Theologies of American Exceptionalism

Book excerpt: How does viewing the American project through a theological lens complicate and enrich our understanding of America? Theologies of American Exceptionalism is a collection of fifteen interlocking essays reflecting on exceptionalist claims in and about the United States. Loosely and generatively curious, these essays bring together a range of historical and contemporary voices, some familiar and some less so, to stimulate new thought about America. Thinking theologically allows authors to revisit familiar themes and events with a new perspective; old and new wounds, enduring narratives, and the sacrificial violence at the heart of America are examined while avoiding both the triumphalism of the exceptional and the temptations of the jeremiad. Thinking theologically also involves thinking, as Joseph Winters recommends, with the "unmourned." It allows for an understanding of America as fundamentally religious in a very specific way. Together these essays challenge the reader to think America anew.