American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon

by Stephen Prothero

Jesus the Black Messiah; Jesus the Jew; Jesus the Hindu sage; Jesus the Haight-Asbury 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 of Jesus, Stephen Prothero contends, are a kind of looking class into the national character. Even as most Christian believers cleave to a traditional faith, other people give Jesus a leading role as folk hero, pitchman, and countercultural icon. And so it has been since the nation's founding--from Thomas Jefferson, who took scissors to his New Testament to sort out true from false Jesus material; to the Jews, Buddhists and Muslims who fit Jesus into their own traditions; to the people who adapt Jesus for stage and screen and the Holy Land theme park. American Jesus is "a lively, illuminating and accessible survey that takes us into unexpected corners of our shared religious heritage" (Dan Cryer, Newsday ).

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Christianity, Theology, Politics, Sociology

364 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

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 Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. A regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, he has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Salon.com, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

Prothero has argued for mandatory public school Bible literacy courses (along the lines of the Bible Literacy Project's The Bible and Its Influence), along with mandatory courses on world religions. Prothero defines himself as a "confused Christian".

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks at the different Jesuses that Americans 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 Liberation believer who uses Jesus as a symbol of your cause, then your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a black radical who claims that Jesus was black and white men are devils, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are Jewish and respect Jesus as a teacher, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a Hindu and respect Jesus as a teacher, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If you are a Buddhist and respect Jesus as a teacher, your Jesus is a lot like you.
If your Jesus is not a lot like you, you are a rare person and I’d like to know you better.

[Danine · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 version. Take out all the mythological hokey pokey crap and leave "the words and teachings" of Jesus and Jefferson had two very short versions of the bible. Cutting up the bible makes Jesus cry but if you are the president of the United States it's ok.

Prothero then explains how evangelicalism replaced Calvinism. The key to why people preferred the evangelical flavor is the idea that Jesus was your friend. "What a friend we have in Jesus". Jesus is there helping you milk cows. Jesus is there during trouble times. The idea that you can have a relationship with Jesus defies the ideals of Calvinism.

Feminism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism and Eastern Religion are all discussed in concern with how Jesus is used as an Icon. This was a pleasure to read. I learned quite a bit. To learn more about Jesus I highly recommend visiting www.jesusoftheweek.com. Go Jesus!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 of the "Jesi" that Stephen Prothero outlines in this book. In the process, he does something just as important -- he gives readers a magisterial trip through the history of religion in the United States, touching on almost every religious movement from the Puritans through the Great Awakening and the champions of liberal Protestantism to Jesus Christ Superstar and the Elder Brother of the Mormons.

Prothero makes a case that Jesus has both transcended and been shaped by human culture, and is the chief vessel though which many Americans have navigated the tension between spiritual purity and cultural relevance.

A very well written, very broad book, "American Jesus" not only entertained me, but taught me about many religious movements and figures I had never heard of, despite thinking of myself as more religiously literate than much of the population.

Very impressive.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Would have rounded up if I'd read this pre-Trump. But in this post-Trump world, it feels to me like everything published before 2015 is a million years behind.

A good history of American religious persuasion. A bit weedy, almost irritatingly well-researched/referenced, but the aesthetic in me just gets annoyed when every sentence is broken up by italics, parentheticals, etc.

One note: I'm not sure the author treated women as fairly as he could have in this book. The chapter devoted to the "feminine" Jesus spends much time conflating Victorian values with womanhood, and never quite unites the feminist and womanist interpretations of Jesus as a strong female with the Actual Real Life Fact of strong women in the world. As though seeing the everywoman as Susie Homemaker, the author referred to all "feminizing" of Jesus as soft, delicate, large-hipped, etc. Yo dawg, how about addressing how Rosie the Riveter invited Jesus into the mechanism of the military industrial complex? Just an idea.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 historically been in the home, not in public. A thoughtful and informative view of a much-discussed topic.

[Daniel Cornwall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched book on the concept of Jesus in American culture. Starts off with the surprising but documented claim that Colonial America was an unchurched place outside of New England. The various culture reinventions of Jesus were for the purpose of getting more people to believe in Him. This seemed to occur, but at the cost of more and more theology and doctrine.

