Between Babel and Beast: America and Empires in Biblical Perspective

by Peter J. Leithart

The United States is one of history's great Christian nations, but our unique history, success, and global impact have seduced us into believing we are something more—God's New Israel, the new order of the ages, the last best hope of mankind, a redeemer nation. Using the subtle categories that arise from biblical narrative, Between Babel and Beast analyzes how the heresy of Americanism inspired America's rise to hegemony while blinding American Christians to our failures and abuses of power. The book demonstrates that the church best serves the genuine good of the United States by training witnesses—martyr-citizens of God's Abrahamic empire.

Genres: Theology, Politics, History, Cultural, American History, Church History, Christian

214 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2012

About the author

Peter Leithart received an A.B. in English and History from Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and 1987. In 1998 he received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England. He has served in two pastorates: He was pastor of Reformed Heritage Presbyterian Church (now Trinity Presbyterian Church), Birmingham, Alabama from 1989 to 1995, and was founding pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, Moscow, Idaho, and served on the pastoral staff at Trinity from 2003-2013. From 1998 to 2013 he taught theology and literature at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho, where he continues to teach as an adjunct Senior Fellow. He now serves as President of Trinity House in Alabama, where is also resident Church Teacher at the local CREC church. He and his wife, Noel, have ten children and five grandchildren.

Reviews

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reveals the limitations of a 5 star system. Major parts of this book were beyond fantastic, and other parts seemed significantly worrisome and deficient to me. The book was certainly provocative and most helpful in some basic ways, but did not seem to anticipate the bad use that some will bring to it. It is as though Peter built a magnificent mansion, and then left all the doors unlocked in a neighborhood full of orcs. Is that cryptic enough?

No -- too cryptic. I need to update and expand this. My concern is not with Peter's intolerance for idolatry. That was one of the fantastic parts. My concern is that, in discussions like this, we must make a strong and robust distinction between idolatry simpliciter (bowing down to pictures) and idolatry of heart motives projected onto a lawful object for us to possess. With regard to the former, we have to purge all the icons and statues out of the house. With regard to something like greed, which Paul identifies as idolatry, repentance does not meaning rejecting any future use of money. If someone has idolized their mom, repentance doesn't mean shooting her. It means, since the problem was with regard to heart motive, a restructuring or a re-layering of those same heart motives. The honor and loyalty that should be rendered to your mother must still be rendered to her -- despite her status as a former idol.

I have been attacking the idol of Americanism for many years, and I was pleased to see Peter giving it many well-deserved whacks as well. But where does "America" go in our hearts after the Americanism goes down like Dagon? I am convinced that this needs to include an appropriate (restructured) loyalty to America. Otherwise I am afraid of a set-up -- Christians being offered a third way which turns out to be nothing of the kind. The New Testament teaches Christians to be the most loyal of subjects to Rome, and at the same time to recognize it as a beast. To just do the latter would make some of them prey to those who are just trying to recruit advocates for the Parthian Empire, but covered over with Jesus words.

By saying this I do not mean to indicate that I think Peter himself is guilty of anything like this. As I said earlier, he built a fantastic mansion. The bolts on the doors should have been a simple device to keep those with no functioning loyalty to America (at the appropriate levels) from using his arguments.

Hope that makes better sense.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars doesn't do it justice, the first two thirds of the book are some of the best material I've read in a decade. Dr. Leithart lays out a biblical framework for how to think about empire by giving a fascinating and nuanced history of empire in the Old and New testaments using Babel, protector, and Beast as three different biblical types of empire. His treatment of Revelation is excellent and gets my mouth watering for his detailed commentary coming out in a couple of years. In the second section he looks at America's history and makes the case that Americanism is the fourth great biblical religion and more than just a perversion of Christianity. The last section of the book, that chronicles American misdeeds, gets a little repetitive and I would have liked one more section on how a faithful Christian needs to respond to the false religion of Americanism in day to day life. He hints at some answers in the footnotes but it's starting to feel like Defending Constantine was the start of a trilogy with Between Babel and Beast giving you that ominous Empire Strikes Back feeling that there is not a lot that can be done against the near-beast American empire. I'm hoping his Return of the Jedi volume will deal with all the pitfalls and snares that cause American Christians to worship in Uncle Sam's temple and show how to remain faithful to Jesus when our nation is cavorting with beasts (in our employment, shopping choices, military service, voting, tax paying, etc.)

