Who We Are

Here Wilson gives his 2 cents about Gerlertner's writing. Again it's helpful to me as I keep examining my americanism and try to have The Kings perspective on it.

American Zionism and the Creed
Topic: Americanitas

David Gelernter really celebrates the Puritans.

"To understand America and Americanism, you must understand those Puritans. They are a difficult proposition, an intellectual handful. They were religious fanatics. But their intolerance gave birth to toleration; their quest for religious freedom yielded freedom in general; and their devotion to the Bible and the biblical idea of covenant contributed significantly to the modern liberal state" (p. 38).

This is all quite true, but when it comes to making a case for "Americanism" it is completely beside the point. If I might, I would start my critique of this chapter right out of the blocks. The Puritans did in fact shape the American personality. But personality is not the same thing as character. Two men can have an outgoing personality, with one of them honest and the other treacherous. Two men can be quiet and withdrawn, with one of them a rock of integrity and the other a knave. We do share certain personality features with the Puritans, attributes we inherited from them. But inheriting a personality like this is not the same thing as inheriting their character.

To hear praise of the Puritans like this is like hearing the Prodigal Son raise a toast in some seedy tavern (Distant Country Ale House) in honor of his father, who supplied him with all this great money. Just like in the parable, there will come a day when we run out of all that "great money" that the Puritans supplied us with. We may already be there -- the pig food is starting to look pretty good.....


Read it all!