The first part of the book, called resurrections, focuses on how US Christians reinvented and reinterpreted Jesus within the context of Christianity. Part two, reincarnations, focuses on how American Mormons, some black churches, Jews and Hindus gave the United States Jesus figures entirely divorced from Christianity.

Stephen Prothero is careful not to endorse any particular version of Jesus. He claims throughout the book that he only intends to lay out the various claims made for Jesus by Americans throughout our nation's history and I think he does a good job of staying even handed.

I think Prothero's book really explains how the United States can be both a nation where Jesus is an unavoidable national object of veneration and where our national elites have little discernible conduct that can be traced back to the Christ of the Bible. The book also uses historical context to explain why the loudest Christians in our country are far more likely to quote and venerate the Ten Commandments then the Sermon on the Mount.

But enough editorializing, I guess. In addition to a generous bibliography, American Jesus features a six page timeline of Jesus related events in America, over two pages of notes and an index. This book seems like it would be useful for cultural scholars while still being interesting for a general audience.

[Sarah Finch · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 found the section of the book dealing with American Jewry grappling with whether Jesus was a rabbi who can inspire modern Jews or a false Messiah to be perhaps the most thought-provoking, though there is not a dull chapter in the book. Points to Prothero for also touching on feminist and womanist scholarship in his exploration of the American Jesus.

[Kip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given this book by my brother. I did not read all of it, but concentrated on the chapter dealing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's view of Jesus Christ.

I found the book a serious, scholarly work. I found his insights on the unique view of Christ by the church to be interesting, but incomplete.

I thought the progression in the churches emphasis on the Savior was enlightening. But I thought it made too much of that progression, or made the progression a bit too pronounced, and glossed over the reasons for it. The image that comes to mind is a map that smooths out the actual course to such an extent that it isn't really an accurate depiction of the journey.

For example on the positive side, he makes it out that Talmage is the one that came up with the fact that Jesus and Jehovah are the same beings.

"The most important contribution of [Talmage's] book [Jesus the Christ], however, was it bold thesis that 'Jesus Christ is Jehovah.'… This understanding of Jesus, which had been incubating among Mormons since the 1870s, became official Mormon theology in 1916, when LDS authorities adopted it in a formal statement, drafted by Talmage, on “The Father and the Son.” (pp. 190 – 191)"

This was interesting, and as I looked at Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Discourses of Brigham Young, I could see very few things said about Jehovah, none identifying him as the Savior. So, it could be very true that this doctrine was not well understood publicly before Talmage. Yet this quote makes it sound as if Talmage made up or created the doctrine. I looked at the Doctrine and Covenants, considered scripture by the church, and was surprised to read this in light of this idea as Joseph Smith recounted his vision of the Jesus Christ in 1836:

"His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:

"I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father. (D&C 110:3 - 4)"

“I am he who was slain.” That clearly is Christ speaking. It is hard to imagine it being anyone else. So rather than Talmage having created the doctrine, it was in the scriptures the whole time. Joseph must have understood it, but perhaps just not elaborated on it.

Other instances of being wide of facts include when Prothero quotes from “Ancient America Speaks” which talks about the traditions of a “Great White God” named Quetzaquatal. He says that the church taught that Christ was a Great White God. Well, that is at best a very indirect way of teaching the doctrine if that is what it does. I don’t know of anyone that would look to that 1960 film as a source to find the church’s teachings about what Christ’s role is.

The most blatant error that amazed me was when he state the following, after acknowledging pages before that McConkie wrote a “massive” book on the Savior, then recounting his talk at BYU in 1982 about care in developing a personal relationship the Savior.