This is the book I've been waiting for ever since reading John Howard Yoder's, "The Politics of Jesus" in college. I love how Leithart is able to unveil many of the lies we tell ourselves as a nation: America is not an empire (factually untrue); America is a source for good in the world (sometimes but almost exclusively when it serves our own interests); America defends the little guy (not so much when you look at our record of killing innocents in war and through abortion). This book calls for some serious repentance and soul searching within the Church as we try to have a faithful witness against our national pet sins and remain true to the real King of America, King Jesus.

[Jake Litwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. The biblical framework we need more than ever today.

[Adam Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another phenomenal book by Peter Leithart. Divided into three parts, the first deals with the theology of empire and develops a proper picture of empire in Scripture. This section alone is worth the price of the book. Then Leithart turns to the issue of empire in American history, helpfully undercutting all of the myths that have grown up around the Founding Fathers which paint them as kind and cosmopolitan 21st century folk lost out of their time. He traces the growth of Americanism, the heretical combination of eschatological and Kingdom language used by American people from the beginning, except that the place of Christ is taken by America. America becomes the great savior, the eschatological thousand years of peace will be brought in as America's principles spread across the globe. I'm paraphrasing, but I'm paraphrasing John Adams. Yeah.

He shows that Americanism is a heady gloss that allows us to dismiss our ill-deeds around the world and pretend they either don't exist or that they were for everyone's good, rather than for our own national self-interest. He also demolishes the strange and esoteric claim made by libertarians like Ron Paul that America was non-interventionalist before World War II. This is such an absurd claim I don't know how it can in good conscience be maintained. Finally, he sums it all up by arguing that the American church has for at least two hundred years been interested more in making disciples of Americanism than in making disciples of the Kingdom. He advocates for a strong Church and a strong eucharistic theology, a church that has reclaimed its own political space to declare wars as "just" or "unjust," and to deliver its determination in such a way that those Christians under it will then refuse to go to war or participate in it, even soldiers, if it is unjust. A marvelous, one-of-a-kind book.

[Rick Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Leithart’s book on the relationship between the Church and American Empire is brilliant. The entire volume is essentially an extended footnote to his much larger work “Defending Constantine” that was published a couple years ago. This “extended footnote” has 50 pages of endnotes in itself, creating a sort of footnote-ception. If you like scholarly notes, then this book is for you!

Leithart is at his strongest when, working within his stipulated definition of “empire”, he explores the nuances of the relationship between empire and the people of God in the Bible. He rightly draws out the complexity of the Bible’s treatment of imperial themes and squashes both the modern anti-imperial and older pro-imperial readings of Scripture. He also does a great job of pulling the pious mask off America’s Thucydidean motivations for war. Fear, honor and interest drive American foreign policy, but the whole project is veiled with quasi-religious rhetoric that is often cheered on by oblivious Christians with flags in their church sanctuaries.

Leithart is at his weakest when interpreting the Middle Ages and the Reformation. I wish he had been as nuanced in his treatment of history as he was in his treatment of theology and Scripture, but it is after all only a 150 page book. This is an important addition to scholarship about Church and Empire that needs to be widely read by pastors and church leaders throughout America.

[Brittany Petruzzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leithart puts forth clear and convicting arguments on how the church has been preaching the heresy of Americanism--one foot in the idea of America as the new Israel, one foot in American self-interest--instead of preaching the imperium of Christ, rooted in Word and Sacrament. The answer, of course, being we must repent.

I love the subtle current throughout that the root of America's many problems (moral and otherwise) is the extremely low regard her churches have for the Eucharist. If you reject one sacrificial system, you're bound to find yourself touting another.

'Between Babel and Beast' didn't directly help me decide what to do this November, as I'd sort of hoped it would, but it certainly helped focus this paradigm of mine, which has needed focusing since shifting away from Americanism in the last five years or so.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the years I have moved in an Anabaptist direction in my thinking on ethics and the relationship of a Christian to the government. Like many, this was greatly influenced by the works of John Howard Yoder (though having a wife who worked at a Mennonite school and spending time with many people there certainly helped). After growing up in a church that often praised America alongside of Jesus during worship (or so it seemed), and living in an evangelical subculture that sees America as a Christian nation, it was refreshing to see a view that unequivocally upheld the supremacy of Christ in the face of any nation.

Yet I often felt that some of what I read and heard went a bit too far. Yes, all governments are flawed and fall short of God, but some are better then others. Peter Leithart's book offers the sort of balance that I have been looking for.

