One Nation Under God?: An Evangelical Critique of Christian America

Is America a Christian nation? This question has loomed large in American culture since the Puritans arrived on American shores in the early seventeenth century. More recently the Christian America thesis has been advocated by many evangelical leaders across the denominational spectrum. This book contributes to the conversation by critiquing from an evangelical perspective the idea that America is a Christian nation as articulated by specific writers over the past three decades. Wilsey asserts that the United States was not conceived as a Christian nation but as a nation with religious liberty. Herein lies the genius of the Founders and the uniqueness of America. For generations American evangelicals have confused biblical and theological conservatism with a rightist political stance. When combined-as it generally is-with a chauvinistic Americanism (the founding documents of the Republic being viewed as the rough equivalent of Holy Scripture) the result has been a gross weakening of the prophetic perspective of historic Christianity. John Wilseys book is the badly needed corrective. It demonstrates that biblical truth must not be confused with the American story and that Gods common grace has used even the pagan influences of the major Founding Fathers to achieve His ends. -John Warwick Montgomery Professor Emeritus of Law and Humanities University of Bedfordshire England Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Christian Thought Patrick Henry College Virginia U.S.A. It takes some courage to tackle the Christian America thesis. But it also takes grace to offer a truly Christian critique. John Wilsey possesses both qualities. He offers an astute theological and historical analysis of Americas past debunking the deeply entrenched notion of American exceptionalism. Even better Professor Wilsey offers a clear-headed call to seek first the kingdom of God in the present. -Stephen J. Nichols Research Professor of Christianity & Culture Lancaster Bible College and author of Jesus Made in America There are always some who have wanted to make America a Christian nation from its inception till the present. Others on the opposite extreme wish to deny the obvious biblical influences on our social order. John Wilsey gets it right. Though America may never have been a Christian republic as few other countries in history it has felt the impact of the biblical witness. One Nation Under God? sets the record straight. Do not miss this book. -Paige Patterson Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary John D. Wilsey earned his PhD from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest NC. He has served in pastoral and Christian school ministries in North Carolina and Virginia for nearly twenty years. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of History and Christian Apologetics in the J. Dalton Havard School of Theological Studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Houston TX. He is married to his wife Mandy and they have two daughters.