America's Prophet

How the Story of Moses Shaped America

Bruce Feiler

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780061726279
• eBook ISBN:
  9780061939259
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

Bruce Feiler’s New York Times bestsellers Abraham, Walking the Bible, and Where God Was Born brilliantly explored the roots of faith. With America’s Prophet, Feiler looks at Moses and the essential role the prophet has played in our nation’s history and development. Bruce Feiler’s most fascinating and thought-provoking book to date, America’s Prophet delves deeply into how the Exodus story and America’s true “Spiritual Founding Father” have inspired many of the most important figures and defining events in this country’s history—from the Mayflower Pilgrims to the Civil Rights movement—and how Moses can provide meaning in times of national crisis, even today.

This sweeping exploration of the Bible’s role in the American story uncovers a surprising truth:

• The Founding Fathers’ Prophet: Discover why Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson proposed putting Moses on the Great Seal of the United States, cementing his role from the nation’s birth.
• The Exodus in American History: Trace the surprising thread of the Exodus narrative as it inspires the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, soldiers in the Revolution, and activists in the Civil Rights movement.
• An American Promised Land: Explore how the biblical quest for a promised land has shaped American expansion, character, and its enduring sense of destiny.
• A Unifying Narrative: In a time of division, Feiler asks if the story of Moses can once again serve as a source of shared values and bring a fractured country together.

INDEX

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.

Note: Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

Aaron, 20, 229

Abernathy, Ralph, 258, 260, 261, 266, 269, 270, 272

Abiff, Hiram, 87

abolitionists, 48–49, 114, 115, 141, 150–51, 153–57, 169

Abraham, 15, 191, 279

Action Comics, 221, 223

Adamic, Louis, 193

Adams, John, 60, 61, 62, 63

and Book of Common Prayer, 56

and Great Seal, 4, 35, 64, 66, 67, 213, 296

as vice president, 79

Adams, Samuel, 55, 88

African Americans:

activism of, 243, 247, 250–53; see also civil rights

cultural tradition of, 124–32, 247

Exodus story for, 249–53, 256–59

and Jews, 128, 255–57

and March on Washington, 51, 248, 250–53

Moses figure for, 248, 253, 259

slaves, see slavery

Alexander II, Czar, 189

Allen, Ethan, 88

America, see United States

American Bible Society, 146, 159

American dream, 162, 225, 296, 297

American Negro, 268

American Revolution, 28, 33, 36

and Deuteronomy, 59–60, 93

and Exodus, 59–60, 62–63, 74, 76, 96, 98, 151

Jewish soldiers in, 197

and language of dissent, 38

postwar disarray, 75–76, 90, 92

and Puritans, 61

sources of, 92, 98

and Washington, 52, 58, 75

Anderson, Marian, 250

Angelou, Maya, 269

Anglican Church, 24, 38

Applegate, Debby, 151

Arbella, 8, 25, 60, 194, 278

Aristotle, 298

Ark of the Covenant, 87, 186

Arnold, Benedict, 79

Articles of Confederation, 75, 93

Augustine, Saint, 79

Auschwitz, 127

Bacall, Lauren, 208

Bacon, Francis, 61

Baker, Jim, 19, 23, 26

Baldwin, James, 251

Banks, Lynne Reid, Moses in Egypt, 210

Barralet, John James, The Apotheosis of Washington, 100

Bartholdi, Frédéric, 180–81, 183, 184, 186

Barton, Bernard, 48–49

Barton, Bruce, The Man Nobody Knows, 212

Baskett, Mark, 57, 80

Baxter, Anne, 216, 230

Beecher, Catharine, 203

Beecher, Harriet, see Stowe, Harriet Beecher

Beecher, Henry Ward, 141–42, 142, 159, 168–70, 172–73, 203

Beecher, James, 169

Beecher, Lyman, 141, 144, 146, 148–49, 152–53, 161, 203

Beecher family, 141–44, 148–52, 203

Berlin, Irving, 193

Bible:

American Bible Society, 146, 159

and American exceptionalism, 33

and American Revolution, 59–60, 93, 151

authors of, 178, 270

and Civil War, 143, 158–59, 166

ebbing prominence of, 93–94, 209

emotional influence of, 47, 61

English translations of, 30

and evolution, 177–78

Five Books of Moses, 13, 70, 91, 93, 173, 266, 269–70, 282, 301, 306

Geneva, 23

as God’s word, 153

and Great Awakening, 37–38

individual interpretation of, 144, 157, 183, 202

King James, 42, 80

in Latin, 21

as living book, 234

living by, 62–63

New Testament, 20

oath taking on, 79–80, 282

Old Testament, see Hebrew Bible

and Pilgrims, 27, 29, 30–31, 62

and printing processes, 21–22, 146

and rebirth, 37

relevance today, 276–77, 282, 286

and slavery, 122, 153–57

for social change, 212

in vernacular, 22, 47, 51

Big Ben, 85

Bingham, George Caleb, Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers Through the Cumberland Gap, 147, 148

black nationalism, 127, 128–29

Blanchard, Jonathan, 155–57

Bogart, Humphrey, 208

Boone, Daniel, 119, 147–48, 147, 197

Borglum, Gutzon, 203

Born in East L.A. (film), 277

Boston Tea Party, 90

Boughdadly, Abbas El, 233

Boyer, Harold, 25

Bradford, Sarah, 137

Bradford, William, 11, 13, 43

Hebrew studies of, 32, 170

as Moses,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• I  MOSES! MOSES!
• II  AN ERRAND INTO THE WILDERNESS
• III  PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT THE LAND
• IV  A MOSES FOR AMERICA
• V  LET MY PEOPLE GO
• VI  THE WAR BETWEEN THE MOSESES
• VII  MOTHER OF EXILES
• VIII  THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
• IX  I’VE SEEN THE PROMISED LAND
• X  A NARRATIVE OF HOPE
• Select Bibliography
• INDEX
• About The Author
• Books by Bruce Feiler
• Giving Thanks
• The Books of Moses
• Copyright
• About the Publisher