Captain America and the Crusade against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism

by Robert Jewett, John Shelton Lawrence

Overview

As immediate and relevant as today's headlines, this book sets forth a bold argument with direct implications for political life in America and around the world. Combining incisive cultural analysis and keen religious insight, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence maintain that American crusading — so powerfully embodied in popular entertainments — has striking parallels with Islamic jihad and Israeli militancy.

According to Jewett and Lawrence, American civil religion has both a humane, constitutional tradition and a violent strand that is now coming to the fore. The crusade to rid the world of evil and "evildoers" derives from the same biblical tradition of zealous warfare and nationalism that spawns Islamic and Israeli radicalism. In America, where this tradition has been popularized by superheroic entertainments, the idea of zealous war is infused with a distinctive sense of mission that draws on secular and religious images. These crusading ideals are visible in such events as the settling of the western frontier, the World Wars, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and America's present war on terrorism.

In exploring the tradition of zealous nationalism, which seeks to redeem the world by destroying enemies, the authors provide a fascinating access to the inner workings of the American psyche. They analyze the phenomenon of zeal — the term itself is the biblical and cultural counterpart of the Islamic concept of jihad — and address such consequential topics as the conspiracy theory of evil, the problem of stereotyping enemies, the mystique of violence, the obsession with victory, and the worship of national symbols such as flags.

This critical book, however, is also immensely constructive. As Jewett and Lawrence point out, the same biblical tradition that allows for crusading mentalities also contains a critique of zealous warfare and a profound vision of impartial justice. This tradition of prophetic realism derives from the humane side of the biblical heritage, and the authors trace its manifestations within the American experience, including its supreme embodiment in Abraham Lincoln. Isaiah's "swords into plowshares" image is carved on the walls of the United Nations building, thus standing at the center of a globally focused civil religion. Grasping this vision honored by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike includes recognizing the dangers of zealous violence, the illusions of current crusading, and the promise of peaceful coexistence under international law.

Instructive, relevant, and urgent, Captain America and the Crusade against Evil is sure to provoke much soul-searching and wide debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802828590
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	06/14/2004
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Robert Jewett (1933–2020) was a New Testament scholar at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois.

