Maggie's Farm

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Thursday, December 4. 2014

‘An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America’

From Zywicki: Book Review of Joseph Bottum, ‘An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America’


Posted by Bird Dog at 15:26 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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Excellent book. Summation: the more things change, the more they stay the same. While the descendants of whose who attended churches a hundred years ago are today much less attached to churches, religion still influences them.

Those who attended churches back then did to in large part to belong to the elect- those who would be saved. Their descendants do not attend church, but they are still very much concerned with belonging to the elect. Nowadays membership in the elect is not determined by what church you belong to, but by one's beliefs on politics.

Do you believe in diversity? You are one of the elect. Are you against racist warmongers? You are one of the elect.
And so forth.
#1 Gringo on 2014-12-04 17:26 (Reply)
Heh. I was liking the comment and then found it was my old pal Gringo. There are many conversations about this large subject, and I doubt Bottum has covered the waterfront. But i think this is one of the large trends of the late 20th C.

Does Bottum refer much to how pervasive the flirtation (but never embrace) of communism in the PM was? It was so fashionable, and still is, to "see some good in both sides."
#2 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2014-12-04 20:47 (Reply)

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