The Kingdom of God and the American Dream: The Religious and Secular Ideals of American History

1942 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 877
Author(s):  
David S. Muzzey
2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Merkley

Abstract The Progressive years, from the 1890s to 1919, were the last period of American history during which the “national faith” was publicly proclaimed in the political arena. By the 1930s, politicians excused themselves from appearing on platforms with the ministers and the symbols of Christian faith. Protestant clergymen owed their lease on the attentions of the politicians and the voting public of those years to the intellectuals' patience with the liberal preachers ' reinterpretation of the agenda of progress in terms of the imminent, poslmillenial “Kingdom of God.” Meanwhile, the spectacular advance of premillenialism in the ranks of the laity embarrassed the clergy by exposing the gulf between the liberal-philosophic commitments of the learned leadership and the continued investments of the laity in a supernaturalist understanding of the Christian faith. The vehemence of the Social Gospelers ' denunciation of premillenialism is the best clue to their determination not to accept the reality that would henceforth govern the life of the churches: that Christian faith and doctrine no longer belonged in the general culture.


Author(s):  
Dan Anh Nguyen

<p><em>The Buddha in the Attic </em>is not a religious novel as its name might show, inversely, the author, Julie Otsuka, presentsreaders a vivid picture of the Japanese women who came to America in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century andwished to change their life via marriages. Through a common perspective of “We”, the novelist truthfully describes the tragedy not only of women but also ofJapanese communities in WWII inside the USA as well as a dark part of American history, the matter of race and cultural harmony... This research applied theories of ethical identity and ethical dilemma of ethical literary criticism to study on the identity tragedy within <em>The Buddha in the Attic </em>by Julie Otsuka.</p><p><em>Keywords: American Dream, picture brides, Japan, culture, ethical literary criticism</em></p>


Author(s):  
Robert L. McLaughlin

This chapter examines Sondheim’s plays from Sunday in the Park with George to Road Show. While still engaging in the postmodern interrogation of knowledge and the limits of representation, these plays suggest a desire to find a direct experience of the real. Sunday in the Park explores the creation and purpose of art. Into the Woods uses traditional fairy tales to explore the connections between narrative and identity. Assassins overturns the ideas of official American history and the American Dream. Passion marks a clear dissatisfaction with the absorption of reality into representation. Caught within a web of language, the characters long for a reality—love—outside self-referring discourse. The Frogs examines the social inertia that results from the devolution of language from communication to cliché. Road Show sets two brothers in a societal closed system in which art, narrative, and language tend toward exhaustion.


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