The Bible and National and Civic Myths

The Bible contains numerous stories about the founding of “nations” and cities, as well as their futures.

As we might expect, the Bible also has a long and diverse reception history of being used to construct new myths of origins and futures. We might think of biblical treatments of Israel, Judah, Edom, Moab, (New) Jerusalem, Babylon, and Persia, or interpretations of the Bible Augustine’s City of God, Gog and Magog at city pageants, “One Nation under God” and the Pledge of Allegiance, Joseph of Arimathea in England, Christ the Redeemer towering over Rio, and peasant hopes for a country where all things are held in common.

These stories can take many forms, from celebrations of the sacred origins of country through to threats and promises of the destruction of enemies, as well as authorising social categories and distinctions. This conference will look at and analyse a selection of examples from across time and place, as well as providing comparative discussion about such widespread uses of the Bible and biblical texts. The idea of “nation” is broadly understood to include the modern nation state as well as comparable political entities (pre-modern or otherwise) and related phenomena, including empires, federations, regions, cities, urban/rural relations, etc.

Most papers will be by invitation but there is space for some additional paper proposals. Please contact Prof James Crossley (james.crossley@stmarys.ac.uk) if you have a proposal. Postgraduates are encouraged to submit.

Main speaker

Lindsay Kaplan (Georgetown University), author of Figuring Racism in Medieval Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2018)

Other speakers

Ward Blanton

Halvor Moxnes (University of Oslo)

Fatima Tofighi (University of Religions, Qom)

Yvonne Sherwood

Hannah M. Strømmen (University of Chichester)