Author: John D. Wilsey
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 083084094X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
The idea of America's special place in history has been a guiding light for centuries. With thoughtful insight, John D. Wilsey traces the concept of exceptionalism, including its theological meaning and implications for civil religion. This careful history considers not only the abuses of the idea but how it can also point to constructive civil engagement and human flourishing.
Author: Dennis Hoover
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000155609
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
"American exceptionalism" was once a rather obscure and academic concept, but in the 2012 presidential election campaign the phrase attained unprecedented significance in political rhetoric. President Obama’s conservative critics—most notably Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney—accused the president of disbelieving in American exceptionalism and thereby offending the nation’s civil religion. This creed traditionally has included the notion that America is a political "new Israel" called by God and guided by His Providence to be the exemplar, vanguard, and champion of liberal democracy and the free market for all humanity. The newly politicized narrative of exceptionalism portrayed Obama as a president embarrassed by his own country and intent on remaking the United States in the image of the secularist and socialist countries of Europe. This book takes a step back from the partisan rhetorical bluster and examines afresh the historical and analytical meanings of American exceptionalism, and the extent to which religion—both "real" religion and the more ambiguous "civil" religion—has shaped these meanings and their uses/abuses. This book was published as a special issue of The Review of Faith and International Affairs.
Author: Robert N. Bellah
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625641923
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
"In 1980, Varieties of Civil Religion was the latest statement in the field of civil religion pioneered by Robert Bellah. Over thirty years later, scholarly interest in the field continues to grow. By examining the force of religion in politics and society, this book offers a comparative treatment that deepens the understanding of American civil religion and provides a lens for exploring civil religion in other societies, particularly those of Italy, Mexico, and Japan. Bellah and Hammond trace the historical development of the peculiarly American brand of civil religion as they unravel its sometimes baffling intricacies. Themes include the conviction that America is a chosen country and American power in the world is identical with divine will. The book also examines the vigorous counterbalance that has opposed unjust wars or demanded racial and social justice. Altogether, the health of a civil religion may be a prime indication of the overall health of any society. The authors state that when civil religious symbols are co-opted by ultraconservatives, and the philosophy of liberalism seems less adequate as a guide for public or private lives, a revival of public philosophy is urgently needed. Varieties of Civil Religion supports such a revival by making the religious aspect of our central tradition understandable in a nonreactionary way. It also reaffirms that American civil religion, with its deeper tradition of openness, tolerance, and ethical commitment, can make an essential contribution to a ""global order of civility and justice."""
Author: Nichole R. Phillips
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781481309578
Category : Exceptionalism
Languages : en
Pages : 388
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Book Description
American civil religion unifies the nation's culture, regulates national emotions, and fosters a storied national identity. American civil religion celebrates the nation's founding documents, holidays, presidents, martyrs and, above all, those who died in its wars. Patriotism Black and White investigates the relationship between patriotism and civil religion in a politically populist community comprised of black and white evangelicals in rural Tennessee. By measuring the effort to remember national sacrifice, Patriotism Black and White probes deeply into how patriotism funds civil religion in light of two changes to America--the election of its first Black president and the initiation of a modern, religiously inspired war. Based on her four years of ethnographic research, Nichole Phillips discovers that both black and white evangelicals feel marginalized and isolated from the rest of the country. Bound by regional identity, both groups respond similarly to these drastic changes. Black and white constituents continue to express patriotism and embrace a robust national identity. Despite the commonality of being rural and southern, Phillips' study reveals that racial experiences are markers for distinguishable responses to radical social change. As Phillips shows, racial identity led to differing responses to the War on Terror and the Obama administration, and thus to a crisis in American national identity, opening the door to new nativistic and triumphalist interpretations of American exceptionalism. It is through this door that Phillips takes readers in Patriotism Black and White.
