"In this book, the author has written a history of not only the National Cathedral but also the idea that animates it, arguing that it is a touchstone site for the American civil religion - the idea that the American nation functions much like a religion, with its own rituals, sacred texts, holy days, and so on. Moreover, he shows, it is the National Cathedral that most embodies the various tug-of-wars that have quietly defined the American civil religion - questions of belonging, of ideology, and of Americas place in the world"--"A history of Washington National Cathedral and the theory of an American civil religion.In 1792, Pierre Charles LEnfant, the first city planner of Washington, DC, introduced the idea of a "great church for national purposes." Unlike LEnfants plans for the White House, the US Capitol, and the National Mall, this grand temple to the republic never materialized. But in 1890, the Episcopal Church began planning what is known today as Washington National Cathedral. In American Kairos, Richard Benjamin Crosby chronicles the history of not only the building but also the idea that animates it, arguing that the cathedral is a touchstone site for the American civil religion-the idea that the United States functions much like a religion, with its own rituals, sacred texts, holy days, and so on. He shows that the National Cathedral can never be the church LEnfant envisioned, but it can be a starting point for studying the conflicts of belonging, ideology, and Americas place in the world that define the American civil religion. By examining correspondence between LEnfant, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others, and by diving into Washington National Cathedrals archives, Crosby uncovers a crucial gap in the formation of the nations soul.

While LEnfants original vision was never realized, Washington National Cathedral reminds us that perhaps it can be. The cathedral is one of the great rhetorical and architectural triumphs in the history of American religion. Without government mandate or public vote, it has claimed its role as Americas de facto house of worship, a civil religious temple wherein Americans conduct some of their highest, holiest rituals, including state funerals and National Day of Prayer services"--.