Medieval History
This Boston Globe article caught my eye last week and I've been meaning to blog about it once the hectic-ness of the first week of classes passed. Here, Peter Canellos wonders aloud about McCain's peculiar use of the phrase "Judeo-Christian values" and how the Republican presidential candidate seems to use that phrase to specifically draw distinctions between the US and countries that are predominantly Muslim. For example:
Canellos ends by wondering aloud whether most Americans would even notice this language, but also by wondering how those Americans who aren't Jews or Christians might feel -- Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc.
I'm left wondering too, specifically because of how McCain seems to be championing a manichaean world-view (like George W. Bush) but pushing it into a starkly religious territory that Bush, at least ostensibly, has tried hard to avoid. Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilizations" but with a (new) pentecostal evangelical bent* -- something others have noted too. All this reminds me, unfortunately, of something I've talked about again and again and again here, specifically how the ideas that reside behind the word "crusade" survive, move, and adapt.
Here, McCain (in many ways, like Bush) is framing the -- note -- violent struggles that the US faces in the context of a quasi-apocalyptic religious struggle of good (Judeo-Christian) vs. evil (non-Christian -- Islamic in the case of Iraq, Iran, & Al-Qaeda; "heathen?" in the case of Russia). McCain's rhetoric is not Gen. Boykin's but it's not far off. I'm don't know if Sen. McCain is quite aware of all the connotations of his words here. I do, however, know that I'm not particularly comfortable with either response he might give to that query.
*See especially Richard Bulliet's critique of Huntington and the idea of the West as an exclusively Judeo-Christian civilization.
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Medieval History
John McCain's Judeo-Christian "Crusade" (?)
This Boston Globe article caught my eye last week and I've been meaning to blog about it once the hectic-ness of the first week of classes passed. Here, Peter Canellos wonders aloud about McCain's peculiar use of the phrase "Judeo-Christian values" and how the Republican presidential candidate seems to use that phrase to specifically draw distinctions between the US and countries that are predominantly Muslim. For example:
"This just wasn't the elimination of a threat to Iraq - this was elimination of a threat to the West, part of this titanic struggle we are in between western Judeo-Christian values and principles and Islamic extremists," McCain said in 2006, after the killing of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.Then again, "in arguing for a strong defense of Georgia in its struggles with Russia, McCain twice noted that Georgia is a Christian nation - perhaps to distinguish it from other crumbling pieces of the former Soviet Union that are Muslim, such as Chechnya and Azerbaijan."
Canellos ends by wondering aloud whether most Americans would even notice this language, but also by wondering how those Americans who aren't Jews or Christians might feel -- Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc.
*****
I'm left wondering too, specifically because of how McCain seems to be championing a manichaean world-view (like George W. Bush) but pushing it into a starkly religious territory that Bush, at least ostensibly, has tried hard to avoid. Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilizations" but with a (new) pentecostal evangelical bent* -- something others have noted too. All this reminds me, unfortunately, of something I've talked about again and again and again here, specifically how the ideas that reside behind the word "crusade" survive, move, and adapt.
Here, McCain (in many ways, like Bush) is framing the -- note -- violent struggles that the US faces in the context of a quasi-apocalyptic religious struggle of good (Judeo-Christian) vs. evil (non-Christian -- Islamic in the case of Iraq, Iran, & Al-Qaeda; "heathen?" in the case of Russia). McCain's rhetoric is not Gen. Boykin's but it's not far off. I'm don't know if Sen. McCain is quite aware of all the connotations of his words here. I do, however, know that I'm not particularly comfortable with either response he might give to that query.
*See especially Richard Bulliet's critique of Huntington and the idea of the West as an exclusively Judeo-Christian civilization.
- Rick Santorum's Crusade: Nostalgia, Medieval & Modern
IronyRick Santorum, former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, and famous for his "Google problem," made a stop in Spartansburg, SC recently. At a variety of public events, he compared abortion to slavery, called the separation of church and state "a...
- Is Israel "medieval?" No.
Ross Douthat thinks you can compare Israel to "Outremer." Like you can compare Afghanistan to ca. 1000 Francia? No. But at least Douthat's consistent. This is the same guy who called Islam "Christianity's most enduring and impressive...
- (perceived?) Holy War In Iraq: The Rumsfeld Memos
Image: Screenshot from GQ.com, slideshow of covers to Rumsfeld's memos. GQ now has an article online by Robert Draper, detailing Donald Rumsfeld's tenure as Pres. George W. Bush's Secretary of Defense. 2 things going on here: --> The whole...
- John Mccain, Medievalist
Following up on "Barack Obama, Medievalist," I wonder how I ever missed this nugget. John McCain claims descent from Robert the Bruce and -- your friend and mine -- the man himself, Charlemagne. Of course, this is utter fantasy -- although proven repeatedly...
- The Problematic Crusades (2)
So, The LA Times has an article about new care packages intended for troops in Iraq. Great, right? Everyone likes cookies. Alas, these packages don't contain cookies. They contain "Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic...