Of all the reprehensible things Donald Trump has ever done, selling a Bible seems to rank pretty far down the list.
Yet his and Lee Greenwood’s marketing of a God Bless the USA Bible for $59.99 has sparked several rounds of news outrage.
The Bible features a cover of the American flag and accompanying American historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence, as well as lyrics to Greenwood’s iconic patriotic song.
Peddling the Bible as if it were a digital trading card or a personalized sneaker – to name just a few other products Trump has championed in his inimitable style – is in bad taste and unpresidential, it will without saying.
Dwight Eisenhower didn’t market golf balls, and it was famously Jimmy Carter’s brother – not the president – who sold a special brand beer.
Nor should anyone confuse the work of Thomas Jefferson – or Lee Greenwood – with the Word of God.
But the furious comments suggest Trump is the first person to sell an edition of a Bible aimed at a niche market.
In reality, there is a dizzying array of Bibles in this country for people with different interests, whether it’s the law enforcement Bible, the busy mom’s Bible, or the hobbyist’s Bible. outdoors with camouflage cover and “devotions directly linked to the sports of hunting and fishing”. , hiking or any outdoor activity.
That of God Bless the USA was first published in 2021 and was already competing in the American Patriot’s Bible from 2009.
The fact is, selling Bibles is a very American business, and the Bible, especially the Trump-endorsed King James Version, is a very American book, in fact. THE American book.
The Mayflower’s ship’s carpenter could have brought the first copy of the King James Bible to our shores.
Historian of Christianity Mark Noll notes that the Bible was often the only book that families owned.
Around 1800, traveling Bible salesman Parson Weems (famous for his biography of George Washington) marveled at the bustling market: “I tell you, this is the season and the age of the Bible. Bible Dictionaries, Bible Tales, Bible Stories – Simple or Paraphrased Bibles, Carey Bibles, Collin Bibles, Clarke Bibles, Kimptor Bibles, it doesn’t matter what or who, everything, everything will fall, so vast is the crater of appetite of the public at the moment. .”
According to Noll, between 1794 and 1815, 186 novels were published in America, compared to 246 editions of the New Testament or the complete Bible.
Almost all Bibles published before 1840 were the King James Version.
Already in the early 19th century, he writes, “printer-publishers were creating and meeting demand by packaging the King James Version in many formats, forms, and prices.”
Constant innovations in printing and distribution meant that the Bible and biblical literature led to what another historian calls “the birth of mass media in America.”
The King James Version played a huge role in shaping America’s anti-monarchical attitudes during the Revolution.
The way the Bible permeated and shaped American life was one reason why the country’s early leaders hoped that a state establishment of religion was not necessary: through the Bible, they could have Christianity and a virtuous society without Christianity.
The King James Bible has become a foundation of American rhetoric and literature, so much so that it is impossible to imagine the work of Martin Luther King or William Faulkner without it.
Even though his influence has waned, we often quote or echo him without even knowing it.
“The great influence of the King James Version in American history,” Noll said, “came precisely because it was so widely available; because precisely his words, and what they communicated, had entered so deeply into the consciousness of so many Americans, and especially otherwise voiceless Americans.
God Bless the USA will not constitute a significant contribution to this tradition, but it is not a betrayal of it either.
Twitter: @RichLowry
New York Post
