The HBS hosts wonder whether there is a uniquely “American” form of Christianity.
There are more than 2.3 billion Christians in the world, and 205 million of them live in the United States of America. Is there an identifiable strain of Christianity that is unique to the U.S.? If so, what are its dominant characteristics? How closely does it adhere to– or how far does it stray from– the basic tenets of Christianity?
In this episode, the HBS hosts take a hard look at some of the more curious features that seem to characterize Christianity in America– the church-as-corporation model, the prominence of “prosperity gospel,” the conflation of God and Country, and the widespread antagonism toward immigrants, LGBTQ persons, the poor, and others.
Check out the links below to ideas/thinkers referenced in this episode:
- Sarah Watts, “New Research Tells Us Who is Most Likely to Take the Bible Literally” (Forbes, 2019)
- Joel Looper, “The logical– and theological–problem with Red Letter Christians” (ABC News, 2020)
- Matthew 19:24
- Chris Palusky, “Why American Christians are turning people off to the church” (USA Today, 2021)
- Stephen Mattson, “The False and Idolatrous Narrative of ‘American’ Christianity” (Sojourners, 2019)
- Nicholas Kristof, “Progressive Christians, Arise! Hallelujah!” (The New York Times, 2021)
- Tara Isabella Burton, “The prosperity gospel, explained. Why Joel Olsten believes that prayer can make you rich” (Vox, 2017)
- Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905)
- Michael Luo, “American Christianity’s White Supremacy Problem” (The New Yorker, 2020)
- Chris Ebling, “American Christianity vs. Faithful Christianity” (Red Letter Christians, 2019)
- Toby Luckhurst, “Do missionaries help or hurt?” (BBC News, 2018)
