Robert Wright’s BloggingHeadsTV is often the best place on the Web for highly intelligent conversation about politics and culture. Particularly excellent is a new episode, posted today, in which Wright interviews Bruce Feiler, author of the new book America’s Prophet, Moses and the American Story. Wright is a scholar of the history of religions, so the conversation is thoughtful, challenging, and enlightening. Wright finds himself astonished, by Feiler’s thesis, but admits that upon reading the evidence, it is irrefutable. As the book’s promotional material states:
The Exodus story is America’s story. Moses is our real founding father. The pilgrims quoted his story. Franklin and Jefferson proposed he appear on the U.S. seal. Washington and Lincoln were called his incarnations. The Statue of Liberty and Superman were molded in his image. Martin Luther King, Jr., invoked him the night before he died. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama cited him as inspiration. For four hundred years, one figure inspired more Americans than any other. His name is Moses.
I will say that Feiler’s thesis is not at all startling to some of us who have studied religious rhetoric in American history. As when in 1858 Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, one of the founders of Reform Judaism in America, declared that the American Independence Day was a second Passover: “the fourth of July tells us the glorious story of the second redemption of mankind from the hands of their oppressors, the second interposition of Providence in behalf of liberty, the second era of the redemption of mankind, the second triumph of right over might, justice over arbitrary despotism, personal and legal liberty over the power of the strongest and most warlike.”
When Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were chosen by the Continental Congress in 1776 to design a Seal of the United States, both proposed an image of the Exodus. Adams described the picture: “Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his Hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity. Motto, Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
Second Amendment advocates had no trouble seeing the connection between the iconic images of Moses parting the Red Sea (in the film The Ten Commandments) with an upraised staff, and NRA President Charlton Heston proclaiming liberty throughout the land while holding high the Kentucky Rifle. Regardless of whether a viewer is inspired or annoyed by the juxtaposition, it’s another example of how, even in the 21st century, the story of Moses and the Exodus continues to play an important role in American public life.
Neil C. Reinhardt says:
Sounds just like more typical programmed Christian ranting!
MOST people living in the colonies when the U.S. was founded were NOT Christians! Most were, as were nearly ALL of our Founding Fathers, DEISTS.
Jefferson not only wanted the Total Separation of Church and State, he said:
“The Christian god is cruel, vindictive capricious and unjust.”
And in 1797, a treaty which was started when President Washington was in office, then unanimously passed by Congress and signed by President John Adams stated:
“The United States of America is in NO SENSE a Christian Nation” and “It is no more a Christian nation than it is a Jewish or Mohammedan one.”
Last, not one of our first six presidents where “practicing
Christians”
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November 10, 2009, 6:05 pmRPT says:
This should be an interesting political and/or theological discussion. The most immediate problem is the American history of slavery. One might also argue that the country’s current problems arise from the idolatrous worship of the golden calf.
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November 10, 2009, 6:28 pmJoshua says:
The parallels drawn are interesting. Aside from all the superficial imagery, is America’s independence the best analog in the past few hundred years for the ancient exodus? Even on this continent, might the oppression of African-Americans and the subsequent freedoms won be more comparable? Leaders of that civil rights movement logged their number of Moses evocations, too.
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November 10, 2009, 6:33 pmBob from Ohio says:
I always say that America is the new Israel.
(and ironically the new Rome as well).
The ethical center of the world.
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November 10, 2009, 6:39 pmJon Rowe says:
Oh I’d love to see Bruce Feiler deal with Robert Kraynak on how the American Founding distorted the orthodox of the Moses/Exodus story.
To the biblical literalist that tale is not, or is not supposed to be about political liberty or rebellion, but spiritual liberty and submission to authority. Though if one adopts a more loose, liberal or cafeteria biblical hermeneutic (as Jefferson, Franklin and America’s patriotic preachers did) you could get political liberty and rebellion out of the story (i.e., only by revising or rewriting it).
Nowhere in Exodus did Moses rebel or even disobey an order by Pharoah.
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November 10, 2009, 6:40 pmJon Rowe says:
[Note the above should have read “distorted the orthodoxy”...]
