Homeland Mythology: Biblical Narratives in American CultureSince 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
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... century, John Howard Payne's “Home, Sweet Home.” 3 A comparison with Payne's lyric reveals how Berlin, when he wrote “God Bless America,” had not only quoted it but also nationalized its meanings. “Home, Sweet Home” had been the very ...
... century saw the addition of Roman Catholics, and the circle closed on Christian America. By the mid-twentieth century, Judaism was invited to join, and America became a Judeo-Christian nation. As President Eisenhower then famously put ...
... century European belligerents constituted nations, not neighborhoods. Because each of us now exists in the two social domains that I have called the communal and the governmental—the home and the land—and because these two often ...
... centuries, certain religious groups and geographically sequestered peoples have thus succeeded in reducing this oldest and most profound of all cognitive dissonances, the clash between communal values and the authority of the state by ...
... century BC ), the Israelite nation has been reduced to a community scattered within a series of empires and ... centuries, from the fall of Persia to the rise of Byzantium, these northerners successfully asserted control over a band of ...
Contents
Myths of Curses Myths of Blessings | |
Narratives of the Night | |
Abduction Narratives | |
Homeland Nostalgia and Holy | |
Secular Modernism Biblical Style | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Index | |
Other editions - View all
Homeland Mythology: Biblical Narratives in American Culture Christopher Collins Limited preview - 2010 |
Homeland Mythology: Biblical Narratives in American Culture Christopher Collins Limited preview - 2015 |
Homeland Mythology: Biblical Narratives in American Culture Christopher Collins No preview available - 2013 |