Customer Reviews

AN American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God

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This excellent book provides a needed antidote to the sometimes toxic elements of the religous right and other fundamentalist Christians who focus primarily on salvation in the next world rather than this one. The author, who became disenchanted with Christianity following the suicide of his Baptist preacher father (his grandfather was a preacher as well), provides a fascinating view into what he refers to as an "American Gospel". Using Thomas Jefferson's "modification" of the Bible, the writings of Walt Whitman (particularly his poem "Song of Myself" published in "Leaves of Grass"), and the newly-discovered (in 1945) Gospel of Thomas to illustrate his points, author Eric Reece provides a rationale for a more nuanced, complex view of Christianity. I first read this author in an essay that summarized some of this material in Harpers magazine, and was very much looking forward to this book, which I found to be interesting, well-written, and thoughtful. I recommend it highly.

Erik Reece has a history of religion in his family; from his grandfather to father, living in Virginia, raised as a Baptist. Because of his upbringing, his view of religion was one of punishment, sin, and eternal damnation for those who don't repent. The book serves as a catalyst for a different view of his faith. Part memoir, part reflection on religion in America, part history, "An American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God" is a must read for Christians seeking new.

Reece starts his book with the tragic suicide of his father, who ended his life due to a battle with bipolar disorder. The event is recounted is brief, but echoes through his life and through the pages of the book. Reece's main thesis presented is a desire to find the true essence of Christianity; he claims that religion has co-opted Jesus' story and transformed it into something that even he wouldn't recognize. Quoting Tolstoy, Whitman, and others, he journeys through an ulterior story of religion in America, one not often taught or mentioned.

As an antidote to the fierce Puritanism that pervaded our early history, he writes about William Byrd's embracing of nature in America as a religious experience, as well as her native people whom he learned from and didn't fear. He writes beautiful about Whitman, and how he came to discover the poet (and specifically "Song of Myself" while summering at a Buddhist monastery. Another standout chapter is his romp through the much examined Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson feud and their competing visions for America, with an intriguing focus on "Jefferson's Bible", a tome that emphasizes Jesus' philosophy and morals over his miracles. Each chapter dwells and explains his ideas without directly attacking "the other side". His writing is light, personal, insightful and reflective; I simply fell in love with the book by page 20.

I highly recommend this little book. Reece's background may have been tragic, but should he continue to write, and reflect like this, his future seems very bright, indeed.

Erik Reece in "An American Gospel: On Family, History and the Kingdom of God," writes a highly personal view of environment, family and spirit.

This is a gentle and easy read. It reads like a diary, notions and thoughts written at odd momements that help one make sense of one's life and the direction it has taken so far or seems to be going in.

"An American Gospel" is a relaxing read. I'm not sure what I was looking for but I may have been looking for more than it could deliver.

The author's grandfather was a fundamentalist Baptist preacher and a pillar of his rural Virginia community - and his life was all about denying himself pleasures in preparation for the next life. His father was also a Baptist minister - but he took his own life and Erik spent much of his childhood with his grandparents. His personal odyssey in spiritual contemplation began with his own studies that led to a journey to identify an "American gospel" in the literary world and within himself. Spirituality collection will find it a moving blend of religious observation and introspection.

The author elegantly and simply links together the spiritual and practical, busting the myth that God and Jesus were/are fine with humans living selfishly as long as they accept/claim church cred and support the church machine. Instead, I felt the author challenged me to think how each of us lives and treats others daily, how we're using God-given natural resources, and overall, whether giving back goes beyond gathering material goods and carnal pleasures for the benefit of one's personal family and social circle. Comfort has multiple definitions. Read it and see what you think.

I, too, heard Erik Reece discussing his book on NPR and bought a copy the same day. I was startled to find that many of the works he referenced (The Jefferson Bible; The Gospel of Thomas; works by Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman) were already in my library. It seems we were both trying to discover (or forge) a kind of American spiritual identity that was less about theology and the hereafter and more grounded in nature and the here and now. I loved the book and felt I'd encountered a kindred spirit.

As a country, I believe we need to move away from divisive fundamentalist religions to a more inclusive mindset that cherishes what we have right now, and I think this book points us in a good direction. Highly recommended.

Erik Reece's Devil is the dark Fundamentalist sin and guilt mania that drove his father to suicide. Reece's argument draws on the enlightening tradition the implies the divinity of each person, thereby repudiating the Puritan tradition that claims both biblical inerrancy and the fall from grace. His heroes are Thomas Jefferson, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, William James, and many other compatible figures in our poetic and intellectual tradition.

An very insightful book on history, family, and religion. I very highly recommend it.

American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God (New York: Riverside Books, 2009) is a well-written, but very sad story of an "anti-conversion." It is the personal account of Erik Reece's quest to find an explanation for the existence of evil and, failing to do so, his escape from reality into a religion of his own creation, which he calls the "American Gospel."

When Erik Reece turned thirty-three, his life began to unravel. His father, who suffered from bipolar disorder, committed suicide at thirty-three. Jesus Christ was crucified when he was thirty-three. Since Erik's father was a Southern Baptist preacher, as was his father before him, Erik felt there was a relationship between his father's tragic death and his father's Christian faith. If Christianity was what it claimed to be, Reece reasoned, then why was it not sufficient to provide his father with a reason to live? Was it possible that it was the teachings of the Christian "religion" as found in the institutional churches that drove his father to take his own life? Was the Christian faith, as Erik Reece knew it, a false gospel? And if it was, then where might he find a religious faith or spiritual experience that could provide for him what Christianity could not provide for his father -- that is, a reason to live?

Erik Reece found his answers in the American Gospel. It is a patchwork religious philosophy made up of elements Reece gleaned from Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, William James, John Dewey, more than just a little Zen Buddhism for flavor, and the so-called Gospel of Thomas. The last is a Gnostic document employed by Reece to judge the authenticity of the four Gospels in the New Testament.

The American Gospel as constructed by Reece bears no meaningful resemblance to historic Christianity. It has much in common with Enlightenment Deism. There is, so Reece seems to imply, a creator of some sort who created what matter exists, but that is all. He, she, or it is not currently involved in that creation. There was no Fall, hence no original sin and no need for a savior, or as Reece bluntly states it: "There never was a Fall, and therefore, we do not need to be saved by a sacrificial martyr" [emphasis in the original]. The Savior who is the centerpiece of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, was only "a Mediterranean street preacher named Yeshua, or Jesus . . ." The American Gospel calls upon its followers to accept the world as it is, to seek to be at peace with it and with oneself, neither of which is fallen. Here we can detect a bit of Zen Buddhism.

By the time we have finished reading this admittedly well-written personal testimony of Erik Reece's pilgrimage away from Christian faith, which this reviewer would argue he never possessed, to a "new" religion that is actually a synthesis of age-old heresies, I feel sad for Reece. His father's death was tragic, but it was caused by a medical condition that is treatable today, not by a failure to find the answer to his bipolar illness (manic depression) in his Christian faith. Reece's father died secure in a hope that was unseen, but certain. His son, Erik, has put his faith in a philosophical religion of his own creation. He is, therefore, without hope. And that, I submit, is truly sad.
- Paul R. Waibel

I heard a review of this book on NPR and I was excited about what I imagined. I imagined a review of those founding writings that looked at how our founders felt about freedom and responsibility. But, that wasn't quite what he was writing about. This is a coming of age memoir of a young man with interest in history and religion. It is a good book, but I am way beyond coming of age books, I was looking for philosophy. It is well written but not of interest to an aging baby boomer.