Table of Contents

	Preface	xiii
1.	The Challenge of a Contradictory Civil Religion	1
	The Strange Persistence of Biblical Language	1
	The Steady Theme of Redeeming the World	3
	A Contradictory Civil Religion in the Time of Jihad	6
2.	The Endangered Towers and the Crusade Against Jihad	10
	Contradictory Responses	11
	The Background of September 11	13
	Martial Response and Lost Opportunities	16
	Militant Jihad's Rationale	18
	The Parallel Logic of Crusade and Jihad	20
3.	Popular Culture as a Bearer of the National Complex	26
	Superheroic Entertainments and Civil Religion	27
	The Rise of the American Monomyth	28
	The Popularization of Crusading Zeal	35
	American Superheroism as a Threat to Democracy	39
	The Challenge of Pop Fascism	42
4.	A Rod of Iron or a Light to the Nations	44
	The Birth of Israelite Zeal and Realism	45
	The Critique of Zealous Warfare by Prophetic Realists	48
	Israel's Dilemma during the Roman Period	51
	The Book of Revelation and the Dominance of Zealotry	53
5.	America's Zeal to Redeem the World	55
	The Rise of a Millennial Mission	55
	Clashes between Zealous Nationalism and Prophetic Realism	61
	Zeal's Frustration and the Claim of Manifest Destiny	66
	The Religious Impulse in American Imperialism	68
	World War I as a Millennial Crusade	71
	World War II and the Disjunction between Zeal and Realism	75
6.	The Frustration of American Zealous Nationalism	79
	The Cold War's Thwarted Crusade	80
	Brinkmanship and the Ideology of Anti-communism	88
	The Arrogant Missteps of Global Idealism	96
	Defeated Superheroism in Vietnam	100
	Zealous Nationalism and the Loss of Honor	103
7.	The Ascendancy of Mythic Politics	107
	Artificial Euphoria and the Mayaguez Episode	108
	Carter's Failure at Domestic Superheroism	112
	Reagan and the Ephemeral Triumph of Macho Superheroism	115
	The Mirage of Invulnerable Defense	118
	Illusions of National Innocence	119
	The Gulf War and the Lost Chance for Prophetic Realism	123
	Clinton's Frivolous Use of Mythic Politics	126
8.	The Rapturous Rebirth of Millennial Zealotry	131
	The Recent Popularity of the Doom Boom	131
	The Background of Millennial Theology	135
	Calendars for the Rapture	138
	Recent Forms of Millennial Civil Religion	142
	Jerusalem and the End of Days	144
	Responsible Uses of the Apocalyptic	147
9.	The Global Popularization of Zeal and Jihad	149
	The Recent Militarization of Jihad	150
	Zealous Fervor in Israel	155
	Spiraling Sanctified Violence	160
	Aum Shinrikyo in Japan	162
	Seeking Responsible Forms of Zeal and Jihad	164
10.	Consumed by Zeal and Jihad	167
	Zeal in the Bible	168
	Hot Zeal in Its Modern Embodiments	170
	The Dominance of Cool Zeal	176
	Artful Zeal's Destructive Legacy	180
	The All-consuming Nature of Zeal and Jihad	186
	The Need for Modest Zeal and Jihad	188
11.	Evil as a Grand Conspiracy	192
	Conspiracy Theory in the Bible	194
	A Realistic Theory of Evil	197
	Grand Conspiracies in American Politics	200
	Conspiracy Theory and the Vietnam War	206
	Paths Away from the Grand Conspiracy	209
12.	Stereotypes of Good and Evil	214
	The Rise of Stereotypes in Biblical History	216
	American Adaptations of Ancient Stereotypes	221
	Six Features of Popular Stereotypes	223
	Problematic Stereotypes in Recent History	226
	Three Negative Effects of Stereotyping	231
	Five Strategies to Overcome Destructive Stereotypes	237
13.	To Convert Them or Destroy Them	245
	Redemptive Violence in the Bible	246
	Violence and America's Sense of Mission	250
	The Mystique of Violence in American Wars	254
	Hosea's Critique of the Mystique of Violence	261
	Overcoming the Illusions of Redemptive Destruction	270
14.	Neither Humiliation Nor Defeat	273
	Victory as the Reward for Piety in the Old Testament	275
	The Deuteronomic Principle in American History	276
	Mythic Responses to Defeat	281
	The Impact of Defeat on Civil Religion	285
	Bringing Prophetic Resources to the Experience of Defeat	288
15.	Crusades Against Symbolic Desecration	294
	The Struggle to Prevent Flag Desecration	297
	The Danger of Sanctifying National Symbols	301
	Holiness as a Theological Issue	302
	Muslim Campaigns against Desecration	304
	Ominous Parallels in the Flag Desecration Campaign	306
	Biblical Links between Desecration and Zealous Violence	309
16.	Prophetic Realism in Response to Jihad	313
	Isaiah's Vision for Conflict Resolution	315
	A Vision of Global Government	316
	Waning American Support for International Law	319
	Recovering America's Constitutional Mission	323
	Acknowledgments	325
	Endnotes	327
	Index of Names and Subjects	372
	Index of Ancient Texts	390

Editorial Reviews

Jewett (guest professor, New Testament, Univ. of Heidelberg, Germany) and Lawrence (philosophy, emeritus, Morningside Coll.), who previously collaborated on The Myth of the American Superhero, here present a carefully researched and well-developed study of two biblical themes-zealous nationalism and prophetic realism-in Scripture and American history and current life, including post-9/11. The first "seeks to redeem the world by destroying enemies," while the second "avoids taking the stances of complete innocence and selflessness." The authors point out the uncomfortable similarity between our nationalist zeal (and the crusade to rid the world of "evildoers") and jihad, between our "enemies" and ourselves, and encourage the transformation of America's sense of mission and the awakening of "religious commitment that is shaped both by self-critical questioning and a sense of hope about the possibilities for peace." Extremely timely and important for all Americans, this accessible book is essential for all libraries, academic, seminary, public. Some larger libraries will want multiple copies.-Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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