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David Gelernter is brilliant (he's a professor of computer science at Yale University) and multitalented (he's published fiction in Commentary; after receiving a little present from the Unabomber who wrecked his right hand, he learned how to draw), and he's a superb essayist as well as the author of many sharply argued books. Maybe he's bored. Are there any worlds left to conquer?

The fruit of this restlessness is a book in which he starts with an absurd premise and makes a case for it with a straight face and all the powerful intelligence at his disposal. Americanism—the distinctive values we associate with the American experiment—a religion? Maybe, just maybe, what looks like a straight face is actually a Swiftian grimace. Maybe this is Gelernter's Modest Proposal.

Do high-minded observers wring their hands at the intrusion of religion in public life? Well, Gelernter says, Americanism is a religion, a religion built on Judaism and Christianity, though "you don't have to believe in the Bible or Judaism or Christianity to believe in America or the American Religion." It's a dazzling move. Gelernter clearly wasn't bored while writing this book, and you won't be bored while reading it. But don't be surprised if the check bounces.

It's good to read outside our comfort zones now and then. For me, that includes forays into the realm of evangelical bestsellerdom. Max Lucado is superb at what he does: a streamlined form of communication that grabs many readers (and generates "multiple licensed products"). His latest strives to make us really attend to John 3:16, whether we're hearing that verse for the first time or the ten-thousandth. Twelve brief chapters of explication are followed by an even more concise 40-day devotional, the last ending with a question: "God is willing to change us into the likeness of the Savior. Shall we accept his offer?"

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Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion and 3:16: The Numbers of Hope are available from ChristianBook.com, which has excerpts from both books.

David Gelernter, professor of computer science at Yale, wrote "Americanism—& Its Enemies" for Commentary.

3:16 has been on the New York Times bestseller list for one week.

Lucado's website has a special section for 3:16, which includes videos and an excerpt of the first chapter.

Other Christianity Today articles on books are available on our site.

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October 2007, Vol. 51, No. 10