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.
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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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Related Elsewhere:
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.
