The Rhetoric of American Civil Religion

The Rhetoric of American Civil Religion
Author: Jason A. Edwards
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2016-09-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1498541496

The tie that binds all Americans, regardless of their demographic background, is faith in the American system of government. This faith manifests as a form of civil, or secular, religion with its own core documents, creeds, oaths, ceremonies, and even individuals. In The Rhetoric of American Civil Religion: Symbols, Sinners, and Saints, contributors seek to examine some of those core elements of American faith by exploring the proverbial saints, sinners and dominant symbols of the American system.

Religious Rhetoric and American Politics

Religious Rhetoric and American Politics
Author: Christopher B. Chapp
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2012-11-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0801465249

From Reagan's regular invocation of America as "a city on a hill" to Obama's use of spiritual language in describing social policy, religious rhetoric is a regular part of how candidates communicate with voters. Although the Constitution explicitly forbids a religious test as a qualification to public office, many citizens base their decisions about candidates on their expressed religious beliefs and values. In Religious Rhetoric and American Politics, Christopher B. Chapp shows that Americans often make political choices because they identify with a "civil religion," not because they think of themselves as cultural warriors. Chapp examines the role of religious political rhetoric in American elections by analyzing both how political elites use religious language and how voters respond to different expressions of religion in the public sphere. Chapp analyzes the content and context of political speeches and draws on survey data, historical evidence, and controlled experiments to evaluate how citizens respond to religious stumping. Effective religious rhetoric, he finds, is characterized by two factors—emotive cues and invocations of collective identity—and these factors regularly shape the outcomes of American presidential elections and the dynamics of political representation. While we tend to think that certain issues (e.g., abortion) are invoked to appeal to specific religious constituencies who vote solely on such issues, Chapp shows that religious rhetoric is often more encompassing and less issue-specific. He concludes that voter identification with an American civic religion remains a driving force in American elections, despite its potentially divisive undercurrents.

Religious Rhetoric and American Politics

Religious Rhetoric and American Politics
Author: Christopher B. Chapp
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2012-10-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0801465680

From Reagan's regular invocation of America as "a city on a hill" to Obama's use of spiritual language in describing social policy, religious rhetoric is a regular part of how candidates communicate with voters. Although the Constitution explicitly forbids a religious test as a qualification to public office, many citizens base their decisions about candidates on their expressed religious beliefs and values. In Religious Rhetoric and American Politics, Christopher B. Chapp shows that Americans often make political choices because they identify with a "civil religion," not because they think of themselves as cultural warriors. Chapp examines the role of religious political rhetoric in American elections by analyzing both how political elites use religious language and how voters respond to different expressions of religion in the public sphere. Chapp analyzes the content and context of political speeches and draws on survey data, historical evidence, and controlled experiments to evaluate how citizens respond to religious stumping. Effective religious rhetoric, he finds, is characterized by two factors-emotive cues and invocations of collective identity-and these factors regularly shape the outcomes of American presidential elections and the dynamics of political representation. While we tend to think that certain issues (e.g., abortion) are invoked to appeal to specific religious constituencies who vote solely on such issues, Chapp shows that religious rhetoric is often more encompassing and less issue-specific. He concludes that voter identification with an American civic religion remains a driving force in American elections, despite its potentially divisive undercurrents.

Abraham Lincoln’s "Gettysburg Address": The Rhetoric of American Civil Religion

Abraham Lincoln’s
Author: Katharina E. Thomas
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 22
Release: 2011-06-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3640930835

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Rhetoric / Elocution / Oratory, grade: 1,3, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, course: Allgemeine Rhetorik, language: English, abstract: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has played a powerful role in shaping American public discourse over the centuries. It has become one of the central documents in the evolution of American civil religion – imbued with religious and biblical language and imagery, backed by the ethos of its orator, its rhetoric sanctifies the founding documents and itself becomes part of the canon of “holy writ” of American civil religion. This is all the more remarkable considering the fact that Lincoln was originally only supposed to deliver a few appropriate remarks at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield as a cemetery for the fallen soldiers. The main speaker, Edward Everett, had already given a long speech when Lincoln’s turn came. The situation which thus presented itself to the orator posed a considerable challenge, as the audience was already weary. It is therefore all the more fascinating to see how Lincoln succeeded in his short, dense speech – which did not even give the photographer sufficient time to take his picture – in molding American identity by fusing “organic union with transcendent purpose by utilizing the religious symbolism of the Christian tradition” (White 97). This paper will examine how the Gettysburg Address came to be one of the central documents of American civil religion, which had a significant influence on all future public discourse.First, it will provide a brief discussion of Abraham Lincoln as an orator. This aspect is important insofar as it is necessary to determine what role his personal ethos played in the Gettysburg Address. The main part will offer a close reading of the Gettysburg Address, focusing on an in-depth analysis of the rhetorical strategies and stylistic devices Lincoln employs. This part is concerned especially with the question of how these strategies contribute to the enduring significance of the Gettysburg Address as a central document of American civil religion.

