Homeland Mythology: Biblical Narratives in American CulturePenn State Press, 10 սեպ, 2015 թ. - 288 էջ Since 9/11, America has presented itself to the world as a Christianist culture, no less antimodern and nostalgic for an idealized past than its Islamist foes. The master-narrative both sides share might sound like this: Once upon a time, the values of the righteous community coincided with those of the state. Home and land were harmoniously united under God. But through intellectual pride (read: science) and disobedience (read: human rights), this God-blessed homeland was lost and is now worth every drop of blood it takes, ours and others’, to recover. For Americans, the prime source for this once-and-future-kingdom myth is the Bible, with its many narratives of blessings gained, lost, and regained: the garden of Eden, the covenant with Abraham, the bondage in Egypt, the exodus under Moses, the glory of David and Solomon’s realm, the coming of the promised Messiah, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, his apocalyptic return at the end of history, and his establishment of the earthly kingdom of God. As Homeland Mythology shows, these biblical narratives have, over time, inspired a multitude of nationalist narratives, myths ingeniously spun out to justify a number of decidedly unchristian policies and institutions—from Indian genocide, the slave trade, and the exploitation of immigrant workers to Manifest Destiny, imperial expansionism, and, most recently, preemptive war. On March 25, 2001, George W. Bush shared a bit of political wisdom: “You can fool some of the people all of the time—and those are the ones you have to concentrate on.” The cynical use of religion to cloak criminal behavior is always worth exposing, but why our leaders lie to us is no longer a mystery. What does remain mysterious is why so many of us are disposed to believe their lies. The unexamined issue that this book addresses is, therefore, not the mendacity of the few, but the credulity of the many. |
From inside the book
Արդյունքներ 63–ի 1-ից 5-ը:
... politics—United States. 5. Church and state—United States. I. Title. BR515.C643 2007 973.01—dc22 2007018608 Copyright © 2007 The Pennsylvania State University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by The ...
... political strategist James Carville lamented that the Democrats had lost because they had a litany but no narrative, i.e., a list of facts and issues but no compelling story line to connect them. Litanies have little entertainment value ...
... politics. When Hillary Clinton complained in January 1998 that she and her husband had been victims of a “vast right-wing ... political analysts now recognize as a strategic convergence of two heretofore divided factions of American ...
... political rhetoric of Christian conservatives in a biblical and historical context and found that there was little new in the cultural narratives their leaders trumpeted to the faithful. Moreover, there was little new in the cynical ...
... politicians, eager to justify governmental policies, have often appealed to these parallels. Some took the Church doctrine that, when the Jews rejected Jesus, Christians became God's Chosen People, and they stretched it to interpret all ...
Բովանդակություն
Myths of Curses Myths of Blessings | |
Narratives of the Night | |
Abduction Narratives | |
Homeland Nostalgia and Holy | |
Secular Modernism Biblical Style | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Index | |
Այլ խմբագրություններ - View all
Homeland Mythology: Biblical Narratives in American Culture Christopher Collins Դիտել հնարավոր չէ - 2013 |