Author: Sanford Kessler
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791419298
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Tocqueville's thinking about American religion is highly relevant to contemporary debates regarding America's origins, the current strength of American Christianity, and the proper role of religion in American public life. Kessler skillfully demonstrates how Tocqueville incorporates his ideas into an analysis of the American character, a factor in American politics that he considered more important than the Constitution
Author: Philip Gorski
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691191670
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
The long battle between exclusionary and inclusive versions of the American story Was America founded as a Christian nation or a secular democracy? Neither, argues Philip Gorski in American Covenant. What the founders envisioned was a prophetic republic that would weave together the ethical vision of the Hebrew prophets and the Western political heritage of civic republicanism. In this eye-opening book, Gorski shows why this civil religious tradition is now in peril—and with it the American experiment. American Covenant traces the history of prophetic republicanism from the Puritan era to today, providing insightful portraits of figures ranging from John Winthrop and W.E.B. Du Bois to Jerry Falwell, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. Featuring a new preface by the author, this incisive book demonstrates how half a century of culture war has drowned out the quieter voices of the vital center, and demonstrates that if we are to rebuild that center, we must recover the civil religious tradition on which the republic was founded.
Author: Nichole Renée Phillips
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781481309592
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388
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Book Description
American civil religion unifies the nation's culture, regulates national emotions, and fosters a storied national identity. American civil religion celebrates the nation's founding documents, holidays, presidents, martyrs and, above all, those who died in its wars. Patriotism Black and White investigates the relationship between patriotism and civil religion in a politically populist community comprised of black and white evangelicals in rural Tennessee. By measuring the effort to remember national sacrifice, Patriotism Black and White probes deeply into how patriotism funds civil religion in light of two changes to America--the election of its first Black president and the initiation of a modern, religiously inspired war. Based on her four years of ethnographic research, Nichole Phillips discovers that both black and white evangelicals feel marginalized and isolated from the rest of the country. Bound by regional identity, both groups respond similarly to these drastic changes. Black and white constituents continue to express patriotism and embrace a robust national identity. Despite the commonality of being rural and southern, Phillips' study reveals that racial experiences are markers for distinguishable responses to radical social change. As Phillips shows, racial identity led to differing responses to the War on Terror and the Obama administration, and thus to a crisis in American national identity, opening the door to new nativistic and triumphalist interpretations of American exceptionalism. It is through this door that Phillips takes readers in Patriotism Black and White.
Author: Abram C. Van Engen
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300252315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 390
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Book Description
A fresh, original history of America’s national narratives, told through the loss, recovery, and rise of one influential Puritan sermon from 1630 to the present day In this illuminating book, Abram Van Engen shows how the phrase “City on a Hill,” from a 1630 sermon by Massachusetts Bay governor John Winthrop, shaped the story of American exceptionalism in the twentieth century. By tracing the history of Winthrop’s speech, its changing status throughout time, and its use in modern politics, Van Engen asks us to reevaluate our national narratives. He tells the story of curators, librarians, collectors, archivists, antiquarians, and often anonymous figures who emphasized the role of the Pilgrims and Puritans in American history, paving the way for the saving and sanctifying of a single sermon. This sermon’s rags-to-riches rise reveals the way national stories take shape and shows us how those tales continue to influence competing visions of the country—the many different meanings of America that emerge from its literary past.
Author: Peter Gardella
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195300181
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 385
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Book Description
Peter Gardella explores the monuments, texts, and images that embody the spirit of the United States.
Author: Ronald T. Libby
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The book examines the Marxist, Critical Race Theory (CRT) infiltration and corruption of major American institutions. President Biden has issued executive orders requiring all federal agencies to adopt the CRT doctrine. Democratic governors have followed suit and also adopted the ideology. Two younger generations in particular, the Gen Z and Millennials, support CRT and advance the Woke agenda in social media, large corporations, education, police, the military, immigration and healthcare and other sectors of society. They also support Black Lives Matter. Their goal is to overthrow America's civil religion--American Exceptionalism, and create a new woke civil religion to replace the original American sect whom activists describe as wicked and corrupt. The woke religion condemns American heroes as racists and sexist. The new woke adherents are devoted to destroying racism, patriarchy and heteronormativity in society. The book examines nine societal institutions and Woke activists' attempt to transform them.
