An American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God Hardback - 2009

by Erik Reece

From the award-winning author of LostMountain, a stirring, inspiring work ofmemoir, spiritual journey, and historicalinquiry a dazzling chronicle of a personaland national identity reclaimed.Erik Reece's grandfather was a Bible-thumping,fire-and-brimstone Baptist preacher. He lovedto hunt and fish and explore the Kentuckywoods, but for him, existence on this earth wasabout denying the pleasures of this life in preparationfor the next. Erik's father was a Baptistminister, too. But at the age of thirty-three notcoincidentally, Jesus' age when he was crucified Erik's father violently took his own life, andErik ended up spending much of his childhoodin the care of his grandparents.So, while Erik grew up with a conflicted relationshipwith Christianity, he also grew up with anacute awareness of a part of the country sufferingongoing economic, environmental, andeven spiritual collapse. When he himself nearedage thirty-three, he found unexpected comfortand guidance in his intellectual hero ThomasJefferson's famous Jefferson Bible, especiallywhen he began to track similarities betweenit and the Zen-like message of the Gospel ofThomas. Inspired, he undertook what would becomea spiritual and literary quest to identifyan 'American gospel' coursing through thework of both great and forgotten Americangeniuses, from William Byrd to Walt Whitman toWilliam James to Lynn Margulis. In synthesizingthat gospel one that prizes the pleasures andglories of this earth Reece began to find a wayto a spiritual and intellectual peace with his ownAmerican soul.The result of Reece's journey is a deeply personalbut also deeply thought out, inspiring,and stirring book, delivered almost like a secularsermon, about personal, political, and historicaldemons and the geniuses we can and must callon to combat them.