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Jesus Made In America Analysis

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Jesus Made in America by Stephen J. Nichols explores the way that American culture has adapted Christ to align with cultural norms rather than to align culture to Jesus of the Bible. The idea is that Jesus will fulfill the needs of Americans based on what they value and want in their spiritual lives, rather than what is Biblical and upright. The book follows American history from the time of the Puritans to present day, looking at issues like Christian music, movies, marketing and politics tackling all of these issues in the terms of when they were popular in Christian culture.
Toward the end of their time together Jesus asked his disciple Peter who he would say that Jesus is, Peter replied by saying that Jesus was the Messiah, the one who had come to create a new covenant between …show more content…

To be sure, the Puritan Jesus is incarnate: he is the God-man. Yet he’s just too far out of reach for the personal touch.” (Nichols, 2008, p. 20) During this time period, Christians saw Jesus as strict and ridged, this was the persona their culture needed Him to fulfill. The Bible does have examples of Christ not being a gushy guy, He threw tables in the temple because of sin; however, this is not the only way He is portrayed. The cultural portrayal of Jesus greatly impacts the theology of the time, and the way Christians live and relate to God. The Puritans held strict and legalistic ways of life, therefore their Jesus aligned with those views. It is likely that many people of the time had a legitimate fear of the Lord. Additionally, they were more likely to at least publically uphold Biblical and religious commandments out of fear of the judgment they would otherwise face. This idea is vastly different from what is held by many Christians today, and differs even from what some churches

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