He begins with a section looking at empire from a Biblical perspective and argues that not all empires are bad. Some empires, especially those that protect God's people, can be good. This leads into his second and third sections, discussing America. Leithart is no David Barton, he shows the numerous flaws in America. Along with this, he calls the religion of lifting up America to the heights of heaven as "Americanism", a sin for which Barton and many others certainly are guilty of. I have often thought that the greatest sin of America Christians is nationalism, Leithart's word for this is Americanism.

What is most chilling is how Leithart shows that while America does not qualify as a beast, America supports the work of many beasts worldwide. Leithart defines a 'beast' as an empire that persecutes God's people. America allows freedom of religion and thus protects God's people. Yet America provides millions of dollars to countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and even Israel who are not safe-havens for Christians but instead where Christians face persecution (yes, even Israel).

This book is a must-read for evangelical Christians because Leithart says what needs to be said, and he is one of their own. While it may be easy to brush off Yoder or Shane Claiborne or Jim Wallis it should not be so easy to brush off Leithart. His conservative credentials are clear. For that, hopefully he can get the message out that while America is great, Americanism is a sin that puts a country in place of Christ.

[Steve Hemmeke · Rating 4 out of 5]

America is not the savior of the world. But we often assume it to be true, functionally.

Leithart describes Babel and Beast Biblically, showing the pros and cons of empires as a political reality. Part of his point is that empires aren't always bad. Then he fits America onto the grid. The result is fascinating.

The book is a heavily foot-noted footnote itself to "Defending Constantine." Some of his language is deliberately provocative (America is a "heretic nation") designed to get you think. I'm afraid it will turn off and turn away too many.

I found it a helpfully objective view of America, even if one-sidedly critical at times. He will give one paragraph to the merits of America in some aspect, and the rest of the chapter catalogs our violations of justice or Scripture on that point. The section on our foreign policy supporting democracy is excellent, and applies directly to Egypt right now.

As often with Leithart, there is much very insightful Biblically, and then a couple points where he is stretching to make a point that probably isn't there.

Most provocative perhaps is his point that the American experiment stumbled when it put the church in the backseat. The first amendment essentially dilutes the church's needed voice, to speak God's Word to a nation which claims to be "under God." This can sound like he wants the church over the state, which he doesn't. But it's helpful to get us thinking about the role of the church in public policy.

[Jared Mcnabb · Rating 4 out of 5]

How can I begin to rate this book? At once stimulating, convicting, challenging and puzzling. It contains a Biblical theology of empire, a historical look at American nationalism, and a study of current American Babelic and Beastly policies, all in 150 pages.

The biblical theology of empires was extremely enlightening, and his emerging categories of empires as refuge for the saints, Babels seeking to produce people of one lip and once tongue, or beasts who devour saints are very helpful categories in thinking about the nature of empires.

[Scott Kercheville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leaving behind all the talk and just looking at the biblical and historical evidence, what is the United States, really? In short, Leithart demonstrates that the US is somewhere between Babel and the 4th beast.

There are two key points driven home well throughout the book.

First, one storyline in scripture is of kingdom and/or empire. God has placed people over the earth, the empires/kingdoms that result vary in righteousness, wickedness, and in God’s uses for them (a much appreciated nuance), but during the days of Rome’s dominance, God has set up his kingdom/empire with a competing confession: Jesus is Lord, king, Son of God. Our hope and identity is in his kingdom/empire.

Second (and my favorite), in parts two and three Leithart drives home with numerous examples that the United States is both like every other kingdom/empire and unlike it. It is like all others in how it gained its power and has used its power in evil and unjust ways (demonstrated by numerous examples). It is unlike the others in that it continues to see a cherub instead of a beast when it looks in the mirror. Citizens of the US does indeed do loads of charity, which is commendable. But that does not erase the countless evils painted with the positive religious sounding language of “Americanism.”

On the downside, Leithart’s first section, though the general message is clear and right, is fraught with an overly and unnecessarily imaginative reading of Scripture. I was actually surprised some of his “exegesis” was allowed through by the editors. That said, when Leithart’s imaginative way of reading Scripture is right, it is certainly instructive.

Furthermore, a smaller gripe that is more about semantics than anything else, he continues to claim that a country is not bestial until it drinks the blood of saints. What he should say instead is that it is not like the 4th beast until it does this. Babylon, Persia, and Greece were indeed bestial, even if, as he claims, they at times actually protected God’s people (though, some of this is a little overly emphasized — forgetting about Greece certainly drank saintly blood, and the others weren’t guiltless).

