bias stance. Prothero did an excellent job researching this topic and providing firm examples to make his case about why Jesus is so popular in America.
Prothero starts his time line with Thomas Jefferson clipping his version of the New King James to make is own ver...more
I found this book to be informative with a non bias stance. Prothero did an excellent job researching this topic and providing firm examples to make his case about why Jesus is so popular in America.
Prothero starts his time line with Thomas Jefferson clipping his version of the New King James to make is own ver...more
A fantastic read - appropriate for both scholars and non-academic audiences. In two parts traces how Americans have understood the person of Jesus. The first half takes you through a (roughly) chronological journey about how American Protestants have understood Jesus--what Prothero deems "Resurrections" - from a "enlightened sage" (a la Jefferson), to "sweet savior" (to Victorian Americans), to "manly redeemer" (to 20th century progressives and Cold Warriors), to "superstar" (to the countercultu...more
An interesting historical look at perceptions of Jesus in America. Prothero is a good writer and he is clearly very knowledgeable in religious history from a sociological standpoint. Despite the fact that he is a good academic writer, he does occasionally allow his biases to interfere with the picture of who 'Jesus in America' really is. On a few occasions he downplayed groups he didn't agree with or made it seem like small groups of Christians who he is very fond were more influential than they...more
This book looks at the different Jesuses that American have and do believe in. Here is what I take away from this book.
If you are an evangelical, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a liberal Protestant, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a conservative Protestant, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are Catholic, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a right wing proud American, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a Mormon, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a black L...more
If you are an evangelical, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a liberal Protestant, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a conservative Protestant, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are Catholic, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a right wing proud American, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a Mormon, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a black L...more
An excellent, impartial look at how Jesus has been interpreted and reinterpreted throughout American history, whether by Christian worshippers, Jewish scholars, or Buddhist philosophers. Prothero takes an impressive amount of time analyzing the difference in the gendered traits assigned to Jesus during different eras, and is unafraid to discuss the implied hypocrisy of turning the Prince of Peace into a "manly redeemer" -- sometimes rendered complete with boxing gloves in order to conquer sin. I...more
Aug 18, 2012
Sarah
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
favorite,
religion,
politics,
nonfiction,
illustrated,
philosophy,
cultural-studies,
post-colonial
A very unbiased, balanced and thorough look at the historical place of religion (specifically Christianity) in the United States. If you are conservative Christian, hoping to read how the US is based on the Bible, this book will disappoint you; if you are a liberal atheist, hoping to uncover a religious conspiracy going back to the Founding Fathers, look elsewhere. Religion (or, more to the point, faith) has always had a place in US culture, but this book demonstrates that much of that place has...more
Nov 14, 2010
Megan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
nonfiction,
unclassifiable
When conversations hit a lull I am often asked "What are you reading?". Recently the answer has been this book. Considering most of my friends are, like me, pretty devout Christians, the title raises a few eyebrows. (At this point my husband has interrupted to assert that we are actually fundamentalist liberal Christians, and then I argue about how that's not a thing. Back to the book) I even had one friend doubtful that Jesus is a national icon, which I felt proved the point of the book. The po...more
This text illuminates the historical ways in which people have interpreted Jesus. As Christians, we often want to think that Jesus has never changed, but Prothero argues that American interpretations of Jesus are continually evolving. Jesus has gone from the sidelines of the Puritans to the mainstream center of the Evangelical community. We have gone from a culture of "sola scriptura" to "sola Jesus." As a Christian I was challenged by the book to consider to what degree my own interpretations o...more
This book examines the process by which America has transformed the religion about Jesus into the religion of Jesus, how Logos metamorphosed into a logo. In a nutshell, a cultural or religious movement creates Jesus in its own image. In the early 19th century when women outnumbered men in the pews, the culture produced an effeminate Jesus. When Teddy Roosevelt was carrying a big stick, the culture produced an aggressive, burly Jesus. The book also examines the Mormon Jesus, the black Jesus, the...more
