Historian Richard Wightman Fox casts a wide net over the role Jesus has played throughout American history. No question about it: Fox is thorough, insightful and well researched--qualities readers have come to expect from this established teacher and historian, now based at the University of Southern California. Starting with the early 1600s and the Puritan missionaries' determination to persuade Native Americans to convert to Christianity and moving on through the early 21st century, in which he references the influence of the bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, Fox is an informed and intelligent narrator. But as a storyteller, Fox frequently falters. It appears Fox was victim to an over-researched and poorly contained project. His chapters are often vague in theme and tend to jump around in focus. This is unfortunate, because Fox, who masterfully wrote Trials of Intimacy, does have the capacity to set a strong scene and spin a riveting story. But this time his skills only shine in disjointed segments. His first-person narrative is especially strong, such as describing when he was an intern for the U.S. Senate in 1965 and saw the smartly dressed Billy Graham for the first time. Fox does have interesting information and viewpoints to add to the American interpretation of Christ. In lieu of the hubbub over Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, readers will particularly enjoy Fox's analysis of the American movie industry's interpretations of Christ, especially his take on Jesus Christ Superstar. Readers who are accustomed to theological discussions may find this a satisfying read, but the average reader looking for a more focused history lesson may be better off with American Jesus. --Gail Hudson


From Publishers Weekly
Jesus has been an astonishingly mutable figure in American culture, lauded by presidents from Thomas Jefferson to George W. Bush, pressed into service by both abolitionists and slaveholders and marketed by Broadway producers and T-shirt makers. USC professor Fox undertakes the daunting task of telling a roughly chronological story of how Jesus-or the many versions of Jesush-as animated American life from the days of Cotton Mather to the days of Mel Gibson. Precisely because of Jesus' evergreen popularity, some readers may find Fox's book an inviting entree to the personalities and controversies that have shaped Christianity in America. Fox's scholarship is dependable, and he does a fine job of distilling the essence of figures ranging from Jonathan Edwards to Aimee Semple McPherson. But Fox's net is so broadly cast that the book ends up contributing little to a story that has been exceedingly well told, and more persuasively interpreted, by historians like Mark Noll (America's God). This book will undoubtedly be compared to, and confused with, Stephen Prothero's American Jesus, but the text lacks Prothero's deftness with historical sources and his interpretive boldness-there is little here to challenge historians' conventional wisdom or mainstream readers' assumptions. Nor does Fox, unlike Prothero, give much attention to non-Christian encounters with Jesus. But Fox still does a very serviceable job of explaining why pollsters say Americans rank Jesus as the "thirteenth greatest American of all time." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


New Republic
"An extrordinary blend of historical sophistication, theological discrimination and spiritual understanding ... rich and fluent in the complexities of religious life."


Library Journal
"An exciting book... a fresh history that will likely be influential for years to come. Highly recommended."


Book Description
Where else but America do people ask: What Would Jesus Do?
What Would Jesus Drive?
What Would Jesus Eat?

"This book is for believers and non-believers alike. It is not a book about whether one should believe in Jesus, but about how Americans have believed in and portrayed him." -- from the Introduction

Jesus in America is a comprehensive exploration of the vital role that the figure of Jesus has played throughout American history. Written by one of our most distinguished historians, Richard Wightman Fox, this book provides a brilliant cultural history of Jesus in America from its origins to today, demonstrating how Jesus is the most influential symbolic figure in our history.

Benjamin Franklin understood Jesus as a wise man worthy of imitation. Thomas Jefferson regarded him as a moral teacher. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, which occurred on Good Friday, was popularly interpreted as paralleling the crucifixion of Jesus ... as one preacher put it, "Jesus Christ died for the world, Abraham Lincoln died for his country." Elizabeth Cady Stanton appropriated Jesus' message to champion women's rights. George W. Bush named Jesus as his favorite political philosopher -- and several other GOP candidates followed suit -- during the last presidential race. As we have seen in recent presidential elections, the name of Jesus is often thrust into the center of political debates, and many Americans regularly enlist Jesus, their ultimate arbiter of value, as the standard-bearer for their views and causes.

