Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to "The Passion of the Christ"

I heard excerpts of an early chapter of this book being read over the radio while on a long drive across the northern plains, and I was intrigued enough to buy the book when I got home. Mr. Nichols pinpoints the early planting of the seeds of neo-liberal Christianity in our nation's colonial history, as a reaction to the Puritans; he rightly points out some of the cultural prejudicial misconceptions about Puritans who took a truly renunciate view of government and politics and kept their focus on Christ and His teachings.As a bit of a blinded patriot who had truly believed much of our country's foundation was established on Christian principles, the exposure of the hypocrisy of (many of) our founding fathers left me red-faced. Nichols then describes the culturalization of Jesus through our nation's history: the meek, effeminate Jesus of the Victorian era, followed by the overly masculinized Jesus of Teddy Roosevelt's America. But around that same time, the counter-Puritan movement began to fully take root in America through the Rockefeller-funded ministry of Harry Emerson Fosdick, who tried to turn Jesus into an American industrialist with wonderful principles rather than the scriptures' supernatural Man-God who came to save us from our sins.The second half of Nichols' book concentrates on the modern Jesus Movement. Although Nichols describes himself as an American evangelical, he seems pretty well set against any and all commercial efforts undertaken by the evangelical community, such as the Christian music and film industries (he is careful not to bite the hand that feeds him, the Christian book industry). He points out several examples of entrepreneurs who have targeted the Christian market with theologically dubious product, but he doesn't stop there and seems to take delight in pillorying any Christians who are commercially successful.To some extent I get it: sometimes we have let Jesus' house be turned into a den of thieves. But it begs the questions: How do Christians counteract the strong anti-Christian forces at work in America? And, are Christians to abandon the film and music industries?For instance, Nichols has no tolerance for any film whose screenplay doesn't come straight from scripture, but as any filmmaker would tell you, scripture doesn't make a very compelling screenplay (nor was it ever meant to). In the end, Nichols' main argument is against experiential evangelization, but if cultural adaptation is experiential, it makes me wonder what is acceptable. Also, the authorities Nichols uses to prove his points are not from the ranks of respected evangelicals but rather liberal theologians like Martin Marty or (often) any secular writer who has a bone to pick with evangelicals.It reminds me of a specific scriptural anecdote (Matthew 19:13-14; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17) where people were bringing their children to Jesus for prayer. The disciples rebuked these people; apparently, like Nichols, they didn't approve of the experiential approach. Jesus, in turn, rebuked the disciples. Nowhere in Jewish scripture did it say that the Kingdom of God belonged to those with the innocent minds of children, but Jesus stated that for them at that time. The same situation came up with the woman in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus was OK with their spontaneous - albeit non-scriptural - expressions of devotion.Missionaries in foreign lands often seek to relate the Gospel to the culture of the people they're trying to reach. Apparently Nichols feels that shouldn't ever happen in America. My takeaway from the book was: Puritans good, anything else bad. "Jesus Made in America" is an interesting read, and while it has some constructive history challenges for us, it's also a little disappointing to see this kind of destructive nitpicking coming from within the evangelical movement.

Stephen Nichols' thesis is sound. Jesus in the American evangelical church has been defined by personal experience and often confused with elements from popular culture. The American Jesus is in danger of becoming disconnected from scripture and from the historical creeds and confessions of the church. Nichols argues that the Christology that was worked out in the early centuries of the church has been largely forgotten by evangelical American culture. He first examines the doctrine of the early English speaking church in North America, the Puritans. He follows the evolution of the American Jesus through the American Revolution, the Victorian Era and the early 20th Century. He then chooses a few facets of modern evangelical culture and examines the American Jesus in each: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), merchandising, movies, and politics.The only problems I have with Nichols' analysis are in some of the examples he uses to prove his point. For instance, in an effort to prove that CCM has come unmoored from historical Christology, he repeatedly cites the song "Hold Me Jesus" by Rich Mullins as an example of the "me centered" theology of our time. While there is no question that much of CCM is oriented by personal experience, I'm not sure Rich Mullins was a good example. In fact, Rich's next song on the same album is called "Creed" which is a recitation of the Apostle's Creed with some commentary; the very thing Nichols argues CCM has cast aside. There aren't many artists that have wrestled with theology and its practical consequences as much as Rich Mullins. In these examples I wish that Nichols had evaluated an artist's entire body of work rather than picking a single song that was focused on personal experience.In fact, Nichols concedes near the end of his book that personal experience does matter... it just needs to be subordinate to scripture and the historical creeds and confessions of the church.On the whole, a fascinating read.

Nichols selects different eras and motifs from the cultural history of the USA to enlighten us on the various ways Jesus has been portrayed and reinvented in time. From the Puritans to politics, movies to music, Nichols shows us how we are often more interested in our culturally reinvented Jesus than learning what Jesus is really like. A useful wake up call, only marred by some moments where Nichols gets lost in his sources and can't decide what his data reveals.