September 11: a Christian fundamentalist interpretation
This article analyses sermons preached by Free Presbyterian ministers in the United States following the World Trade Centre tragedy and the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It explores how these religions fundamentalists made sense of the event theologically. While terrorists carried ou...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
2008
|
| In: |
Political theology
Year: 2008, Volume: 9, Issue: 2, Pages: 139-160 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Eleventh of September terrorist attack
/ Theodicy
/ Sermon
/ Presbyterians
/ Fundamentalism
/ Political theology
|
| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBR Latin America NBC Doctrine of God |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article analyses sermons preached by Free Presbyterian ministers in the United States following the World Trade Centre tragedy and the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It explores how these religions fundamentalists made sense of the event theologically. While terrorists carried out the attack, ultimately God was believed to have been responsible. It was considered God's way of punishing the American nation for its sin. Ministers' use of the Old Testament and God's covenantal relationship with ancient Israel is both the theological and historical backdrop to their explanation of September 11. Concentration on the Old Testament and fundamentalists' exegetical approach means that politics and religion are tightly intertwined. Emphasis on the militaristic portions of the Old Testament also helps justify the war in Iraq. Although Free Presbyterian doctrine is based on institutional separatism and believers' withdrawal from "the world" the sermons connect parishioners to their wider society through a shared sense of patriotic loyalty and national loss. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1462-317X |
| Contains: | In: Political theology
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/poth.v9i2.139 |