THE AMERICAN SPIRITUAL CULTURE: The Invention of Jazz, Football and the Movies

What is a "Spiritual Culture?" And if a nation can have one, what does America's look like? These are the questions at the heart of the latest offering from Dean, a professor at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. Dean argues that the centrally defining characteristic of Americans is that they are an immigrant people, culturally displaced. The first part of the book then suggests what this means for an "American spiritual culture," while the second forays into three American popular arts—jazz, football and the movies. Early on, Dean concedes that the American spiritual culture is difficult to define. It is "so inchoate that it is barely susceptible to discussion in formal theological and philosophical categories." Therefore, Dean says, he needs to "back into" the definition. The problem is that as he's backing in, neither he nor we see where he's going. The argument stumbles along, redefining term after term in new-hewn jargon (since formal categories—i.e., standard definitions—don't work). For example: "Faith is the communal sensitivity or sensibility that discerns the sacred convention as it is manifest in history." Along the way, he quotes extensively from a wide range of sources. The erudition is impressive, but the quotes are not always helpful and are often enough misused that one doubts his use of the others. Though not for general readership, this is fine for a specialized audience—those with deep background in the social sciences and constructive theology. And much patience. (Nov.)

At least six essay collections on contemporary African-American experience are forthcoming this winter. Taken together, they provide a plethora of descriptions, directions, digressions and exhortations for the coming years.