Prodigal Nation: Moral Decline and Divine Punishment from New England to 9/11 [Hardcover]

Andrew R. Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0195321286 | ISBN-13: 978-0195321289

"Original and wide-ranging, Murphy's discerning and important study is another reminder that America is 'the nation with the soul of a church.'"
-Journal of American History

"A wide-ranging and thoughtful meditation on how the theo-political stories we Americans tell ourselves resonate with and sometimes even create the communities we inhabit. This book deserves an honored place among the oeuvre of work by political scientists and historians on the jeremiad."
-- Politics and Religion

"A significant contribution to the historical account of the role of religion in American politics."
--Perspectives on Politics

"Prodigal Nation is a careful account of how theologies function politically and deserves attention from political scientists, political theologians, American historians, and others interested in the interface of religion and culture."
--Religious Studies Review

"This highly original and wonderfully written analysis will be invaluable to anyone interested in the meaning of America." --Harry S. Stout, author of The New England Soul and Upon the Altar of the Nation

"A brilliant analysis of the American jeremiad. Elegant, powerful, hopeful, and wise - Prodigal Nation is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the fitful history of the American spirit." --James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation and The Democratic Wish

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Scholars of Puritanism and American 'civil religion' have long recognized the unique -- and uniquely American -- power of the 'jeremiad' to shape a national identity. But despite its undeniable importance and longevity, no one before Andrew Murphy has traced the jeremiad's career over such an enduring span of time. By imaginatively combining historical themes with thorough surveys of a rich variety of sources, this highly original and wonderfully written analysis will be invaluable to anyone interested in the meaning of America." --Harry S. Stout, author of The New England Soul and Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War

"A brilliant analysis of the American jeremiad. Andrew Murphy traces the lamentations of decline and the dreams of deliverance that haunt every American generation. Elegant, powerful, hopeful, and wise -- Prodigal Nation is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the fitful history of the American spirit." --James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation and The Democratic Wish

"Prodigal Nation is a careful account of how theologies function politically and deserves attention from political scientists, political theologians, American historians, and others interested in the interface of religion and culture."--Religious Studies Review

"[A} discerning and important study." --Journal of American History

"A significant contribution to the historical account of the role of religion in American politics." --Perspectives on Politics

"A wide-ranging and thoughtful meditation on how the theo-political stories we Americans tell ourselves resonate with and sometimes even create the communities we inhabit. This book deserves an honored place among the oeuvre of work by political scientists and historians on the jeremiad."-- Politics and Religion

"Murphy offers a careful and discerning analysis of the continuing importance of the jeremiad in American thought and culture, from its colonial origins to the present post-9/11 world. . . Anyone interested in American religious history, the creation of a national identity, and the perplexing battle over the place of religion in public life will profit by reading Prodigal Nation.--H-Law

"Prodigal Nation is an insightful volume, lucidly written."--Reviews in Religion and Theology

About the Author

Andrew R. Murphy is Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, New Bruswick. He is the author of Conscience and Community: Revisiting Toleration and Religious Dissent in Early Modern England and America, the co-editor of Religion, Politics, and the American Identity: New Directions, New Controversies, and the editor of The Political Writings of William Penn.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195321286
• ISBN-13: 978-0195321289
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew R. Murphy is Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, New Brunswick; and Executive Co-Director of the Association for Political Theory. His research focuses on the interconnections between religious and political thought and practice, most particularly in the Anglo-American tradition. His current work explores the life, political career, and political thought of William Penn; in addition, he is editing the Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence, which features an international roster of leading authors approaching this vital topic from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful Study of Religion and American National Identity, February 24, 2009

By 

M. Mccullough "mcmccullough" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prodigal Nation: Moral Decline and Divine Punishment from New England to 9/11 (Hardcover)

Historians of American religion have been fascinated for decades by a distinctive American rhetorical genre they have come to call the "jeremiad." Both as a guide to earlier scholarship and as a valuable addition to that scholarship in its own right, Andrew Murphy's Prodigal Nation is a welcome contribution to an always relevant and ongoing discussion. Extending from the New England colonies to 9/11, the chapters include a nice balance between historical case studies and thematic essays exploring the content and social function of the jeremiad. Murphy identifies an overarching structure to sermons in the genre, which sustains a tension between the threat of punishment for national sin and a simultaneous hope for the future significance of a nation uniquely chosen by God to benefit the world. Corresponding to despair and hope are what Murphy calls the internal critique---which contrasts national sins with a virtuous founding past as a basis for the call to repentance---and the external critique---which focuses more broadly on the place of the nation in God's plans for human history. Written in jargon-free, readable prose, this book will be enjoyable for anyone interested in the religious overtones of American national identity.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well written, interesting but biased., March 22, 2011

By 

Joseph M. Hennessey (Weston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prodigal Nation: Moral Decline and Divine Punishment from New England to 9/11 (Paperback)

I always hope that when i'm reading a book about two alternatives, in this case the traditional and progressive jeremiads, the author may reach the book's finish line not favoring one over the other. But my hermeneutic of suspicion kicked in to gear, and sure 'nuff, the book's last 4 pages put Murphy squarely into the progressive camp.

I should have seen it coming. First of all, trotting out the usual suspect bogeymen villians, Fallwell, Robertson, Bennett and Buchanan. Then, i was also surprised that the 2nd half of the book, when you count in chapter 4 as better belonging to part 2, is longer than the first, historical half. The author implies, several times, but does not explicitly say, that the progressive jeremiahs favor the advancement of blacks and women, then ergo the traditional jeremiahs don't. Non-sequitor. Tired chlicheic argument.

In essence the book is a brief for the so-called living constitution; strict constructionists, original meaning folks should just crawl back into their caves.

If we don't base ourselves on the Constitution as amended pro women and blacks, and the Judaeo-Christian tradition which lies behind it and from it for approximately 130 years, it will not be the USA anymore. It will be Anothercountry. Anothercountry may be better than the USA, just be honest and upfront about the radical change. But just be sure that when you throw out the good parts of the tradition, you don't settle for pie in the sky non existent alleged benefits.