Customer Reviews

Theological Interpretation of American History

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This is a marvelous work of intellectual history. The author successfully traces the decline of Biblical thinking in American political, social, and economic life in terms of theological changes that are easily traceable: Puritans with Calvinist theology, then Deism bringing forth the Declaration of Independence, a partial reversion to Calvinism in the writing of the Constitution, and the deep anti-Christian onslaughts of Transcendentalism, Social Darwinism, and the Social Gospel.

Further, he shows also that the liberal changes in theology after the Puritans have pushed us in the direction of "democracy" and away from the constitutional republicanism of the U.S. Constitution. Also, he weaves in how the emphasis on democracy and reforms of all kind (carrying the role of the government far beyond that envisaged by the writers of the Constitution) tends in the direction of totalitarianism. Big government must control more and more aspects of life.

He is especially strong in his section on Dewey's instrumentalism.

This book will be important reading for any Christian who wants to know how we moved from the Biblical understanding of liberty for the people who live responsibly under a sovereign God, to the idea of a sovereignty by the people in support of essentially humanistic goals.

His treatment is measured and careful. He doesn't portray liberals as always wrong and orthodox Christians as always correct. He repeatedly notes that some notables who were theologically liberal where politically and economically liberal, and vice-versa. The book is not a polemic, but it makes clear that there are certain lines drawn in theology and public policy, there are clearly discernible trends over time, and people who are evangelicals will find themselves on one side of that line with the National Council of Churches on the other side.

Also, I would recommend this book to Christians and non-Christians who consider themselves to be liberal. Many today are naive, and do not realize how much they have bought into the socialist and communist idea of collectivity and the building of the Kingdom of God on earth through social action.

Thank you Prof. Singer.

This book deals with the subject of American history from a Biblical perspective. It is superb in the simple framework that anyone can understand. Absolutely recommended to anyone who is interested in the truth of our nation's history.

Dr. C. Gregg Singer, my teacher and historical studies mentor, has captured systematically the goings on in American History as they interrelate to the theological evolution of the American culture. It is a wonderful homeschool text for history and theology, and it is a welcome and edifying work for those looking to connect the atomistic dots of what is sometimes presented as American History. It is written from a conservative perspective and tells it like it is. I recommend it for your library!

This is the kind of book that is critical reading for any Christian who seeks to understand American history. Singer examines the critical religious and philosophical movements in American history, how they shaped their times, and whether or not they were true to biblical principles.

He begins with Puritanism, and argues that it was critical to the success of the nation's founding. It established critical theological and political systems that the Constitution later took as a model. Later Puritanism, under the guise of Edwardian theology, no less, set Puritanism adrift and ultimately lead to the ascendancy of Deism.

In Deism, Singer finds the source of the Revolutionary temper and the ungodly justification for rebellion against England. The Declaration of Independence was anti-Christian document, despite some Christians signing it. Deism went into a brief decline in the instability of the post-war, pre-Constitution era.

The Constitution itself, was a much more conservative, and more influenced by Puritanism than the Declaration, yet it was not what it could have been. But it established a Federal Republic, which led to the early success of the nation. But not all was well. Deism had been firmly established in the churches and colleges. Dissatisfaction with the mechanistic god of Deism led to the more personal, but pantheistic god of Transcendentalism.

The Transcendentalist movement, fundamentally optimistic, due to unbiblical eschatology, began the wave of reform movements including abolitionism. As many Southern theologians understood, abolitionism was more than an anti-slavery movement. It was an atheistic philosophical movement bent on undermining Christianity and destroying the liberty granted in the Constitution.

The triumph of abolitionists in the Civil War led to a great centralizing of Federal power, an accelerated industrial revolution due to war production. This then brought about the rapid decline of the Transcendentalist movement and the ascendancy of Social Darwinism. The shared optimism of both movements led to the remarkable influence of the Darwinists--particularly in the churches. The liberalization of Christian theology brought about a liberalization in government leading to increases in Federal power and further reform movements based on unbiblical theology.

The liberal theology led to the Social Gospel--the Kingdom of Christ on earth through the work of men, not God. Again, unbiblical theology. The Progressives worked in and through the Social Gospel establishing a thoroughly democratic government, particularly through the New Deal. The rise of Democracy enthroned humanism over and against God. The decline of America is now rapid and almost without any hope of slowing down, let alone stopping.

This remarkable narrative ties together the movements in American history, and evaluates them in light of biblical principle. Singer is clearly a Calvinist, and in Calvinism, sees true and right theology. He is very critical of Arminianism and in it, he sees the liberalization and the compromises necessary to concede to liberal theology. Those who believe in American Exceptionalism will find instead, a history of quick ascent and an equally rapid decline in the biblical standards found in the political system. Americans, rather than being exceptional, are victim of the same human failings of any other people, and the American Experiment was compromised nearly from the start. This is an outstanding work and highly recommended.

C. Gregg Singer explodes the myth of neutrality. He demonstrates in this work that the virtual founder of this nation was the reformer of Geneva, not the scribe from Monticello. A very important work.

It is true that what a people believe, or the most common belief is what is at the root of the history, culture, arts and expression of a people.
Dr. Greg Singer, professor of history and church history and theology, gives a good summary of the trends of American intellectual and theological beliefs and how they have been expressed in our culture. He does not blindly claim this nation to be true Christian--far from that.
This is a very valuable book for any educated person!
Well done and easily read