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Author: Katharina E. Thomas
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2011-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 364093055X

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Rhetoric / Elocution / Oratory, grade: 1,3, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, course: Allgemeine Rhetorik, language: English, abstract: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has played a powerful role in shaping American public discourse over the centuries. It has become one of the central documents in the evolution of American civil religion - imbued with religious and biblical language and imagery, backed by the ethos of its orator, its rhetoric sanctifies the founding documents and itself becomes part of the canon of "holy writ" of American civil religion. This is all the more remarkable considering the fact that Lincoln was originally only supposed to deliver a few appropriate remarks at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield as a cemetery for the fallen soldiers. The main speaker, Edward Everett, had already given a long speech when Lincoln's turn came. The situation which thus presented itself to the orator posed a considerable challenge, as the audience was already weary. It is therefore all the more fascinating to see how Lincoln succeeded in his short, dense speech - which did not even give the photographer sufficient time to take his picture - in molding American identity by fusing "organic union with transcendent purpose by utilizing the religious symbolism of the Christian tradition" (White 97). This paper will examine how the Gettysburg Address came to be one of the central documents of American civil religion, which had a significant influence on all future public discourse.First, it will provide a brief discussion of Abraham Lincoln as an orator. This aspect is important insofar as it is necessary to determine what role his personal ethos played in the Gettysburg Address. The main part will offer a close reading of the Gettysburg Address, focusing on an in-depth analysis of the rhetorical strategies and stylistic devices Lincoln employs. This part is concerned especially with the ques

The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy

The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy
Author: Walter A. McDougall
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2018-11-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300224516

A fierce critique of civil religion as the taproot of America’s bid for global hegemony Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Walter A. McDougall argues powerfully that a pervasive but radically changing faith that “God is on our side” has inspired U.S. foreign policy ever since 1776. The first comprehensive study of the role played by civil religion in U.S. foreign relations over the entire course of the country’s history, McDougall’s book explores the deeply infused religious rhetoric that has sustained and driven an otherwise secular republic through peace, war, and global interventions for more than two hundred years. From the Founding Fathers and the crusade for independence to the Monroe Doctrine, through World Wars I and II and the decades-long Cold War campaign against “godless Communism,” this coruscating polemic reveals the unacknowledged but freely exercised dogmas of civil religion that bind together a “God blessed” America, sustaining the nation in its pursuit of an ever elusive global destiny.

"And No One Will Keep that Light from Shining"

Author: Nicole Janz
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Total Pages: 99
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 3643104685

After September 11, news media reported that U.S. president George W. Bush used overly religious language. The "theologian in chief" was believed to promote his personal agenda as a born again Christian. Such views, however, are a striking misinterpretation. This study shows that Bush's references to God and the idea that America must fulfill God's work on earth can all be explained through the concept of American civil religion. "...is likely to reinvigorate and expand discursive studies dedicated to understanding contemporary instantiations of American civil religion. That she (Janz) has been able to refocus and reframe international attention on such an important and unique American phenomenon is all the better". Steven R. Goldzwig, Marquette Univ., Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2012.

American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion

American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion
Author: John D. Wilsey
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2015-10-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830899294

The idea of America's special place in history has been a guiding light for centuries. With thoughtful insight, John D. Wilsey traces the concept of exceptionalism, including its theological meaning and implications for civil religion. This careful history considers not only the abuses of the idea but how it can also point to constructive civil engagement and human flourishing.

The Broken Covenant

The Broken Covenant
Author: Robert N. Bellah
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 223
Release: 1992-08-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0226041999

This Second Edition represents Bellah's summation of his views on civil religion in America. In his 1967 classic essay "Civil Rights in America," Bellah argued that the religious dimensions of American society—as distinct from its churches—has its own integrity and required "the same care in understanding that any religion." This edition includes his 1978 article "Religion and the Legitimation of the American Republic," and a new Preface.