Fundamentalism in America / Edition 1

by Philip Melling

Overview

This important book challenges the idea that religious fundamentalism can adequately be understood as a paranoid, xenophobic faith. It demonstrates instead how it draws upon a long tradition of evangelical and millenialist scripture in its engagement with issues at the spiritual and ethical core of postmodernity in the United States. The author examines the varieties of fundamentalism as they appear in prophecy, sermon, film and fiction. In its wide-ranging consideration of the rhetoric of the New World Order, the literature of prophecy, Cold War films, television evangelism, cross-border texts, and post-nationalist writing, Fundamentalism in America provides a vital and compelling account of the present state of religious and nationality identity in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781579582616
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/01/1999
Series:	America in the 20th/21st Century Series
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 From Cromwell to the Cordilleras: America’s Search for the Jew; Chapter 2 Race and Promiscuity: Millennial Ministry and the Legacy of Ham; Chapter 3 Prophecy and the Literary Imagination; Chapter 4 Bill Clinton: the South’s Lost Cause; Chapter 5 Israel in Idaho: Political Extremism and Right-Wing Religion; Chapter 6 The Spacecraft Israel: Millennial Imagining and New Age Religion;

Editorial Reviews

Challenging the reduction of religious fundamentalism to a paranoid, xenophobic faith, Melling (American studies, U. of Wales-Swansea) argues that it draws on a long tradition of evangelical and millennialist scripture to engage with issues at the spiritual and ethical core of postmodern America. Among other topics, he explores how scripture, race, and politics have combined in the conservative opposition to the Clinton presidency, and find his failure to be not sexual dalliance but abandonment of the church's evangelizing mission. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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