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The Special Relationship
By Dwight Longenecker
Review of:
Chosen People
The Big Idea that Shapes England and America
By Clifford Longley
Hodder and Stoughton £16.99
Oscar Wilde observed that, ‘America is the only country that has gone from a period of barbarism to a period of decadence without an intervening period of civilisation.’ It’s a witty comment, but it reveals the usual English snobbery towards America. Is it only my country that believes ignorance and snobbery is bad manners? And yet when it comes to America, the English seem to think snobbery is good form. I’m afraid snobbery is never good form. Despite what people think, snobbery does not prove superiority, but confirms inferiority.
It is all the more delightful therefore to read a book about America written by an Englishman who understands and likes the USA. Clifford Longley is married to an American, and he writes about England and America with his experience and affection for both countries showing. In Chosen People Longley shows how the idea of the ‘God’s chosen people’ has driven both England and America. To do this he traces both English and American cultural roots back to the Judeo-Christian idea that God has a chosen people who have a special destiny in world history. This idea can be traced in the coronation service which imposes Old Testament ideas of kingship onto the English monarch. The same idea of being a chosen people can be traced through the writings of the Puritan preachers in America. Longley contends that this divinely ordained self-understanding has shaped English and American history, and that while it is fading in England, it still shapes America’s action on the world stage.
There is much in what Longley says, and he argues his case well. Implicit in his book, however, is the assumption that this viewpoint must be wrong. He seems to think that it is naive for England and America to see themselves as chosen people. I’m not sure that his critique holds up. Salvation history relies on the concept of there being a chosen people of God, and while a ‘chosen people’ are not automatically privileged over all other people, it is true that God ‘chooses to bless’ those who honour him. This is not an arbitrary blessing; it is integral to good behaviour. If we live according to God’s plan we are his chosen people and we will enjoy his favour. This doesn’t mean a ‘chosen people’ are always right in what they do, or that they will always escape hardship. Furthermore, an individual, a family or a nation are chosen not only to receive privileges, but to take responsibilities.
Longley’s timely book is well written and timely. With scholarly notes, index and bibliography it is a heavyweight contribution to international studies. Unfortunately, it bogs down in the middle, and one has the suspicion that at times Longley has allowed himself too many words and too much padding for what, in the end, is single idea. But this is a quibble over what is a challenging study that not only sheds light on current events, but also helps the English and the Americans to understand one another better.
Dwight Longenecker is the editor of The Path to Rome—Modern Journeys to the Catholic Faith.
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