A Newer Jerusalem

My post yesterday about political violence and its alternatives put me in mind of another paper I wrote a few years ago but had forgotten about. It was for the 2022 joint annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion. Since it's on topic and specifically deals with political violence and political force that is downstream from some ideas that are rooted in, or sometimes justified by, certain strains of Christian theology, I thought I'd post it here. In the paper (link below), I talk about the Christian roots of many of modernity's political movements, including classical liberalism, conservatism, socialism, communism, etc. I don't touch (much) on the political movements of the past few years, as this was a more historically oriented paper. But it was contemporary political tendencies that got me thinking about all this in the first place. Here's a quote, but there's a lot more at full paper just below:  As essential ...

My research into the New Jerusalem has proven constantly relevant throughout my research. Surprisingly often, the news cycle reminds me of aspects of the reception of Revelation's holy city that I'm looking into for this current DFG project. This has been happening a lot recently. (In fact, it's part of why I wanted to study this topic in the first place.) Tragically this time, it happened again last week with what seems to be the at-least-partly politically motivated assassination of Charlie Kirk. Folks back home in America are talking more and more about politics and faith and how they may, ought, may not, or ought not come together, especially in light of the growing number of recent politically motivated assassinations or attempted assassinations in the USA. I'm thinking of, in the last year or so, the targeting of Charlie Kirk, Rep. Melissa Hortman (D-MN), and Pres. Donald Trump. I'm also thinking of the credible threats of hanging against Vice Pres. Mike Pence...