1st Edition

U.S. War-Culture, Sacrifice and Salvation

By Kelly Denton-Borhaug Copyright 2011
    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    The military-industrial complex in the United States has grown exponentially in recent decades, yet the realities of war remain invisible to most Americans. The U.S has created a culture in which sacrificial rhetoric is the norm when dealing in war. This culture has been enabled because popular American Christian understandings of redemption rely so heavily on the sacrificial. 'U.S War-Culture, Sacrifice and Salvation' explores how the concept of Christian redemption has been manipulated to create a mentality of "necessary sacrifice". The study reveals the links between Christian notions of salvation and sacrifice and the aims of the military-industrial complex.

    Introduction

    1. War-culture and Sacrifice

    2. Building and Maintaining the Drive to War: Victimage Rhetoric, Framing, and the Language of Sacrifice

    3. A Deadly Nexus: ‘Necessity,’ Christina Salvation and War-culture

    4. Rehabilitating Sacrifice?

    5. Detranscendentalizing War

    Appendix: ‘Just This Once’ by Coleman Barks

    Biography

    Kelly Denton-Borhaug