G.I. Messiahs: Soldiering, War, and American Civil ReligionJonathan Ebel has long been interested in how religion helps individuals and communities render meaningful the traumatic experiences of violence and war. In this new work, he examines cases from the Great War to the present day and argues that our notions of what it means to be an American soldier are not just strongly religious, but strongly Christian. Drawing on a vast array of sources, he further reveals the effects of soldier veneration on the men and women so often cast as heroes. Imagined as the embodiments of American ideals, described as redeemers of the nation, adored as the ones willing to suffer and die that we, the nation, may live--soldiers have often lived in subtle but significant tension with civil religious expectations of them. With chapters on prominent soldiers past and present, Ebel recovers and re-narrates the stories of the common American men and women that live and die at both the center and edges of public consciousness. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
CHAPTER 1 Incarnating American Civil Religion | 25 |
CHAPTER 2 Symbols Known Soldiers Unknown | 46 |
CHAPTER 3 In Honored Glory Known but to God | 69 |
CHAPTER 4 Saint Francis the Fallen | 100 |
CHAPTER 5 The Vietnam War as a Christological Crisis | 134 |
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ABMC actions American civil religion American soldiers argued army asked authority Battle became become bodies cemeteries Changing chapter Christian Church clear combat connection continued crosses cultural dead death described devotion died discussion embodied enemy experiences expression face faith fallen fight final flesh followed force Francis G.I. Messiah graves hero Honor Images imagined important individual interpretation involved John Johnson killed known Legion less lives looked Lost March meaning Medal memorial military moved narrative nation noted Operation orders pilot Powers practice presented Press questions religious remains ritual sacred served soldierly spaces story suffering symbol things Tillman tion turn understanding United University Unknown veterans Vietnam violence wanted Warrior wars Whittlesey Winter Soldier Investigations women writes wrote York