I would have liked to have seen a further exploration of what our cities and countries should look like (maybe explore the goal of the glory of God in all things instead of the goal of liberty and happiness), though I recognize that’s not the goal of this book. In the end, the aim of this book is well represented by a paraphrase of Hauerwas: let the world know it’s the world and tell the church to be the church. We must cease and desist with our cherub-like perception of the US for the good of Jesus’ name.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a complicated book, and my 4-star rating is really somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5. It's supposed to be a book-length footnote to his Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom, which I have not finished but I still think (at the least) to be a necessary corrective to the dominating anti-Constantine scholarship surrounding the epochal Roman emperor.

Now, this book is divided into two parts, both helpful to different extents and both tackling different (though connected) subjects. The first is the relationship between Imperialism and Scripture. The second is essentially a polemical take on Americanism. I believe the latter is sorely needed, yet I am presently mixed as to his execution. There are three Goodreads reviews below (all pretty much at the top) which capture well where I'm at on this very proactive material. While I take my time distilling my thoughts on this book, check out the reviews by Douglas Wilson, Rick Davis, and Steve Hemmeke.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very strong in some points, weaker in others, especially the latter sections of the book. His basic thesis is that empires in Scripture are not monolithic: some are Babels, attempting to impose a global monolithic culture. Some are beasts, that drink the blood of the saints. So far so good, though I'm not sure I agree with all of his hermeneutical uses of typology. Then he argues that Americanism is a heretic religion, often unquestioned by American Christians, that blends eschatology and messianic/ecclesial identity in its national outlook. I think he makes a strong case. The weakness of the book seemed to be its lack of a robust alternative: if Christians should be "Americanists" in that sense (on which part I totally agree), then what political and ecclesial identities should we pursue? The last page with its call for "churches [to] instead encourage Christians to discover ways to turn American power toward justice, peace, and charity" (152) sounds both nice (in the weakest sense of that word), and naive.

[Andrew Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Leithart compares America to other empires in Scripture. He concludes that America is somewhere between Babel (demanding uniformity while assuming superiority) and Beast (drinking the blood of the saints).

In the first part of the book, Leithart examines the biblical view of empire. This excellent treatment of the nuance within Scripture is worth the price of the book but it is very theologically dense. Leithart concludes that the biblical view of empire is neither wholly positive nor wholly negative. The key evaluator of empires is how they treat the people of God.

In the second half of the book, Leithart reviews American history showing the development of a syncretistic blending of American ideology with Christian theology. I found this part of the book to be far less interesting and far too long.

I enjoyed reading this book. It’s refreshing to hear a thoroughly biblical evaluation of our country that doesn’t sound like either of the major news networks. However, one flaw in the book is the absence of a “what next” section. A chapter on how to live faithfully in America would have been very helpful.

5 Quotes:
“Remember who you are, and to whom you belong. Remember that you belong to Jesus first and last; remember that the church, not America, is the body of Christ and the political hope of the future; remember that no matter how much it may have served the city of God, America is in itself part of the city of man”

“Christianity did not aim in any direct way to revive antique political thought and life. On the contrary, the early Christians were, by contemporary standards, almost apolitical, and many of the leaders of the early church boasted of the church’s freedom from the polluting effects of involvement in politics.”

“In response to the rebellious imperial project at Babel, Yahweh initiates His own imperial project. Through Abraham and Israel, He begins to form a family of tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples. He establishes Zion as the land in the midst of the sea of nations, and begins to bring Zion’s light to the farthest islands. The full emergence of this empire is inherent in the gospel of the kingdom. It is the gospel of God’s imperium.”

“Babelic empires build a city and tower against God; Cyrian or cherubic empires endorse and support the building of God’s temple. Babelic empires impose a uniform culture and religious confession; Cyrian empires are multicultural and multi-confessional, and in particular leave space for the saints to worship God. Babelic empires gather; cherubic empires scatter and leave subjects relatively free to be themselves. Babelic empires arrest history; Cyrian empires remain open to disruptions and rearrangements in history. Babelic empires sow confusion; cherubic empires bring order.”

“Christians, however, ‘could entertain meaningful doubts about political obligation and membership,’ and they did not face 'a hard choice between membership in a political society and membership in no society at all.’ The Christian could choose ‘because already he belonged to a society that surpassed any existing one in the things that mattered most.’ For the first time, ‘the politically uncommitted [previously restricted to the odd Cynic or Stoic] had been gathered into a determinate society of their own.’ For the first time, political disengagement ‘went hand in hand with the rediscovery of community, albeit one pitched to a transcendent key.’”

