Redeemer Nation: The Idea of America's Millennial Role

by Ernest Lee Tuveson

Ernest Tuveson here shows that the idea of the redemptive mission which has motivated so much of the United States foreign policy is as old as the Republic itself. He traces the development of this element of the American heritage from its beginning as a literal interpretation of biblical prophecies. Pointing to the application of the millenarian ideal to successive stages of American history, notably apocalyptic events like the Civil War, Tuveson illustrates its pervasive cultural influences with examples from the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Timothy Dwight, and Julia Ward Howe, among others.

Genres: History, Religion, Politics

252 pages, Paperback

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.