(Part 1)

JBTM Book Reviews
122
them will be familiar to those who have studied Greek, while others will seem quite foreign.
Campbell succeeds in stimulating interest in these unfamiliar topics, and he provides lists
of resources to further personal study. I only wish he had provided more detailed examples
of the concepts he explains. Anyone familiar with Greek who desires to be a better New
Testament exegete should seriously consider hearing what Campbell has to say.
- David Champagne, Mississippi College, Clinton, Mississippi
American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea. By John
D. Wilsey. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2015. 263 pages. Paperback, $25.00.
John D. Wilsey is assistant professor of history and Christian apologetics at Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He serves as associate director and
senior research fellow for faith and liberty at the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at
Southwestern Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
and previously authored One Nation Under God: An Evangelical Critique of Christian America.
In American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion, Wilsey is not asking if the United States
of America is an exceptional nation. The answer to this question is obvious—the nation’s
status as a world power implies as much. With an historical approach but theological
angle, Wilsey traces the history of belief in America as a nation uniquely privileged by God.
He offers a two-part argument that is descriptive and prescriptive. He uses an analogy
of a two-sided coin to represent American exceptionalism, open exceptionalism on one
side and closed exceptionalism on the other. Descriptively, he argues that Americans
have embraced closed exceptionalism for much of their history. Then, prescriptively, he
promotes an open version of exceptionalism. The metaphorical coin should be face down
on closed exceptionalism, but face up for open. He contends that closed exceptionalism
leads to a form of nationalism that is ultimately antithetical to the Christian gospel, but
open exceptionalism is compatible with Christianity and can foster justice and human
flourishing.
Wilsey argues that Americans “have always seen themselves as exceptional” (16). He
highlights colonial New England as foundational to this tradition. As Americans conquered
the continent and survived a Civil War, history seemed to substantiate their belief that
they were a privileged people before God, perhaps even a new Israel. As America became
a world power in the twentieth century, could anyone deny their privileged status? Even
today, Wilsey says, “the concept of exceptionalism remains the guiding paradigm in
self-identification for most Americans” (17). However much history might seem, on the
surface, to confirm American exceptionalism, Wilsey asks how this would fit theologically
with a Christianity that consists of a multi-national community of faith? Wilsey admits
that the classical version of exceptionalism, which includes a chosen status ideology,