"McConkie, who has been described as a Mormon fundamentalist, was committed to preserving the LDS Church as the key channel of grace, the key avenue for exaltation to godhood. That meant rejecting the solus Jesus approach that for decades had characterized much of American Christianity…. (p 192)"

McConkie was supposedly chastised (no source citations for this) and then "…Even McConkie seemed chastened, gravitating toward more christocentric language as his health failed." (p. 192)

I find this incredible as I was reading the first book in his “Mortal Messiah” series at the same time I read this book. Just the opening chapter of the book is so much more laudatory of the Savior than anything in Talmage's "Jesus the Christ". And it wasn’t written after the speech in 1982 in response to being chastised: it was published three years before in 1979.

These comments on McConkie are in the middle of explaining an increase in the focus on the Savior in the 70’s and 80’s. Certainly Elder McConkie was part of that process as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. But instead of focusing on his role in that (which might have been enormous), he has somehow picked out this incident, depicting it as a big mistake on McConkie’s part. He has chosen to rely upon undocumented sources, and cite a minor publication of almost no importance (the Seventh Street Press in Provo) to make his point. He didn’t even list McConkie’s Messiah series in the bibliography, an error which perhaps exposes a pronounced bias.

There are other minor points which stretch the truth I think:
• He states that The Book of Mormon is about wars and rumors of wars, ignores the number of references to Christ completely.
• Section 20 was published in “modified form”. It was modified 2 months after the organization of the church, as explained in a BYU studies about it near the same time as the publication of the book. (p 175)
• I have never thought Joseph Smith’s intentions were to restore the Ancient American church, but perhaps that is an interesting take on it; (p. 176)
• As if the Book of Mormon teachings about Christ really can be compared with those fanciful stories that have been made up about the Savior’s childhood years.

In summary, I felt the book ignores the point that what made the church distinctive in the 19th century Christian America was Joseph Smith. The lack of public emphasis on the Savior was because his importance and role was assumed in society in general. The same balancing of this fact has occurred again at the end of the 20th century, partially at the instigation of McConkie.

So in the end, some interesting perspective on Talmage's role in connecting the Savior to Jehovah in a public way, and contrast with other denomination beliefs in the Savior, but overall I did not find it a well considered treatment of the Church's teachings about Jesus Christ.

[hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

i read this for class.. don’t ask me a thing about this book because i don’t remember anything aside from the fact that i was bored for most of it. probably reader error though to be totally honest, not my vibe of book at all

[Taylor]

dnf at 43%…had to read first four chapters for a class and i enjoyed it some!!

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting look at how America has taken Jesus Christ and remade him in any number of different ways to express varied and changing points of view. A good opportunity for a person of faith to consider how we have altered Christ into our own image.

[notabattlechick · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 counterculture of the 1970s). Then, the second half looks at how American religious "outsiders" - Mormons, blacks, Jews, and Hindus and Buddhists - have understood the role and person of Jesus - what Prothero deems "Reincarnations" - as they have navigated the waters of the American religious landscape. Recognizing, at once, that "Jesus" is both fundamentally Christian, but also "American" in a sense, thus requiring American religious minorities to come to terms with Jesus.

Well-written, engaging study about cultural and historical representations of Jesus. A solid argument that our religious values, practices, beliefs, tell as much about us and our historical moment as any supernatural truth.

[marcus miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the preacher said at the end of his sermon, "you really need to find Jesus." I wondered which Jesus he had in mind. The good teacher Jesus of Thomas Jefferson, the Jesus of the Puritans, though according to Prothero the Puritans emphasized God the Father more than God the son, the feminine, soft Jesus of American evangelicalism 0r what some would describe as "Jesus is my boyfriend," at least when it comes to some of the songs, or the manly Jesus encouraged by the YMCA movement? I knew it wasn't the Mormon Jehovah Jesus, or the good rabbi Jesus of Jewish groups or the avatar Christ of the Hindus or the enlightened Jesus of Buddhists.

Prothero provides an excellent review of how Americans have created images of Jesus to suit our needs as Americans. The timeline at the end of the book is a helpful resource. Given that the book was published in 2003 it might be time for an update. Now we have competing visions of a MAGA Jesus wearing a red hat, cutting taxes for the wealthy to promote economic growth and guarding the border with his AR15. On the other side is the "woke" Jesus who calls all including the immigrants, LGBTQ folks, and is probably a vegan who rides a bicycle. Part of me wonders if a growing part of American society prefers to not think much about Jesus, because in reality, Jesus isn't all that entertaining and he askes us to do hard things.

