In The Real American Dream, Andrew Delbanco summarizes the various social conditions and common assumptions about reality that he believes have shaped the spiritual affections of our relatively young nation from the first English settlements to the present day.
Although Delbanco handles the historical evidence sparingly, his arguments are penetrating and far-ranging, giving the reader a strong sense of what our human longings mean for the present and the future of America. He states his premise with these words:
“Human beings need to organize the inchoate sensations amid which we pass our days – pain, desire, pleasure, fear – into a story. When that story leads somewhere and thereby helps us navigate through life to its inevitable terminus in death, it gives us hope. And if such a sustaining narrative establishes itself over time in the minds of a substantial number of people, we call it culture.”
To Delbanco, the innate need for a meaningful story is the dominant force behind the development of what is commonly called the “American Dream”, a dream that is distinctly national. Moreover, it is his belief that an organizing narrative will not only capture our “pain, desire, pleasure, fear,” but also give rise to hope within and guidance without as we seek to navigate the pitfalls of life. Since ours is a progressively and ever-expanding nation, a nation that some say is morally dedicated to the quest for continually improved means to carelessly examined ends, Delbanco goes on to write about three Dreams that have shaped the American psyche.
The first dream he simply labels “God.” It is the phase in American history in which he says, “Hope was chiefly expressed through a Christian story that gave meaning to suffering and pleasure alike and promised deliverance from death.” This dream was not created in a vacuum. God had been lost in the pomp and glitter of the seventeenth century English church. Worldliness had lulled the soul of a nation to sleep. Persecution and death were norms for the faithful Christian. So the Puritans put their lives in the hands of a faithful God and came to the New World with the hope of a better tomorrow. This kind of trust and dependency upon God distinguished the soul of our nation for almost two hundred years.
The second dream Delbanco summarizes is called the “Nation.” He argues that the first dream was slowly lost by the cold and pervasive rationality of the Enlightenment. Like Europe before, churches were no longer thriving and growing faithful disciples. It was better to act pious than to know Christ and the fellowship of His suffering. Souls in search of meaning were less inclined to turn to Christianity in order to feel connected to something larger than them. Prompted by men like Emerson and Lincoln, they turned to the “idea of citizenship in a sacred union.” Affection for God’s glory was subtly replaced with national sovereignty and civil glory. This new system of thought, with all its humane hopes and dreams, filled the vacuum and persuasively inspired our young nation.
The dominance of this second dream found mesmerizing control in the 1920s with the advancement of industry and the sciences. So much so that by 1933, five years into the Great Depression, our nation was crying out from the food lines to the government, not God, for deliverance, revealing that our collective hope for a better tomorrow was firmly in the hands of politicians.
Is this expression of civil religion dead? Delbanco believes most Americans have moved on. A vast majority of our nation no longer recognizes civil religion as the defining narrative of life. Why? To quote Delbanco again, it does not adequately “organize the inchoate sensations amid which we pass our days – pain, desire, pleasure, fear – into a story” that is believable or desired today.
So what motivates Americans today? According to Delbanco, the third and latest dream is the realization of “Self.” In other words, the good life is now pursued through the tastes and likings of the individual, not God or service to one’s nation. And successful politicians are learning how to speak to this dream.
For example, today most Americans dream of happiness found through relationships, purchasing the latest and greatest novelty, going places, succeeding at work, protecting personal rights, the perfect weekend, an opulent vacation abroad, or freedom to be who they are without judgment. Of course there are exceptions to the rule. There are some who find all this a bit hollow. And so in the quest to feel connected to something bigger than self they pursue personal reward and meaning through philanthropy, social engineering, careerism, or apocalyptic environmentalism. But in all of this personal desires are king and politicians are acting more like court jesters than law keepers.
So where will this take us? What story will capture the heart of America in the future? Delbanco does not predict what the American Dream will be in the next twenty years. God. Nation. Self. Only the Lord knows what is next. But this is what we do know about God’s ways – He is faithful to His church. I personally believe the next Jonathan Edwards, the next George Whitfield, or the next Billy Graham that God uses to bring about the next great awakening may very well be sitting right now in a tattoo parlor getting inked. Who knew that Saul of Tarsus would be the great apostle to the Gentiles?
Friends, we are charting new territory as a nation. The future is going to look different than the days of our parents and grandparents. We will be forced to explain things that once were assumed. But that is not a call to retreat, get sentimental or jaded. It just means that we as a people who preach Christ crucified and risen will look a little more crazy to the people around us who are in search of the next American Dream. And that, in the end will be our greatest contribution to a world needing “to organize the inchoate sensations amid which we pass our days – pain, desire, pleasure, fear – into a story that truly” gives birth to hope.
Therefore, if you are a follower of Christ, let me encourage you not be one who adheres to any national dream other than the one presented by the Lord. When knowing Him and pleasing Him has become your greatest delight and when He has become your greatest security, then you will be free to truly live and dream!