By Zack Ball
It is interesting, as an academic historian, to study the origins of the American experiment. Despite scholarly disavowal of the notion that the United States has ever been a “Christian” nation, such a faith was, indeed, at its core, albeit in a unique form. From John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” motif through the subsequent centuries of self-perceived exceptionalism, America, effectively, purposed itself as God’s modern-day chosen people. As the Bible was the most popular book of the colonial period, citizens heard Old Testament promises of prosperity and dominion for God’s elect and concluded that the divine Creator fashioned this country to be like no other, showered with blessing and privilege through complete, individual autonomy.
Indeed, James Truslow Adams once wrote of the American dream, “life should be better, and richer, and fuller for everyone.”
Accordingly, West-style Christian faith seems to rest in a God who exists in service to His creation; one who wants to fulfill dreams and satisfy aspirations. It is, more so, our tool for acquiring the corporeal biproducts for personal gratification and fulfillment than it is, simply, the “power of God…for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1.5) Our days are, thus, spent endeavoring to achieve “victory” in life by eliminat ...