In the conclusion of his book <u>American Jesus</u>, Stephen Prothero asserts: "In the book of Genesis, God creates humans in His own image; in the United States, Americans have created Jesus, over and over again, in theirs" (298). It is the kind of assertion best placed in the conclusion of a book, as many contemporary Christian readers would tend to discount the claim as so much high-falutin' academic baloney. However, after 297 pages of Prothero's detailed and fascinating history...more
Stephen Prothero is the chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University and he has written a well-researched, thought-provoking book about the changing image of Jesus in American history and culture. I found it fascinating, if uneven. This is not a book about the biblical Jesue or the historical Jesus, but about how Jesus has been embraced from the Puritans (not so much) to the Black Jesus, the Oriental Jesus and the Jesus Movement's Hippie Jesus of the 20th century. From Jefferson to m...more
This book was a ride on the culture roller coaster of Jesus, primarily in American history. It was interesting to learn how Jesus changed in the eyes of the American public over time and with different groups within society. One of the most interesting things I learned was that the "What would Jesus Do" movement began as a book with the same title in the late 1800's. It was the beginning of the "Jesus as my friend" movement within the Baptist congregation. It was also interesting to learn more a...more
Jun 30, 2010
Aaron Carlberg
added it
This book shows how Jesus, in our minds, has gone from being the Son of God to a bizarre bobble head that we stick on our dashboards and think it is cute. I don't agree with much of Prothero's commentary but it is still an interesting book.
I am a big fan of American religious history and this is one of the best studies I have encountered.
A real insight into how culture comes up with a god.
haven't read this, got confused by the title. ignore
Oct 02, 2007
Audra Wolfe
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people interested in the cultural history of religion
Shelves:
religion
Americans have depicted Jesus as the son of God, a best friend, a feminine presence, a prize-fighter, a traveling salesman, a hippie, and even the Buddha. Prospero shows how each of these idioms relates to developments in American history. The individual chapters are fascinating, but because he takes the same approach in each one, it gets repetitive toward the end. Still, totally worth it just to see the posters of Jesus in the boxing ring! Keep in mind this isn't "religious history" per se--it'...more
Nice and informative. Easily read.
Amen! Haha
A very interesting book, with a comprehensive examination of the rise and diffusion of Jesus in American culture. I was most interested in the different visual depictions of Jesus and his growing role in American secular and material culture. That was a relatively small part of the book however. Most of it is a history of various sects and a discussion of their theological differences, which I found dense but someone more interested in that will probably enjoy. Worth reading!
A hodge podge of messily-strewn facts, political and social diatribe, and a message stoked with personal agenda leave this book on the "wish-I-hadn't-read-shelf." Don't be fooled by the title; the book tries to parlay far more than just information. There is a not-so-subtle, pro-"sheilaism" view in the lines of this book, and one will be easily disappointed if they come to it looking for an objective, wide-scoping view on the figure of Jesus in American culture.
interesting read that details the author's research into Christianity's use of Jesus in America since the time of Jefferson. The basic theory is that each era, each denomination, each race has repackaged and renuanced the meaning and person and image of Jesus. We make him who we want him to be.
This was an enormously entertaining book, as well as being informative. The chapter on (American) Jewish views of Jesus was particularly a propos, but actually all the chapters (Thomas Jefferson's Jesus, the Mormon Jesus, the hippie Jesus) were fascinating as well.
More academic than I might have liked but still very accessible. The first half is much drier than the second half. Learned a lot of things I didn't know which to me is the true test of a good nonfiction book.
An interesting look at how Jesus became central to Christianity in America and how he then left Christianity to become important in broader American culture as well as for Hindus, Jews and Buddhists.
Very informative! It did drag in places, though, but I think this may be partly due to the fact that I learned these things in some of my past classes.
Very insightful and accessible to us lay people. I refer to it again and again.
A massive trawl through American Christianity
This died with my undergraduate degree.
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Stephen Prothero is a professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University and the author of numerous books, most recently Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn't and American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Idol. He has commented on religion on dozens of National Public Radio programs and on television on CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, MSNBC and Comedy Cent...more
More about Stephen R. Prothero...
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“True, (Jefferson's) rational religion ran in rivulets outside the American mainstream, but heterodoxy is faith of a different form and, like orthodoxy, should be recognized for what it is: a way of being religious.”
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