The Babylon Complex: Theopolitical Fantasies of War, Sex and Sovereignty
Files
Description
Babylon is a surprisingly multivalent symbol in U.S. culture and politics. Political citations of Babylon range widely, from torture at Abu Ghraib to depictions of Hollywood glamour and decadence. In political discourse, Babylon appears in conservative ruminations on democratic law, liberal appeals to unity, Tea Party warnings about equality, and religious advocacy for family values. A composite biblical figure, Babylon is used to celebrate diversity and also to condemn it, to sell sexuality and to regulate it, to galvanize war and to worry about imperialism. Erin Runions explores the significance of these shifts and contradictions, arguing that together they reveal a theopolitics that tries to balance the drive for U.S. dominance with the countervailing ideals and subjectivities of economic globalization. Examining the confluence of cultural formations, biblical interpretations, and (bio)political philosophies, The Babylon Complex shows how theopolitical arguments for war, sexual regulation, and political control both assuage and contribute to anxieties about waning national sovereignty. Theoretically sophisticated and engaging, this remarkable book complicates our understanding of how the Bible affects U.S political ideals and subjectivities.
ISBN
9780823257348
Publication Date
4-2014
Publisher
Fordham University Press
City
New York
Keywords
Church and state -- United States -- History -- 21st century, Christian sociology, War -- Religious aspects -- Christianity, Sex -- Religious aspects -- Christianity, Violence in popular culture -- United States
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Christianity | Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Runions, Erin M. The Babylon Complex: Theopolitical Fantasies of War, Sex and Sovereignty. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014. Web: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_facbooks/36
