ABSTRACT
The enormous territory that came to be known as America, upon which Christopher Columbus had landed accidentally, shortly before the dawn of the sixteenth century, had seemed to provide the perfect opportunity for just such a fresh start. America's symbols, its mythology, its image of Homo modernus, define the global conversation. The legendary rugged individual was only part myth; its basis in reality was solid, further reinforced by the culture that soon blossomed, seeking to reinforce and nourish the human soul in the difficult surroundings it had found on the more pristine side of the Atlantic. That culture adapted old themes to the New World, endowing time-honored myths with new meanings. In order for the New World to represent a new beginning, it must be capable of regeneration. Its roots must be able to nourish the souls of its human creatures and sustain them to reflect the image of God.
