Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West

Interesting look at World history not just the American revolution, as you might think from the title.

This book is engrossing, clever and profound. If you love beautifully written tales of historical connections peppered with wonderful anecdotes woven in a tapestry of carefully crafted narrative this is it. This is an essential read for those trying to make sense of our current culture. It is a sophisticated, judicious, fresh analysis of the intellectual tectonics which have landed us us in this “WEIRDER” world.

Andrew Wilson has opened a window on the American Revolution. He connects the values and culture of 2023 to their headwaters in 1776. “ . . . 1776, more than any other year in the last millennium, is the year that made us who we are.” (p.7)Wilson’s work is dense, filled with evidence of years of research and reflection (the end notes are worth the price of the book). There are parts that must be read slowly. To ease the mind there are wonderful stories to illustrate his point. But his point, to me, was clear. If you want to understand how we got to this present moment in our secularized Western culture, you will find its sources present in 1776. We are where we are, not because we abandoned the ideas of the founders, but because we carried them to their logical conclusion. America was the fruit of the cultural memories of Christendom co-opted and subordinated to the purpose of Enlightenment political and cultural revolution.The book confirmed this conclusion. It is one that has been slowly forming in my thoughts for some time. Other books that have fed my reflections include The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Plain Honest Men, and Novus Ordo Seclorum.SummaryWilson uses the acronym of our WEIRDER culture (borrowed and modified from this excellent book). Each letter stands for a stream that was forming at the time, and is now merged into our culture that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic. He devotes a chapter to each theme, showing its presence and influence in the year of the American Revolution.As I read I wondered why I had not been told previously that Thomas Paine, Edward Gibbon, Adam Smith, James Watt’s steam engine, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Captain James Cook were all active in that year. Along with these seminal thinkers, we find cries for the end to slavery, the disestablishment of the church, women voting, deep revival of the church, and rethinking all human ethics. There were even thinkers who insisted that if we throw God out and base all morals on reason, then there are no morals (the Marquis de Sade lived accordingly).Wilson provides a wide angle view of the year of the American Revolution. he has brought good scholarship and clear example together, so much so that I think I have gained a new understanding of how I see the world (to which I am blind or which I take for granted). My copy is filled with asterisks in the margins and earmarked pages.I recommend reading carefully, checking footnotes, and taking notes on every aspect of being WEIRDER.My TakeawaysHere is some of what I have gained in reading and rereading this work:Our cultural roots are complex and unique. Globalization, industrialization, free market economics, radical rejection of revelation for reason are all present. Human corruption is everywhere, including corruption among professed Christians (the leading churchman who was known to have many mistresses and at the same time was also appalled that Hume denied the afterlife). All the seeds of the modern sexual revolution, the idea that “I am what I feel,” the notion of freedom as the absence of any restraint were present then. They are not new. They were in the founders and political philosophers that shaped the American and French Revolutions (see Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self for a complete description).Christianity was present, the fruit of 1000 years of Christendom. But for many “Christianity” was deism or a moral order or human rights. That brand of Christianity was stripped of sin and atonement, of repentance and faith, of the supernatural re-creation of a life in Christ. Faithful Christian profession was held by some, but the dominant stream was a movement seeking freedom from dogmatism. The Christianity of many of that day was a syncretism of radical reason based living with some dusting of Christian morals and terminology.The revolutionary stream was, to be sure, colored by the language of Scripture. Scriptural and theological ideas were part of the agreed upon talk of the day — not because those who used it were Bible affirming, Christ confessing, godly churchmen. Rather, just as most Muslims (practicing or not) use the name of God and the ideas of Islam in their daily greetings (“Peace be with you,” “if God wills”), so many of the founders spoke of divine law, Providence, and the Creator because it was the only way to talk.Given the confluence of many streams, gone is any possibility that America is a “Christian” nation, founded on “Christian principles,” purposed to preserve “Christian” influence against the tide of the enlightenment. In its place I find greater certainty that the American revolutionaries (our founders) were riding in a stream of opposition to the rule of Scripture, the hegemony of the church, and in their place, an assertion the power of “reason” to “build a new world.” The few faithful churchmen among them were breathing enlightenment air and may not have known how much it influenced them.I doubt many who think of America as Christian will find anything is this book convincing. Reading reviews of the book show me that. My observation is that people who believe and teach such have no real interest in the actual history. What they hold is a sentiment, kneaded into their hearts by some experience or influence. What they want to hear is the reinforcement of their sentiment. But that remark cuts both ways. There can also be an anti-Christian sentiment (the label given to the “dark ages” because they were a time when people believed God has spoken authoritatively), or the ideologically shaped radical rewriting of history (say the 1619 project)— neither of which has much to do with facts. Wilson is even handed. He blows up many of these ideas as well.I do not think I am the paragon of being “open to the facts” research. No one is. But what I do not want to do is abandon any possibility of a conclusion. That plays into the hands of demagogues and ideologues. Wilson warns about the danger of all forms of rewriting the past — citing George Orwell’s fiction in which no one remembers or cares about the past. From 1984: History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” The work of men like Wilson will guard us from this.

Been reading history for 60 years with special attention to events leading up to the Founding of these United States through Reconstruction, with special interest in the religious and Christian aspects thereof, and the interplay between our country and the rest of the world. Amazing amount of information and history in this relatively small volume which is nicely tied in between chapters, with many insights and correlations never read before! And in very readable style. As another reviewer mentioned, best taken in small/chapter bites and digested before proceeding. Found it helpful to reread Chapter 1 and the last two chapters after a few days of completing the text. The information in the book actually helped me make sense of several diverse events and ideas that I have wondered about for a number of years.I do think the author has "drunk the kool aid" regarding the Lincoln Myth and demonstrates less understanding of the southeast United States in history compared to the rest of his missive.But would rate it in my top 4 or5 books ever read!!FMM.MD

The first thought is the American 1776 significance. However, Wilson takes us on a tour of the world at that time. And there was plenty of significance happening in addition to the very important American perspective on that date.He does a good job of bringing the Christian and the church from fear and maybe lethargy to look at what they should be doing to impact the world with the Gospel and life of a Christian.

Once again, I am happy to have been wrong about a book.Initially ambivalent, I feared that a religious history focused on the year 1776 would be American and Evangelical, when in fact it's a highly erudite look at the world created by the Enlightenment from the perspective of a British Christian.He describes our society as WEIRDER: Western, educated, industrialized, democratic, ex-Christian and Romantic. Notably, however, he places more emphasis on the "Christian" than on the "ex-", arguing convincingly that secularism is far more religious than most of us would care to admit.Like many good books, Remaking the World cannot be summarized justly; the author's too smart and his work too well-crafted for that. But I will say that it exceeded my expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I recommend it to all of you good people.

With a vast sweep of history, fascinating insights into events and people, a bibliography the size of Basingstoke, and reflections that alter the way you see history and the world make this book simply stunning.Not for the faint-hearted. This is not an easy read or a bed time pick up. This is a serious study of historical events with some big themes, big names and big words. Wow.

I loved this book. So much food for thought, so many areas I wanted to pursue. I did make the mistake of using an Audible credit for my initial purchase but have subsequently bought the hardback. The audio version has the virtue of being read by the author. It is read at a lively pace, so I think better to get the book if you don’t want just to be entertained. As I am interested in Europe, especially France, philosophy and literature, I became gripped from chapter 5 onwards, and kept rewinding, hence the need for the book too.

Very well researched, intriguing read