Neil,
I sorta sympathize with the point you are trying to make. As someone who has read virtually all of the primary sources on this particular dynamic of American history, I advise you to please check your quotes because you put them in quotes. What you actually wrote are paraphrases of actual quotations. I’m warning because the secular side has come down really hard on figures like David Barton for doing this; it’s understandable if the “Christian Nationalists” come down really hard on the other side (or those in the middle) for doing the same.
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November 10, 2009, 6:45 pmrichard says:
I applaud the shout out to Bloggingheads, one of the great sites on the web, where you have intelligent discussions on any number of topics without any shouting, personal attack or uncivil discourse
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November 10, 2009, 7:02 pmtraveler496 says:
I’m not big on Moses. But if onscreen Heston had been my father, I probably would have misbehaved exactly once.
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November 10, 2009, 7:18 pmJon Rowe says:
Here is some food for thought about what the Moses/Exodus story is about from a strict orthodox biblical perspective. It’s from Dr. Gregg Frazer (PhD poly sci from Claremont Graduate University) quoting Dr. Robert Kraynak’s book “Christian Faith and Modern Democracy”:
Dr. Frazer’s thesis quoting Kraynak’s book:
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November 10, 2009, 7:35 pmJon Rowe says:
Here is another quote from Dr. Frazer about Moses and rebellion:
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November 10, 2009, 7:51 pmoren says:
I believe they have a religion for that somewhere out West ...
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November 10, 2009, 8:18 pmbyomtov says:
So Jefferson wanted to celebrate Moses as a symbol of the United States, did he? Whatever his brilliance in some matters, the man was seriously lacking in self-awareness.
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November 10, 2009, 8:27 pmbyomtov says:
Jon Rowe,
Yes, the covenant was involuntary, de facto if not de jure. At a later time, however (can’t recall exactly, but it comes up at the Seder), there is a voluntary re-affirmation.
There are probably other commenters who can provide more specific insight here.
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November 10, 2009, 8:31 pmYankev says:
For some reason I’m thinking Purim, but I can’t seem to find the source.
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November 10, 2009, 10:02 pmsubp says:
“Martin Luther King, Jr., invoked him the night before he died.”
That same night, MLK also invoked Nairobi. Nairobi, Kenya, where Obama descends from. This is irrefutable evidence that Obama is the essential American hero.
Where do the African-Americans and American Indians fall into this America-Exodus mythology? Remember that Exodus was about slaves escaping the slavemasters — a European who comes to America and kills a native and buys a slave doesn’t quite fit that mold.
It’s also worth noting that in Rastafarianism, America and the Americas, to where millions of black Africans were taken and held in captivity, are seen as Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar or Pharaonic Egypt. Here is a wonderful song by Pressure, released just this week, entitled “Modern Pharaoh.”
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November 11, 2009, 12:26 amJeff Walden says:
Neil, you raise Jefferson’s view on the matter, but Jefferson wasn’t the only one with an opinion, nor was his opinion the prominent one (although it perhaps receives the most recognition now). I haven’t had the time to read it, but I understand Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State, by Tara Ross, provides a good examination of the first President’s views of matters of church and state, views at odds with Jefferson’s rigid, dogmatic views on such things.
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November 11, 2009, 2:49 amJRDickens says:
Note to Neil C. Reinhardt,
Moses was not a Christian. In fact, he lived in a time where there was NO such thing as Christianity. I haven’t read the book in question, but just a quick glance at the blog posting reveals no mentions or inferences of Christianity. Therefore, I fail to see how one could reach the conclusion that this is “more typical programmed Christian ranting!”.
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November 11, 2009, 8:50 amStones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » Things Heard: e93v3 says:
[...] Moses as an American hero. [...]
Wednesday Highlights | Pseudo-Polymath says:
[...] Moses as an American hero. [...]
Randy says:
“Jesus saves. Moses invests”
So Charlton Heston raises his rifle over his head, and from that you conclude that ” it’s another example of how, even in the 21st century, the story of Moses and the Exodus continues to play an important role in American public life.”? That’s a pretty thin reed of evidence. Got anything else? Because I’m thinking Moses and Exodus pretty much play NO role in American public life.
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November 11, 2009, 4:31 pmVisitor Again says:
Second Amendment advocates had no trouble seeing the connection between the iconic images of Moses parting the Red Sea (in the film The Ten Commandments) with an upraised staff, and NRA President Charlton Heston proclaiming liberty throughout the land while holding high the Kentucky Rifle.