[Spencer Cummins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite remarkable foray into the intersection of politics, theology, and America. Dr. Leithart packs a punch with his outlining of Old Testament history and faith that highlights the Babelic and thus idolatrous nature of much of Israel’s past. My particular interest was pricked as Dr. Leithart looked in the early beginnings of America and how we used our might as a way to identify over against others. Using Christianity as a veil, our country often employed holy rhetoric only to fall back on our default secular activities that accentuated America’s economy over others and looked to our military for an identity. Significantly, Leithart reckons with our country’s money being given to prop up nations who explicitly target Christians, putting them to death and detention.

[Christopher Goins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Leithart reveals a theology at work that really takes a trained theologian to see.

Keep a pencil and paper handy. It may take you writing some notes early on to understand the “Israel-In-Empire” theology.

He backs it up with the Hebrew and Greek texts.

This is definitely one book I want to reread and internalize and I think every pastor and layman should.

He explains the phenomenon of “Americanism” and its roots.

Rereading is mandatory.

[Joe Hyink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very excellent book, especially when sticking to the Biblical text. He covers a very neglected concept in Scripture but, through its discussion, shows it to be a very significant and relevant truth.

His discussion of the American empire is overly negative, I think. Even though most of what he emphasizes is undoubtedly true, his facts seem rather selective.

[Aurora Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Leithart's second (or third?) book arguing for a modified medieval Christendom

[Michael Philliber · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was worth the read. The only drawback was the foreign policy stuff toward the end. The rest was very helpful.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I upped my rating on this simply because I believe the subject this book tackles is just that important for Christians in America to grapple with. This is the second book(Against Christianity) by Leithhart that I've read. While I don't track with some of Leithhart's theological assumptions/assertions I have a whole lot of appreciation for him in his willingness to think critically. In this book he first presents a biblical theology of empire that is highly imaginative and helpful. He then goes on to look at America as empire and the fourth great monotheistic religion, Americanism. I most appreciated the section in which he points out (to cite but a couple of examples) that a nation that kills 900,000 Japanese civilians (yes,civilians) in one war and then turns around to kill 1,000,000 Korean civilians in another and now gives financial aid to the very nations most implicated in the persecution of the Church is certainly not this world's best hope. This is not a matter of partisan politics but an idolatry to which most Americans and Christians have been seduced. We hover uneasily, somewhere between Babel and beast.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scandalous. I hate this book because he's RIGHT!

I have a question about his conception of the kingdom of God, though. He says that the church is a kingdom within a kingdom, and even goes further to say that the real kingdom of God is the eucharist. That's all new stuff to me. What does he mean? I'd like him to spin out all that, and maybe he has in another book (one of the hundreds he writes every week) where he does. I thought the kingdom of God is much bigger than the church, and to have it conceptualized as particularly with regard to the eucharist is confusing to me.

I have to say that if I weren't familiar with Biblical Horizons' stuff, I would have been pretty lost in this book. He moves very quickly through concepts that most Christians will not understand, especially his development of the Biblical material in the first section of the book. That's vital stuff to his point later on, but if you have never read much James Jordan it seems like some foreign language. I loved it, of course.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of the book is an excellent presentation of the Biblical data concerning the relation of the people of God to the empire's of man, and the nature of the empires' as revealed by that inter-relationship. Of course the author's purpose for writing is to enlighten the people of God to what their attitude should be (biblically) toward the current empire. The second and third parts of the book are an examination of the nature of the current empire of America. A good book that should be read by all evangelicals in America.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phenomenal book providing a biblical theology of empire and critiquing the religious-political nature of Americanism that has been with our nation from the beginning. Wedgeworth provides a helpful critique of the book as well: http://calvinistinternational.com/201...

[Joseph Sunde · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half, wherein Leithart sets up his primary paradigm and defines the idol of Americanism, is truly quite marvelous. The second half, wherein Leithart analyzes American history through this perspective, misses the mark too frequently. When actually applying his critique, Leithart protests "Americanism" too much.

[Paul D. Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first section of this book is actually quite good. For the rest, if you want a better treatment of US diplomatic history from a critical perspective, try Walter McDougall's Promised Land, Crusader State or Christopher Layne's Peace of Illusions. I think McDougall and Layne are wrong, but at least they know what they're talking about.

[Jeremy]

Reviews at The Gospel Coalition and The Calvinist International.

[Leah Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

My world is rocked. READ THIS BOOK. It's slow in parts, but the good parts are oh. so. good.

[Brian Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging.

[Herminio · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book explaining the danger of confusing the role of America with the role of the Church. His chapter called "Heretic Nation" was challenging.

[Aaron Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shocking, insightful, thought-provoking. In short, classic Leithart.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really worthwhile.