American dream
Harrison Scott Key’s dreams
Is the desire for greatness a temptation or a vocation?
Spiritual striving for American identity
The question of American identity has historically been both complex and contested. What’s more, it often yields mythic notions rooted in exceptionalist dogmas like election, commission, moral regeneracy, sacred land, and innocent past.
Embedded in religious American exceptionalism is the American Dream: if an individual works hard, perseveres, and is a good citizen, there is no limit to how far she can advance.
Emancipation and economics
Lincoln understood that the dream of well-being, if not radically democratized, would for some people only be a nightmare.
Our Kids, by Robert D. Putnam
Balancing biography and quantitative research, Robert Putnam paints a sobering picture of the state of the American dream.
reviewed by Timothy Mark Renick
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates is an atheist. But perhaps his atheism is precisely the kind that Christians in America need.
reviewed by Daniel José Camacho
The credit revolution
Everyone seems to agree that America's moral fabric is being undermined by the unwise proliferation of consumer credit. We readily believe those who claim that easy credit fuels rampant hedonism and leads many to bankruptcy. Wistfully, we compare ourselves to ancestors who supposedly controlled their spending and never went into debt. We believe that our present affluence is a bubble that will surely burst.
Reviewed by Robin Klay