In Search of the City on a Hill

Gamble, Richard M.

doi:10.1353/hsp.2012.0039

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…A lawyer and future governor of the colony, Winthrop used biblical metaphors in his 1630 speech to inspire colonists as they crossed the Atlantic. The "city on a hill" metaphor, which is a commonplace in America's self-image today, was a reference to Matthew 5:14 [28]. This passage follows the Beatitudes, and Christ himself applied the "city on a hill", "salt", "light", and "candlestick" metaphors to describe the nature of the Kingdom of God.…”

Section: Europe's "Hebraic Republic" Reaches the American Coloniesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“This Is Our Jerusalem”: Early American Evangelical Localizations of the Hebraic Republic

Brand

2015

Religions

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This paper examines how evangelical pastors applied Protestant notions of a Hebraic Republic for their parishioners as America transitioned from a colonial frontier to a new republic. As the American constitutions took shape during and after the Revolution, many evangelical pastors argued that America emulated or was inspired by the Israelite polity as described by the Old Testament. America and its institutions thus became a reincarnated Hebraic Republic, a new "city on a hill", and a new Jerusalem. Originally these pastors drew on a broader, global movement that was shaping republican attempts at reform in Europe, but as they localized the biblical model to their own particular experiences, they brought new meaning to it and exported the transformed model back out to the world.Keywords: hebraic republic; evangelical; preaching; sermon; constitutionalism On 5 October 2015, contractors used the cover of darkness and an increased presence of state police to separate a granite monument of the 10 Commandments from its base and remove it from the premises of the Oklahoma capitol. So ended the long drama stirred by objections that the monument violated the constitutional separation of church and state, objections upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier that year. The situation in Oklahoma was another episode in an ongoing American saga. Attempts to remove a similar monument at the Texas capitol a decade ago were unsuccessful. The 10 Commandments controversy has also been acted out recently in other states, including Kentucky, Arkansas, and Alabama, and the constitutional question is far from settled. With Moses and his famous body of laws present in many civic buildings throughout the country-including the architecture of the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court-it is unlikely that Americans have seen the end of attempts to remove them or defend them.America's peculiar history regarding the 10 Commandments stretches back to its origins, and this paper will explain the role that early American evangelical pastors played in this history. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, American ministers formulated a distinctive political theology derived from the broader movements of Protestantism and republicanism in Europe. These two movements were localized in particular ways as pulpit-orators attempted to weigh in on the structure and institutions of the new governments coming into existence in America. The first task here, then, is to define early American evangelicals in their glocal context, after which this study will describe the history of how they applied the Hebraic Republic in the colonial, revolutionary, and constitutional periods.

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Section: Europe's "Hebraic Republic" Reaches the American Coloniesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“This Is Our Jerusalem”: Early American Evangelical Localizations of the Hebraic Republic

Brand

2015

Religions

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Claiming the High Ground: Catholics, Protestants, and the City on a Hill

Engen¹,

Traister²

2017

American Literature and the New Puritan Studies

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Homogenizing nationalists, budding fascists, and truculent exceptionalists: the end of world order in the Indo-Pacific

McKinney

2021

Int Polit

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Building on Ernest Gellner’s theory of the nation-state and drawing on insights from John Lukacs and George Kennan, this article contends that the major powers of the contemporary Indo-Pacific are characterized by conflicting nationalisms. Homogenizing nationalism seeks to form China—a former multiethnic empire—into a unitary nation-state. Budding fascism endeavors to transform India—founded as a secular state—into a Hindu nation in which there is little place for the ‘other.’ And in the USA, truculent exceptionalism readily acknowledges that coexistence with China is no longer possible in the long run. All three powers have an alternative that they might embrace: toleration. But civility, in both domestic and international politics, is increasingly rare. The future of world order in the Indo-Pacific does not look bright.

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In Search of the City on a Hill

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

“This Is Our Jerusalem”: Early American Evangelical Localizations of the Hebraic Republic

“This Is Our Jerusalem”: Early American Evangelical Localizations of the Hebraic Republic

Claiming the High Ground: Catholics, Protestants, and the City on a Hill

Homogenizing nationalists, budding fascists, and truculent exceptionalists: the end of world order in the Indo-Pacific

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