Redeemer Nation: The Idea of America's Millennial Role

by Ernest Lee Tuveson

"America had the infinite privilege of fulfilling her destiny and saving the world," said Woodrow Wilson after World War I. The idea of the redemptive mission of the United States—perceptible today in foreign policy—has been present, Ernest Tuveson shows, from the very beginning of the Republic. In this book, he traces the development of this enormously influential, though widely misunderstood element in American thought from its religious beginnings in a literal interpretation of biblical prophecies.

The discovery and settlement of North America coincided with the reversal of the traditional Augustinian view of history: that the City of god and the City of the World could never be reconciled on earth. The majority of American Protestants believed that an earthly millennium—a utopia as the final stage of human history, celebrating the triumph of good over evil and crowned by a glorious period of peace and prosperity—was not only predicted but even instituted, and that its advent was being brought about largely by human accomplishment. It was natural that America, rich in beauty and resources, with its Anglo-Saxon settlers endowed with the responsibility and the privilege of conquering evil, should be seen as the land chosen by God to fulfil His plan.

Mr. Tuveson shows how the idea of America's mission gained momentum as it was applied to successive stages of American history, notably such apocalyptic crises as the Civil War. He illustrates his theme by discussing and quoting extensively from the writings of historians, preachers, poets, and theologians, including Jonathan Edwards, Timothy Dwight, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Julia Ward Howe, whose "Battle Hymn of the Republic" voiced, more dramatically than any other work, millennialist zeal. Sympathetically and engagingly written, Mr. Tuveson's book is an important contribution to understanding America's national character.

Genres: History, Religion, American History, Politics

238 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 1968

About the author

Ernest Tuveson was a professor of English at University of California, Berkeley. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Reed College, 1934, his Master of Arts from the University of Washington in 1939, and his Ph.D. in English and history from Columbia University in 1949.

Reviews

[Jordan J. Andlovec · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real tour de force of historical interpretation that takes seriously theology as a driving force in both culture and the imagination. It may be because this will be an indispensable work in arguing my thesis, but I imagine this could be a great resource for a class on American church history.

[Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is impossible to understand American history without an understanding of our preoccupation with the Biblical Millennium. To our ancestors this typically meant postmillennialism with man bringing in a great Golden Age of peace and prosperity. The Protestant, Christian church was to be glorified and Christ, while not present, would rule the world through it. Without understanding this concept in all of its variations, including the growing secular one of the late nineteenth century it is difficult to make sense of people like Abraham Lincoln or events like the Civil War. The belief that America was to be the physical focus of the beginning of Christ's millennium and that it was the stone, "cut out of the mountain without hands," in Daniel 2:45, that became a great mountain and overspread the earth. America was to be the physical kingdom and the church the spiritual one and the entire world would be subdued. Our conquest of the continent and our foreign policy must be viewed in relation to this religious, then secular mythology or we miss a great deal of meaning behind our history. Read this book if you are a student of American history and want to know the why. Like Anderson's 'A People's Army', or Royster's book on why Americans fought in the Revolution understanding America's millennial fervor and its image of its own messianic purpose is fundamental.

[Jackson Cho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the most interesting (though admittedly not an easy read) books I've read. It explores this underappreciated aspect of Puritan thought that has profoundly influenced American culture even today, that the Millennium is not merely something that will be brought on by Christ's return but something that we are actually to build through our own actions as a society. American thirst for social reform, Manifest Destiny, and even a commitment to spread democracy makes more sense when reading from this context. Fantastic book with great sources on a very underdiscussed phenomenon that even more modern politics is in a way couched in.