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“Halpern reveals a shared moral inheritance that too often goes unnoticed or, worse, is covered up by modern political actors.”
—Scott Jennings, senior political commentator at CNN
The story of America cannot be fully understood without the story of biblical Israel.
From the Pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic in search of a Promised Land to presidents, abolitionists, civil rights leaders, and countless ordinary Americans, generations have looked to the Hebrew Bible to understand their nation’s purpose. They saw their own journey reflected in the story of God’s covenantal people. They drew courage from Israel’s trials, hope from its promises, and inspiration from its faith.
Yet today, as antisemitic narratives and historical revisionism seek to diminish both the Jewish contribution to America and the enduring bond between the United States and the modern State of Israel, the Hebraic foundations of the American experiment are increasingly forgotten.
In Two Nations Under God: How (Biblical) Israel Inspires the United States, Stuart Halpern demonstrates that America’s identity has been profoundly shaped by the people, principles, and promises of the Jewish national project. Spanning every era of American history and reaching across political and denominational lines, this compelling work reveals how the Hebrew Scriptures have influenced America’s vision of liberty, justice, covenant, and civic purpose.
“Stuart Halpern reminds us that history is richer than ideology and more surprising than cliché. With remarkable scholarship and an engaging storyteller’s touch, Two Nations Under God uncovers the profound ways biblical Israel shaped America’s founding ideals, political language, and national character.”
—Scott Jennings, senior political commentator at CNN
“Two Nations Under God is a tour de force, a powerfully convincing argument for the deep and essential unity of mind and soul linking the United States and Israel, based not on considerations of current politics, but on a deep commonality of culture. Halpern shows how melodies from the Hebrew Bible continuously enrich and ennoble the music of the American Republic.”
—Wilfred McClay, Hillsdale College; author of Land of Hope
“Stuart Halpern has written the book I have long wished existed. Long before America was a nation, she was a story—and the story was Israel’s. With the eye of a scholar and the soul of a storyteller, Halpern gathers the scattered evidence—Harvard’s Hebrew requirement, Exodus on the lips of Lincoln, Leviticus inscribed on the Liberty Bell—into a single, luminous argument: that two free peoples, under one God, still share a covenant worth keeping. Two Nations Under God is both a history and a homecoming.”
—Reverend Johnnie Moore, vice chancellor at Pepperdine University; president at The Congress of Christian Leaders
“Two Nations Under God is a sweeping and provocative exploration of the profound ways biblical Israel has shaped the American story. Drawing on history, theology, politics, literature, and culture, the book highlights the enduring Hebraic influences woven into the nation’s founding ideals, public rhetoric, and civic identity.”
—Carlos Campo, CEO of the Museum of the Bible
“Two Nations Under God provides a fascinating gallimaufry of characters—including Puritans, presidents, and stars of popular culture—who drew upon the Bible to shape American history, culture, and life. While not the first book to demonstrate the Hebrew Bible’s impact on America, it is by far the most comprehensive and enjoyable one.”
—Jonathan D. Sarna, Brandeis University; author of American Judaism: A History
“Drawing on his deep knowledge of both biblical literature and history, Stuart Halpern masterfully chronicles the parallel paths and intertwined destinies of the Hebrew and American peoples... Two Nations Under God brims with keen insights into the American experience and identity as revealed by the experiences and identity of biblical Israel, giving the two nations a common character and unique bond.”
—Daniel L. Dreisbach, American University; author of Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers
RABBI DR. STUART HALPERN serves as the senior advisor to the provost and deputy director of the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. His writing on the Hebrew Bible’s impact on the United States has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Tablet, Jewish Review of Books, and First Things. Among his edited books are Jewish Roots of American Liberty: The Impact of Hebraic Ideas on the American Story, The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada, Esther in America, and Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land: The Hebrew Bible in the United States.