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American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea. By John D. Wilsey. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2015. Pp. 262. $25.00 paperback.
The idea that America is exceptional has a long history, but, as calls to "Make America Great Again" illustrate, its power is far from spent. America's political climate only makes books like John D. Wilsey's all the more important. In a study best described as a theologically informed history of an idea, Wilsey surveys American exceptionalism from John Winthrop's "city on a hill" to Ronald Reagan's "new patriotism," weaving together narrative, biographical sketches, exegetical insight, and critical evaluation. The result is a careful, winsome, and constructive treatment of an enduring and important feature of American Christianity.
In his introduction, Wilsey argues that American exceptionalism comes in two varieties. "Closed exceptionalism," characterized by strong providentialism, wrongly attributes theological meaning to the nation. "Open exceptionalism," by contrast, aspires for America to be a "paragon of justice, freedom and equality"(19). From these, civil religion can either "move toward deifying the nation, or it can present a just model of civil government and community for which to strive"(27). Demonstrating the problems with the former and the potential of the latter is the task of the book. Wilsey's first chapter surveys the emergence of American exceptionalism, tracing its development from Puritan theology, through Enlightenment political thought, and into nineteenth-century...