I found the book thought provoking and enjoyable.

On a side note, as someone who grew up Mennonite, Prothero makes three brief references to Mennonites. In the first instance, Mennonites added to the religious diversity of the American colonies and in the second, he notes most Americans rejected the Jesus who spoke of peace during the American revolution, so the Mennonites Quakers and other peace churches didn't fare well. Last, Prothero refers to Vincent Harding, an African-American Mennonite leader who advocated for a "Black Power" Jesus. This last one was not well accepted by most Mennonites who preferred a suffering servant Jesus who stayed quiet, and was ready to help clean up after a disaster.

[Reid Mccormick · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
This is the first clause of the first amendment of the United States Constitution. It is probably one of the most important lines (and most debated) in all of American freedoms. It is what makes the United States unique.

Christianity has a very unique history in the United States because there is no central authority. There is no pope to monitor the flock. Every American has the right to view Jesus in his or her own way and thus worship and share this Jesus with whomever they want. Our third president and founding father, Thomas Jefferson, was one of the first to challenge the accepted status quo of Jesus in America. His Jesus was different from his citizens. He did not force his subjects to accept his Jesus. He did not mistreat or torture his dissenters. They were free to express their opinions, as so was he.

American Jesus walks through the different views of Jesus throughout the nation’s history. Jesus is a national icon because he is up for interpretation. If you don’t like someone’s view of Jesus, you can change it to make it yours. Your view of Jesus is up to you. This book presents the different popular views of Jesus over the years and how he has developed over the decades.

The first couple of chapters were interesting, but overall, this book was too long and not super interesting. At the end of the book, I was hoping to read more about the modern Jesus during the moral majority and Reagan years. Though this book was well-researched as better than others, it still does not reach the top of my suggestion list.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had wanted to read this one for a while, ever since a class on American religious history six or seven years ago. It struck me as interesting, because Prothero points out something that I sort of knew but never really thought much about - the fact that the early Puritan Calvinist types didn't really focus on Jesus all that much. In early New England, it was really about God the father. Very old testament. As Prothero puts it, they were "a God-fearing rather than a Jesus-loving people." Then, sometime during the turn of the 19th century - the "between the Great Awakenings rise of evangelicalism" era - the focus shifted. Preaching became more about stories. People stopped looking for vague signs that they might be among the elect, and started thinking about a personal relationship with Jesus, and being spoken to by Jesus, and what a friend they had in Jesus. In about a hundred years, we went from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to Jesus loves me this I know.
And then the most interesting part of the book I think is the second half, when Prothero discusses how lots of different groups - Mormons, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Hippies - sort of negotiated the American mainstream through prioritizing the person of Jesus and their ideas about who Jesus "really" was. There's some great images of different versions of Jesus too, though I wish he had included even more. I kept having to google ones that he didn't include on the image pages. Fascinating stuff.

[Simon O'Mahony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Steven Prothero promises to show us what Americans of all stripes think of Jesus. However, what Prothero actually presents us with is a juvenile survey of various Christian denominations and social groups that falls short of even Wikipedia standards.

I cannot speak with authority as to how fairly he represents other groups, but regarding the historic Confessional Reformed tradition he is way off the mark. For example, he makes the wild and unsubstantiated claim that the Reformer John Calvin had a problem with the humanity of Jesus.

Further he claims that "in Puritan theology, Christ had a limited role to play; Jesus had none." Anyone who has spent any time at all reading the Puritans knows that this statement is laughable. Prothero demonstrates that he has not done any work in the primary sources, but instead relies solely on tired cultural stereotypes of Calvinism and Puritanism. And in my opinion, if he is unreliable in representing my interpretation of Jesus, then I do not trust him to fairly represent the other views he claims to represent in his book.

