Kabbalah and the Founding of America: The Early Influence of Jewish Thought in the New World

Ogren (The Beginning of the World in Renaissance Jewish Thought), professor of Judaic Studies at Rice University, offers an insightful revisionist take on how esoteric Jewish texts shaped American religious thought in the 17th and 18th centuries. Ogren argues against notions that Jewish thought could not have influenced colonial and early American Christianity in meaningful ways because Jews made up less than .0005% of the population of 18th-century British North America. Instead, he contends, the study of Judaism was prevalent throughout colonial institutions. Ogren’s extensive research (primarily using personal letters, speeches, and church documents) and analysis traces American engagement with mystical texts as far back as 1685, when Scottish Christian Quaker theologian George Keith assumed the position of surveyor general of East Jersey and “immediately preached a kabbalistically inflected brand of Quakerism throughout the colonies.” Ogren successfully explores “religious dialogue, questions of cultural diversity, ideas of American exceptionalism, and attempts to meld the old with the new,” arguing that ideas such as 17th-century minister Increase Mather’s messianic conception of America and 20th-century historian Perry Miller’s “City on a Hill” metaphor are evidence of a thread of kabbalistic influence that runs through to the present day. Historians of America Judaism must take a look. (July)