Understanding American Culture: The Theological and Philosophical Shaping of the American Worldview

In this historical overview of Western civilization, Dr. Rogers traces the theological and philosophical forces that shaped Western culture. From the beginnings of Judaism 4,000 years ago to the Greeks 2,500 years ago, to Christianity’s confrontation with and transformation of the Roman Empire, through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the establishment of America, and the emergence of the postmodern perspective, it has been the dynamic tension between the Judeo-Christian tradition, Classical Philosophy, and the philosophical perspectives that emerged from it, that has shaped the American worldview, making us who we are.

Understanding American Culture is an amazing compilation of information about a critical topic—why we Americans act as we do. Many authors discuss worldview from a single perspective, but the subject itself is holistic, and such a narrow approach is nearly always lacking. Rogers describes worldview from three perspectives—anthropological, philosophical and theological, and presents a unique historical survey of how and why we have come to our values and habits.
Michael Landon, Ph.D. Missiologist, former Missionary to Brazil

Glenn Rogers’s Understanding American Culture pictures the foundations of American culture from its wide-ranging roots in Judaism, the ancient Greek culture, Christianity, and the Western European Renaissance and Enlightenment. While he does not use the picture of a banyan tree with its ever-spreading roots from its extending branches, the picture fits. From the banyan tree’s initial trunk, the branches extend outward, new roots drop from the branches to engage the soil for nourishment. These new roots become new stabilizing trunks and extending bases for the same tree system.

Rogers describes the initial set of roots which set the base for contemporary worldview and culture. These ongoing streams of influence continue to find expression in American culture even as newer roots are finding their way into other soils to influence both sectors of American society and the whole in more subtle ways. While the study is delimited to only a few of the significant forces that shaped American culture, it provides a suggestive approach to looking even more broadly.
Edgar J. Elliston, Ph. D., Director, Degree Completion Program, William Jessup University

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