[Diane Jeske · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting account of the way in which Jesus has become central in American religion and, thus, in American culture. Prothero shows how American Christianity became centered on Jesus rather than on the other members of the Trinity and how theology took a back seat to the concept of a personal relationship to Jesus. From Jefferson’s attempt to separate Jesus from anything supernatural to counter cultural appropriations in the 60s, from Victorian presentations of a more feminine Jesus to the backlash that tried to make him more manly, Prothero traces how American images of Jesus have changed over two hundred years. He then turns to examining how various subcultures - Mormon, Black, Jewish, and Asian - have incorporated Jesus into their own traditions. Provides important insights into the American obsession with Jesus. (4.5 rounded down: it does get a little dry in the details but more than worth it.)

[T.J. Beitelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

How weird what we Americans have done to the Nazarene, and, I think, how wonderful. Terrible. And ingenious. Prothero asks us to reconsider our love affair with Jesus of Nazareth. Asks us to chart the things we’ve made him: warlike redeemer, lithe and pretty androgyne, Flower-Power hippie, rebel with a cause. Once, in my star-crossed bachelorhood, a friend quoted a pithy bit of self-help to try to help me salve the essential wound: "Be the person you want to find." This has worked out to be good advice. I think it goes for saviors too. Be the Jesus you want to find.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave it five stars because it is the most comprehensive look at the "evolution" of the way Americans have embraced Jesus, from Thomas Jefferson's Bible to modern times. It addresses not only the topic theologically, but also the "images" depicting Jesus and the music that has evolved over time celebrating his life. In addition, the book shows how even the Buddhists and Hindus have embraced Jesus in addition to the "Jew for Jesus" movement. I found it fascinating.

[Reid Belew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The marriage of Jesus with America and her politics is a logical twist that I cannot seem to shake from my mind. Both groups lose, one of them (Christians) must bastardize their message to the point of antithetical, hypocritical beliefs, and the other (American politics at large) must align themselves with a specific group, partaking in a not-so-subtle exclusion of others.

Fresh off a recommendation from a friend, I read this book to help me understand how Jesus became America's mascot. It explains it pretty well, formatted as the different "versions" of Christ that have been popular since the start of the U.S. Prothero's research is meticulous, and I found almost no instances of editorializing. This book leaves very little room for speculation. It's all first hard sources quoted and referenced. At times, it was a bit of a slog to read, but very few books this dense and well-researched don't suffer from that.

Big recommend.

[Yves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. A worthy study-book from an Academic to comprehend one of the many facets of American culture, that of her evolving views of and relationship with Jesus, from Christians and non-Christians alike. Uniquely American. And, as of all things American, another idiosyncrasy that does not leave one indifferent. Recommended.
3/5.
.

[Rachelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author looks at the cultural Jesus in the US as well as the move from God worship to Jesus worship, creating a decidedly American deity along the way. This book is both educational and entertaining; I especially enjoyed the chapter about Jesus freaks, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and rock music.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was more academic than I expected. That’s why it took so long to get through. I learned a lot about the various ways Jesus has been adapted and molded over the years. Interesting to learn how other faiths have seen his life and accepted him in certain ways that fit their culture. The American story of faith is much more diverse than you think, based on current narratives.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on how Jesus became such a cultural icon in the U.S. Even among Christians in other parts of the world he does not have the same prominence. This is a book to take in small bites between other more interesting books

[Skyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little dry but informative

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an assignment for school. Very comprehensive, quite enjoyable.

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging, well-researched,and informative read. Thoroughly enjoyed it, even at points where Prothero seems to be beating a dead horse.

[Anne Georgelos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was for class but fascinating!!! But also needs an update cause lots has happened since 2003…

[Greg Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 of Jesus in America, one is hard pressed to disagree.

Prothero begins by making clear that <u>American Jesus</u> focuses on neither "the 'living Christ' of faith nor the 'historical Jesus' of scholarship"(9). Instead, Prothero seeks to trace the develpment of the "cultural Jesus"(9) who hs been divorced from the Biblical text, from the foundational creeds of traditional Christianity, and even from Christianity itself.

