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Resource type: Book Chapter Language: en: English DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190461416.013.33 BibTeX citation key: Clark2020 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details |
Categories: General Keywords: Nationalism, Religion, USA Creators: Clanton Jr., Clark Publisher: Oxford Univ. Press (New York) Collection: The Oxford Handbook on the Bible and Popular Culture |
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Abstract |
American civil religion incorporates a nostalgic version of biblical Israel’s covenant with their patron deity, Yahweh, imagining the United States as a new Israel. This new myth reflects early Puritan hope for a new foray into a new wilderness of promise, while also promoting a romantic notion of the providential founding of the United States, national innocence, and national purpose, upholding an ideal of pure democracy and divine favor for establishing it universally. This form of Christian nationalism has a tendency toward a new form of imperialism in the modern era that is heavily supported (at least subconsciously) by a vast array of popular culture products. Yet some pop culture media (including comic books) occasionally call into question the concept of human beings living in a covenant relationship with a divine creator, as well as the validity of America’s status as a divinely chosen and divinely guided nation.
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