Fox shows how Jesus influenced such major turning points in American history as: Columbus's voyage of discovery The arrival of the English puritans and Spanish missionaries The American Revolution The abolition of slavery and the Civil War Labor movements Social and cultural revolutions of the sixties and beyond The swelling tide of Christian voices in the politics and entertainment of today

Fox gives an expert, lively account of all the ways that Jesus is portrayed and understood in American culture. Extensively illustrated with images representing the multitude of American views of Jesus, Jesus in America reveals how fully and deeply Jesus is ingrained in the American experience.


Download Description
"""This book is for believers and non-believers alike. It is not a book about whether one should believe in Jesus, but about how Americans have believed in and portrayed him."" (From the Introduction) Jesus in America is a comprehensive exploration of the vital role that the figure of Jesus has played throughout American history. Written by one of our most distinguished historians, Richard Wightman Fox, this book provides a brilliant cultural history of Jesus in America from its origins to today, demonstrating how Jesus is the most influential symbolic figure in our history.Where else but America do people ask: What Would Jesus Do?
What Would Jesus Drive?
What Would Jesus Eat?

""This book is for believers and non-believers alike. It is not a book about whether one should believe in Jesus, but about how Americans have believed in and portrayed him."" -- from the Introduction

Jesus in America is a comprehensive exploration of the vital role that the figure of Jesus has played throughout American history. Written by one of our most distinguished historians, Richard Wightman Fox, this book provides a brilliant cultural history of Jesus in America from its origins to today, demonstrating how Jesus is the most influential symbolic figure in our history.


About the Author
Richard Wightman Fox, Ph.D., has taught American intellectual and cultural history, with an emphasis on religion, at Yale, Reed, and Boston University. He recently returned home to Los Angeles to a prestigious teaching position in the history department of the University of Southern California. He is the author of Trials of Intimacy and Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jesus in America is an exploration of the vital role that the figure of Jesus has played throughout American history. Written by historian, Richard Wightman Fox, this book provides a cultural history of Jesus in America from its origins to today, demonstrating how Jesus is the most influential symbolic figure in our history.

Extensively illustrated with images representing the multitude of American views of Jesus, Jesus in America reveals how fully and deeply Jesus is ingrained in the American experience.

FROM THE CRITICS

An extrordinary blend of historical sophistication, theological discrimination and spiritual understanding ... rich and fluent in the complexities of religious life.

Publishers Weekly

Jesus has been an astonishingly mutable figure in American culture, lauded by presidents from Thomas Jefferson to George W. Bush, pressed into service by both abolitionists and slaveholders and marketed by Broadway producers and T-shirt makers. USC professor Fox undertakes the daunting task of telling a roughly chronological story of how Jesus or the many versions of Jesus has animated American life from the days of Cotton Mather to the days of Mel Gibson. Precisely because of Jesus' evergreen popularity, some readers may find Fox's book an inviting entr e to the personalities and controversies that have shaped Christianity in America. Fox's scholarship is dependable, and he does a fine job of distilling the essence of figures ranging from Jonathan Edwards to Aimee Semple McPherson. But Fox's net is so broadly cast that the book ends up contributing little to a story that has been exceedingly well told, and more persuasively interpreted, by historians like Mark Noll (America's God). This book will undoubtedly be compared to, and confused with, Stephen Prothero's American Jesus, but the text lacks Prothero's deftness with historical sources and his interpretive boldness there is little here to challenge historians' conventional wisdom or mainstream readers' assumptions. Nor does Fox, unlike Prothero, give much attention to non-Christian encounters with Jesus. But Fox still does a very serviceable job of explaining why pollsters say Americans rank Jesus as the "thirteenth greatest American of all time." (Feb. 17) Forecast: With the release of Mel Gibson's movie The Passion scheduled for Ash Wednesday (February 25), this book is poised to hit bookstores at a time when Jesus will be fodder for many a dinner conversation. First print run: 40,000. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal