God's Sacred Tongue

“The notes and bibliography, the readability and the subject of this work make it the best such narrative we have. . . . Likely to stimulate further work.” — Religious Studies Review

“Goldman is a good biographer and storyteller, making [God’s Sacred Tongue] a pleasant read.” — Jewish Book World

“Each chapter contains provocative stories of Christians in America who viewed the Hebrew language, and the Jews, either real or mythic, as well as the land of Israel, as utterly different than any other language, people or land.” — American Historical Review

“[A] well-researched intellectual history of Hebraism in America. . . . This is a worthwhile resource not only for the facts, but also for inspiration.” — Na'amat Woman

“No one has told the mottled history of American Christian Hebraism from the colonial era to the twentieth century better than Goldman.” — American Jewish History

“Goldman’s ideas, interspersed throughout the book, are distilled in brilliant introductions and an epilogue, illuminating issues of Jewish history and interfaith relations, . . . showing that Christian Biblicism and Hebraism continue to play crucial roles in shaping American religion, education, cultural mores, and politics. . . . Highly recommended.” — CHOICE

“Meticulously researched, compelling, and often provocative.” — American Literary History

“God’s Sacred Tongue is a fascinating sidelight on America’s obsession with Israel. . . . Goldman tells us plenty of interesting facts.” — Commentary

“Often conceived of as out of the mainstream, Judaism has shaped the religious and intellectual culture of the United States. Shalom Goldman brings that insight to bear in his elegant narrative of key scholars and writers.” — Bruce Chilton, Bard College

“In a brilliant and fascinating book, Shalom Goldman recovers the extraordinary story of Hebraic culture in America. He tells a story ranging from university professors of Hebrew (including an earlier George Bush), influential intellectuals (Edmund Wilson) and theologians and social activists (Jonathan Edwards and Reinhold Niebuhr). America’s identification with God’s own language is a remarkable configuration of religion, politics, and scholarship, and gives us new clues to the unique relationship of Jews and Christians in the United States.” — Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College, author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus