American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon
by Stephen Prothero
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The Story of the Transformation of Jesus from Divinity to CelebrityThe United States (it is often pointed out) is one of the most religious countries on earth, and most Americans belong to one Christian church or another. But as Stephen Prothero argues in American Jesus, many of the most interesting appraisals of Jesus have emerged outside the churches: in music, film, and popular culture; and among Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and people of no religion at all.Popular revisions of Jesus are show more nothing new: Thomas Jefferson famously took scissors to the New Testament to produce a Jesus he could call his own. In Prothero's incisive chronicle, the emergence of a cult of Jesus--as folk hero and commercial icon--is America's most distinctive contribution to Western religion. Prothero describes how Jesus was enlisted by abolitionists and Klansmen, by Teddy Roosevelt and Marcus Garvey. He explains how, in our own time, the proliferation of Jesus' image on Broadway stages and bumper stickers, on the cover of Time and on the Internet, in a Holy Land theme park and on a hot-air balloon, expresses the strange mix of the secular and the sacred in contemporary America.American Jesus is a lively and often witty work of history. As an account of the ways Americans have cast the carpenter from Nazareth in their own image, it is also an examination, through the looking glass, of the American character. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Prothero's strength here is in his immense research. He cites hundreds of texts and quotes from many of them to support his fascinating thesis. The idea of how Jesus is viewed differently by different people is hardly a new idea. However, the depth he goes into to show the changes in people's perceptions of this most enigmatic figure. Jesus is feminine and masculine, he is a man and a woman, he is black and white and Jewish. He represents that which is good and so many people are trying to tap into that authority that he encapsulates. Prothero sets his book up very well and I found the chapters on protestant Christianity more interesting but all of it was insightful.
The struggle between Christ and culture has been fought for centuries. show more This book does an excellent job of showing that in America, culture is pulled Jesus in so many different directions that his authority is being deteriorated. The struggle over what Jesus really meant is ongoing and unfortunately means he meant everything.
Prothero's book teems with relevant citations and excellent research. I do wish he had refined his second half to reflect other areas. Mormonism is fascinating and its relationship to Jesus is very complex, however, where is Islam here? I understand he can't touch on everything but this just seems like such a blatant next step. I can understand that the relationship between Jesus and Islam in more than an American phenomenom. Still, I feel it deserves at least a mention. This is a very good book but it is just lacking a little in cohesiveness to take it beyond that. The first half was excellent and showed a very interesting movement within American religion. The chapter on Judaism left something to be desired but overall this book was still very good and insightful if perhaps lacking a cutting edge. show less
The struggle between Christ and culture has been fought for centuries. show more This book does an excellent job of showing that in America, culture is pulled Jesus in so many different directions that his authority is being deteriorated. The struggle over what Jesus really meant is ongoing and unfortunately means he meant everything.
Prothero's book teems with relevant citations and excellent research. I do wish he had refined his second half to reflect other areas. Mormonism is fascinating and its relationship to Jesus is very complex, however, where is Islam here? I understand he can't touch on everything but this just seems like such a blatant next step. I can understand that the relationship between Jesus and Islam in more than an American phenomenom. Still, I feel it deserves at least a mention. This is a very good book but it is just lacking a little in cohesiveness to take it beyond that. The first half was excellent and showed a very interesting movement within American religion. The chapter on Judaism left something to be desired but overall this book was still very good and insightful if perhaps lacking a cutting edge. show less
Your own, personal, Jesus, and how He got that way. Fascinating sociology.
I like the premise, but felt I was slogging through this one, hard going...
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American Jesus, by Stephen Prothero in One Book One Thread (March 2022)
Author Information
20+ Works 3,118 Members
Stephen Prothero is the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One and a professor of religion at Boston University. His work has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, NPR, and other top national media outlets. He writes and reviews show more for the New York Times, The Wall Street journal, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, USA Today. Los Angeles Times, Salon, Slate, and other publications. show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2003
- People/Characters
- Thomas Jefferson
- Important events
- American Revolution (1775-1783); Adoption of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (1791)
- Dedication
- For S. Richard and Helen Anderson Prothero
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 577
- Popularity
- 50,812
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 3