My shriek of laughter for the day. Thanks.
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November 11, 2009, 4:33 pmRandy says:
Bob from Ohio: “The ethical center of the world.”
Well, perhaps, if you don’t count slaves or Native Americans as ‘people.’
Personally, if you were objective, you would have to find Canada far more ethical that the US. They never enslaved any people, but actually provided refuge for them. They never had a policy of genocide against their Native Americans. Crime is far less in Canada than the US, everyone has health insurance (for which they would never trade places with the US), and they don’t have the corrupting influence of mega-wealth such as we see on Wall Street today. And pretty much everyone gets along each other. They value politeness.
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November 11, 2009, 4:39 pmYankev says:
That must be why Jews have been stabbed to deeath in Toronot simply for being Jews, and have been assaulted while minding their own business on campuses throughout Canada by anti-Zionist “human rights activists”, and why pro-Israel speakers have been shouted down or have had to cancel their speeches because of the threat of violent disruption.
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November 11, 2009, 6:23 pmbyomtov says:
Yankev,
For some reason I’m thinking Purim, but I can’t seem to find the source.
I think you are right.
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November 11, 2009, 7:56 pmStrict says:
“Regardless of whether a viewer is inspired or annoyed by the juxtaposition, it’s another example of how, even in the 21st century, the story of Moses and the Exodus continues to play an important role in American public life.”
lol
First, that movie is 50 years old — hardly 21st century material.
Second, those two scenes aren’t even similar. They are holding their objects in totally different ways.
Third, you can’t say it’s “another example” if you haven’t given any others.
Fourth, you cant say it plays an “important role in American life,” but then not say what that role is, or how it is important.
Fifth, none of this makes any sense. The United States was founded by a large group of individuals who agreed on a set of ideals. It was a consensus. Moses, however, ruled from above, dictating down to the people.
Sixth, Moses mass murdered in a fire hundreds of Jews who dissented from his autocracy. That’s who you see as a the essential American hero? Moses, the guy who mistreated prisoners of war? Moses: “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourself.” Numbers 31:17–18 KJV. Murdering and raping little children — how American and heroic!
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November 11, 2009, 9:57 pmYankev says:
Typical atheist perspective. But you do make the valid point that none of the founders of the US received constant, unequivocal and direct instruction from G-d. And if they had claimed to, people would have justifiably discounted them and treated them as dangerous demagogues, and rightly so. Moses, who WAS in that position, was repeatedly accused of the same thing.
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November 12, 2009, 9:02 amStrict says:
Yeah.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Moses.
But there is nothing “21st century American hero” or “America’s real founding father” about Moses. An argument could be made that he was Israel’s founding father.
Some people I guess find comfort in equating Israel’s founding father with America’s founding father.
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November 12, 2009, 10:02 amYankev says:
Agreed. I’m not sure that Israeli’s look at him as a founding father of the modern State of Israel, though. (DB? ) Religious Jews simply refer to him as Moshe Rabbeinu — Moses our Rabbi, which denotes both teacher and master. But a leader of a democratic form of government? Nope, and never claimed to be.
There are some interesting aspects to that theory, the doctrine of Christian supercessionism, and the conceit (in the literary sense, not the the egotistic sense) of the Church as the New Israel, as well as the more recent conceit among some Christian sects that experiment with celebrating Jewish holidays but infusing them with very unJewish Christian significance and symbolism. But all that is not only off-thread, but is better discussed over coffee than on-line.
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November 12, 2009, 1:59 pmTweets that mention The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Bloggingheads TV on Moses as the essential American hero -- Topsy.com says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by PostRank – Economics, tvebookdotcom. tvebookdotcom said: The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Bloggingheads TV on Moses ... http://bit.ly/2jMoHR [...]
Imperial Snuggie (link roundup) - Fashion and T-Shirt Blog says:
[...] Moses was the founding fathers’ hero, and Franklin and Jefferson wanted him to star on the seal of the United [...]
Gordon Clason says:
You are all missing the point. Jefferson’s chosen motto, “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God” is a quote from Oliver Cromwell, and the image of Pharaoh dying in the Red Sea, too, is a mythological symbol of justifiable regicide.
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November 13, 2009, 11:23 pm