172 JOURNAL OF CHURCH AND STATE

Jonathan Edwards to Aaron Burr, Jr.: From Awakening to Democratic Politics. By Suzanne Geissler. Studies in American Religion, vol. 1. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1981. 276 pp. $24.95 paper.

In his provocative Religion and the American Mind (1966), Alan Hei- mert suggested that the Great Awakening inspired a nationalism and egalitarianism that resulted in revolution and Jeffersonian Republican- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jcs/article/25/1/172/809775 by guest on 01 October 2021 ism. To test Heimert's theory, Suzanne Geissler investigates a surpris- ing subject: the infamous and erratic Aaron Burr, Jr. Geissler cites several examples of New Light influence on Burr. His mother, Esther Edwards Burr, practiced Calvinist child-rearing methods. His family's reputation reminded Burr of his godly heritage. Burr read the works of Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Hopkins, and Joseph Bellamy, and he studied [or the ministry with Bellamy himself. Burr went on to become a Jeffersonian Republican and supported many radical reforms: abolition, women's rights, and extension of the franchise. Was his evangelical background, however, responsible for his philosophy and political practices? Despite Geissler's assertions, one doubts that either Edwards or Bellamy would claim Burr. Orphaned at two, Burr seems to have absorbed little of his family's moral seriousness. Although Burr's ideas sometimes paralleled Bellamy's, the uhimate concerns of the two men were very different. Hopkins aside, few associates of the Awakening became abolitionists and, fewer yet, feminists. Burr may well have obtained his ideas from Enlightenment literature or from experiences about which we know nothing. Burr is elusive precisely because we know so little about his life before college. Geissler provides important information on a neglected aspect of Burr's life. After reading her book, historians will not be able to dis- miss Burr's evangelical background; few, however, will agree with Geissler that this background was the formative influence of Burr's life.

Martha T. Blauvelt

Political Cohesion of American Jews in American Politics: A Reappraisal of Their Role in Presidential Elections. By M. S. El Azhary. Washing- ton, D.C.: University Press of America, 1980.70 pp. $6.50 paper. It seems true that American Jews frequently react asa group to spe- cific issues and events. United States support of the State of Israel is of "Jewish interest," transcending Democratic and Republican partisan politics. American Jews have also been ideologically in tune with the domestic policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and most have maintained their adherence to the Democratic party for nearly forty years, regard- less of their socioeconomic situations. BOOK REVIEWS 173 This identification with causes generally termed "liberal"--in the New Deal sense--is quite in contrast to other American religious groups, but the real importance of the Jewish vote in national elections is highly exaggerated. These are the opinions of the author, who believes that the Jewish vote in favor of one candidate may be occa- sionally important in the electoral votes of the ten largest states. Jews are also viewed as disproportionally effective because of their concen- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jcs/article/25/1/172/809775 by guest on 01 October 2021 tration in the metropolitan urban areas of the large states and their high rate of participation in national elections. This little book is full of tables, charts, and unnecessarily boring po- litical statistics of eight presidential campaigns from 1948 to 1976. There is no discussion of the reasons for some of the "Jewish bloc" votes, nor is there reported a seemingly growing conservatism among American Jewish voters. While Jewish voters may demonstrate "atti- tude and opinion similarity," this reviewer does not believe that they are so single-issue-minded that they will always vote for the presiden- tial candidate who most vigorously promises or shows solid support for the State of Israel. It is unfortunate that such is implied in chapter three. El Azhary may update existing information on this topic, but he adds hardly anything new to the knowledge provided earlier by Lau- rence Fuchs, Samuel Lubell, and many other political analysts.

Ernest G. Budwig

The Holy Land in American Protestant Life, 1800-1948:z1 Documentary History. Edited by Robert T. Handy. New York: Arno Press, 1981. 259 pp. $20.00. This modest but very informative and useful volume is another title in the impressive series "America-Holy Land Studies," produced as a joint project of the American Jewish Historical Society and the Insti- tute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The studies are published by Arno Press, a New York Times company, under project director Moshe Davis and co-directors Selig Adl› and Robert T. Handy, the latter the editor of this anthology. As its title indicates, the book is highly specialized in substance and restricted in time frame; the twenty-nine selections, however, reveal ah interregional relationship that was significant and influential both during the 148 years covered by the volume and alsominfinitely more so--during the years since 1948. Handy, a distinguished church historian with Union Theological Seminary, has long displayed an interest in America-Holy Land relationships. Indeed, he published an article on the subject in Journal of Church and State in 1971. He chose the time frame carefully for the anthology: America had few relations with the Holy Land