Eisenach (emer., Univ. of Tulsa) makes a significant contribution to the field of American political development with his latest book. Contemporary political science often fails to understand religion as anything more than just another social movement or variable in the equation. Eisenach, on the other hand, in what is arguably his best work to date, sheds considerable light on the broad, albeit often unperceived, influence of religion on American political ideology and identity. It is not simply that religious ideas motivate a particular party or interest group or movement, but rather that "religion is embedded in American political thought." Furthermore, Eisenach's argument is not theological but indeed epistemological. American political ideas and discourse are deeply informed by religious ways of thinking and speaking. American concepts of everything from time and history to justice and progress are shaped by religious thought patterns employed by believers and nonbelievers alike. Finally, the book not only offers a needed historical perspective, but analyzes the themes of religious discourse in contemporary US politics and political ideology. Students of American political development will likely be studying Eisenach's work for years to come. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections.

Choice Reviews

Theoretically and methodologically sophisticated, Sacred Discourse and American Nationality is an impressive synthesis of two decades of influential scholarship. . . . For those who study the connections between religious and political thought and for anyone who cares about the future of American politics, this is a richly rewarding book.

Journal of Church and State

Eldon J. Eisenach has long written on issues of religion, politics, and political thought. His most recent work, Sacred Discourse and American Nationality, continues this focus, examining Progressive religion, political ideology, and national identity in turn-of-the-twentieth-century America. Yet the work embodies much more than just the era of American Progressivism. It encapsulates much of Eisenach’s previous corpus in a brief, wide-ranging analysis, from the constitutive role of religion in American politics to the development of interest group liberalism and multiculturalism. . . .Sacred Discourse and American Nationality is a compilation of articles [which] yields significant dividends for the attentive reader. Its occasional density embodies serious reflection on the organizing themes of political life, leaving aside the details of elections, administrations, and policies.

The Review of Politics

For forty years, Eldon Eisenach has been one of the deepest, most incisive, analysts of American political thought. Sacred Discourse and American Nationality offers not only an illuminating re-interpretation of American Progressivism based on the twin notions announced in his title, but also an equally illuminating, if at times depressing, analysis of the failure of contemporary American liberals, often described as heirs of the Progressives, to escape their recent defensive posture against a resurgent and confident conservatism. The book is thus altogether timely, given the upcoming presidential election, but its insights and diagnoses will be relevant regardless of the results of the 2012 election.

Sanford Levinson, co-author (with Jack Balkin) of Democracy and Dysfunction

Eldon Eisenach explores powerful ideas and plants them in time and place. In essays with extraordinary sweep, he gives us a fresh account of the sacred and the secular, stasis and change, the surface appearance and deeper realities. What emerges is nothing less than an important new view of American political development. Elegant, magisterial, wise, fascinating, subtle, and highly recommended.

James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation and The Heart of Power