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MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU: CHRISTIANITY'S CRITIQUE OF ROMAN AND AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

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Date Issued:
2012
Abstract/Description:
Throughout the history of the United States, its inhabitants have looked upon their nation as a special place. In some cases, this has exceeded the natural and simple love of home and country and taken a more extreme form. Important to this bent is the tendency to see the nation, its beliefs, and its actions around the world as divinely sanctioned and inspired in some regard. This is a generally necessary component to the idea of American Exceptionalism, which views the United States as a nation with a divinely imposed mission to spread civilization, freedom, and democracy to the ends of the earth. In many ways, the Roman Empire shared these pretentions of being the bearers of civilization to the rest of the world and of being a divinely chosen nation with that vocation. Voices within Christianity, as it developed, provided a potent antithesis to this aspect of Roman imperial ideology, critiquing Roman ideas of their own exceptionalism. By comparing the ideological basis of Roman and American concepts of exceptionalism, this thesis will attempt to apply the critique made by people like Jesus, Paul and Augustine to the United States today.
Title: MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU: CHRISTIANITY'S CRITIQUE OF ROMAN AND AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM.
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Name(s): Tindall, Ryan, Author
Tindall, Ryan, Committee Chair
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: Throughout the history of the United States, its inhabitants have looked upon their nation as a special place. In some cases, this has exceeded the natural and simple love of home and country and taken a more extreme form. Important to this bent is the tendency to see the nation, its beliefs, and its actions around the world as divinely sanctioned and inspired in some regard. This is a generally necessary component to the idea of American Exceptionalism, which views the United States as a nation with a divinely imposed mission to spread civilization, freedom, and democracy to the ends of the earth. In many ways, the Roman Empire shared these pretentions of being the bearers of civilization to the rest of the world and of being a divinely chosen nation with that vocation. Voices within Christianity, as it developed, provided a potent antithesis to this aspect of Roman imperial ideology, critiquing Roman ideas of their own exceptionalism. By comparing the ideological basis of Roman and American concepts of exceptionalism, this thesis will attempt to apply the critique made by people like Jesus, Paul and Augustine to the United States today.
Identifier: CFH0004283 (IID), ucf:44894 (fedora)
Note(s): 2012-12-01
B.A.
Arts and Humanities, Dept. of Philosophy
Bachelors
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): american exceptionalism
roman empire
christianity
paul
st. augustine
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004283
Restrictions on Access: public
Host Institution: UCF

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