From Jeremiad to Jihad Religion Violence & America

"From Jeremiad to Jihad is an ambitious volume. The selections here introduce new perspectives on the intersection of religious institutions and American culture. Whereas the subject of just war has largely been the provenance of religious and philosophical studies, with some input from international relations and political science, the authors of this volume have brought methods and questions from the study of history to bear on the discussion. Carlson and Ebel have pulled together a significant work that fosters new conversations between scholars interested in just war and American religious history." - John Kelsay, author of Arguing the Just War in Islam

“Why is America, one of the worlds most religious societies, also one of the most violent? In a sophisticated, thoughtful and accessible manner, the essays in this collection provide an important examination of the complexities of American character that sees the sacred as sanctioning violence and allows violence to be sanctified.” - Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence

“This is a stunning collection of essays—the single most comprehensive and wide-ranging set yet prepared. With “jeremiad” and “jihad” as their guiding tropes, the contributors brilliantly trace the life of this rhetorical strain. This volume is ideally suited for courses in religion and history as well as anyone interested in the role of religious violence in American culture and life.” - Harry S. Stout, author of Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War

“An excellent study of the complex relationship between religion and violence. . . . Highly recommended.”

“An excellent study of the complex relationship between religion and violence. . . . Highly recommended.” J. R. Asher, Georgetown College

andldquo;Brilliant and persuasive, this is the finest study of the central role that soldiers play in Americaandrsquo;s andlsquo;civil religion.andrsquo;andrdquo;andmdash;Harry S. Stout, Yale University

andldquo;Ebel, like most great historians, has a gift for discovering and narrating the event or person such that it helps us see what might otherwise go unnoticed. But in this case what he helps us see is the reality of the American civil religion, a religion that draws on fundamental Christological analogies, constituted by the American soldier. Readers of this sad and troubling book will hopefully find Ebelandrsquo;s work profoundly sobering.andrdquo;andmdash;Stanley Hauerwas, Duke andnbsp;Divinity School

andquot;Jonathan Ebelandrsquo;s aptly titled GI Messiahs is the odds down finest study of the central role that American soldiers contribute to Americaandrsquo;s and#39;civil religion.and#39; Ebel persuasively demonstrates that American GIandrsquo;s are literally the incarnation of a Christian tinctured civil religion in which they have come to embody the and#39;word of the nation made flesh.and#39; Through a series of brilliant case studies, Ebel cuts to the heart of the unique role that soldiers play as the and#39;second personand#39; of an American national godhead whose first person is the nation itself. Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the ways in which Christianity forged intimate connections between the military and American society.andrdquo;andmdash;Harry S. Stout, Yale University

andldquo;This carefully-crafted, modest work packs a serious wallop. Ebel sensitively exposes the religious contours of American soldiering. A singularly insightful book for our time of seemingly unending war.andrdquo;andmdash;Kathryn Lofton, Yale University

andldquo;With humility, grace, and stunning knowledge, Jonathan Ebel shows how soldiers from the Great War to the War on Terror have fought under and sometimes against the burden of civil religious incarnation. From its venturesome opening sentence to its shattering final lines, GI Messiahs is a breathtaking achievement.andrdquo;andmdash; Tracy Fessenden, author of Culture and Redemption: Religion, the Secular, and American Literature

Violence has been a central feature of Americas history, culture, and place in the world. It has taken many forms: from state-sponsored uses of force such as war or law enforcement, to revolution, secession, terrorism and other actions with important political and cultural implications. Religion also holds a crucial place in the American experience of violence, particularly for those who have found order and meaning in their worlds through religious texts, symbols, rituals, and ideas. Yet too often the religious dimensions of violence, especially in the American context, are ignored or overstated—in either case, poorly understood. From Jeremiad to Jihad: Religion, Violence, and America corrects these misunderstandings. Charting and interpreting the tendrils of religion and violence, this book reveals how formative moments of their intersection in American history have influenced the ideas, institutions, and identities associated with the United States. Religion and violence provide crucial yet underutilized lenses for seeing America anew—including its outlook on, and relation to, the world.

Jonathan Ebel has long been interested in how religion helps individuals and communities render meaningful the traumatic experiences of violence and war. In this new work, he examines cases from the Great War to the present day and argues that our notions of what it means to be an American soldier are not just strongly religious, but strongly Christian. and#160;

and#160;

Drawing on a vast array of sources, he further reveals the effects of soldier veneration on the men and women so often cast as heroes. Imagined as the embodiments of American ideals, described as redeemers of the nation, adored as the ones willing to suffer and die that we, the nation, may liveandmdash;soldiers have often lived in subtle but significant tension with civil religious expectations of them. With chapters on prominent soldiers past and present, Ebel recovers and re-narrates the stories of the common American men and women that live and die at both the center and edges of public consciousness.

Jonathan H. Ebeland#160;is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a former naval intelligence officer. He is the author ofand#160;Faith in the Fight: Religion and the American Soldier in the First World War and the co-editor, with John D. Carlson, of From Jeremiad to Jihad: Religion, Violence, and America.

Foreword

Martin E. Marty

Preface

Introduction. John Brown, Jeremiad, and Jihad: Reflections on Religion, Violence, and America

John D. Carlson and Jonathan H. Ebel

Part I. Religious Origins and Tropes of American Violence

1. From King Philip's War to September 11: Religion, Violence, and the American Way

Andrew R. Murphy and Elizabeth Hanson

2. A Nation Birthed in Blood: Violent Cosmogonies and American Film

S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate

3. From Covenant to Crusade and Back: American Christianity and the Late Great War

Jonathan H. Ebel

4. From Jeremiad to Manifesto: The Rhetorical Evolution of John Foster Dulless “Massive Retaliation”

Ned OGorman

5. American Providence, American Violence

Stephen H. Webb

Part II. Religion and Americas “Others”

6. New Israel, New Amalek: Biblical Exhortations to Religious Violence

John Corrigan

7. Religion and Violence in Black and White

Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

8. State Violence and the Un-American West: Mormons, American Indians, and Cults

Todd M. Kerstetter

9. Alma Whites Bloodless Warfare: Women and Violence in U.S. Religious History

Lynn S. Neal

10. Of Tragedy and Its Aftermath: The Search for Religious Meaning in the Shootings at Virginia Tech

Grace Y. Kao

Part III. The Ethics of Violence and War

11. A Just or Holy War of Independence? The Revolutions Legacy for Religion, Violence, and American Exceptionalism

John D. Carlson

12. Why War Is a Moral Necessity for America: Realism, Sacrifice, and the Civil War

Stanley Hauerwas

13. Contemporary Warfare and American Efforts at Restraint

James Turner Johnson

14. Enemies Near and Far: The United States and Its Muslim Allies in Radical Islamist Discourse

Sohail H. Hashmi

15. Varieties of “Violence”: Thinking Ethically about the Use of Force in the War on Terror

Jean Bethke Elshtain

Contributors

Index