Organized into two halves, <u>American Jesus</u> focuses initially on the "rebirths" of Jesus within American Christianity, beginning with Thomas Jefferson, who took a razor blade to his Bible in order to eliminate everything extraneous to the historical person of Christ. Jefferson's version of Jesus as an enlightened sage serves as a precursor to subsequent attempts to identify the historical Jesus.

After Jefferson, American Christians repackaged Jesus in a number of ways. Reacting against the dominant strains of Calvinism, 19th-century Christians transformed Jesus into a personal friend desiring a personal relationship. While such language is commonly used to describe Jesus today, Prothero points out that Calvinist theologians tended to depict Jesus as less of a person and more of a function bringing together a holy God and a sinful humanity. In the 20th century, this personal, sentimentalized depiction of Jesus was replaced with a manly, masculine Jesus in an attempt to increase his relevance outside the private, domestic sphere. The contemporary Promise Keepers movement, for instance, is very much indebted to the "muscular Christianity" of the early 1900s.

In the second half of the book, Prothero examines the way in which religious traditions other than Christianity have appropriated and "reincarnated" Jesus. Exploring shifting depictions of Jesus generated within the Mormon, African-American, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu communities, Prothero illustrates the extent to which the cultural and religious diversity of the United States is "making Jesus into a likeness of America"(290).

A recognition of an iconic, cultural Jesus has immense implications, particularly for the contemporary Christian church in America. The various and shifting depictions of Jesus within our culture raise questions about both contemporary theology and the church's interaction with the larger culture. How is today's understanding of Jesus--both within church and outside of it--shaped by our culture? How does the variety of depictions impact the manner in which the church interacts with culture (e.g., evangelism, etc.)? As Prothero concludes: "It is highly unlikely that Americans will ever come to any consensus about who Jesus really is, but they have agreed for some time that Jesus really matters"(300).

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prothero chronicles the multiple incarnations of Jesus Christ as he appears in American culture--both in various Christian denominations and non-Christian circles. He argues that religious freedom has allowed for multiple voices to make Jesus Christ "all things to all people" in true American democratic fashion. Beginning with Thomas Jefferson, he shows how Jesus has been interpreted and presented as an "enlightened sage," a "sweet savior," a "manly redeemer," and a "superstar" in response to cultural needs and swings in American history--early 1800s Enlightenment thrust, 1840s domesticity, 1890s imperial masculinity, and the counter-cultural 1960s and 70s respectively.

Prothero then goes on to investigate how the Mormons have portrayed Jesus as their Elder Brother and eventually re-emphasized their primary focus on Christology in the late 20th century. [My biggest critique here would be that all previously discussed depictions of Jesus occur in the Mormon faith among its diverse membership suggesting an oversimplification of the book's overall structure. Our pluralistic society is pluralistic within distinct religious denominations as well as among them.] He also devotes chapters to how African American communities have portrayed Moses and Jesus as black Africans with historical/geographical arguments, how American Jewish communities have emphasized the Jewishness of Jesus the Rabbi, and how the Oriental Christ has been depicted as an enlightened yogi or Buddhist-to-be by American Hindu, Buddhist, and Asian Christians again with historical, geographical, and mystical justification.

Most shocking are his statistics that reveal that America has become more Christian (according to Church affiliation and attendance) over time to contradict the general assumption that America has become more secular (and less Christian) in direct relation with increased modernization. Before the Revolutionary War, only 1 in 5 people were affiliated with a church in the North and only 1 in 8 were in the South (10). Today, roughly 3 out of 5 Americans are affiliated with a Church (11). Thus, according to his presented statistics, there is no direct correlation between modernization and Christianity as the points in between these two periods fluctuate inconsistently. Furthermore, God the Father was emphasized over Jesus Christ in most American churches until the Second Great Awakening and subsequent movements emphasized grace and mercy over damnation and justice.

This is not a work that promotes faith or diminishes it, but rather it reveals how portrayals of Jesus in America have fluctuated and diversified from the nation's founding to the present. It is a cultural study that has some real value in demonstrating how Christianity and religion in the American democracy have played out and continue to play out.