%0 Journal Article
%T War and National Renewal: Civil Religion and Blood Sacrifice in American Culture
%A Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet
%J European Journal of American Studies
%D 2012
%I European Association for American Studies
%R 10.4000/ejas.9672
%X Wars are often associated with a rhetoric of renewal or new beginnings. This essay explores this claim through the lens of civil religion and a recent book by Carolyn Marvin and David Ingle, Blood Sacrifice and the Nation, which combines Emile Durkheim with R¨Śn¨Ś Girard in proposing that modern national cohesion depends on blood sacrifice. I unpack some of the paradoxes raised by this theory of national renewal in the context of 9/11, with a special focus on the sacred status of the flag and the special attention given to uniformed serviceman in the American body politic
%K United States
%K patriotism
%K Abraham Lincoln
%K Civil War
%K Gettysburg Address
%K nationalism
%K 9/11
%K civil religion
%K death
%K flag
%K freedom
%K Iwo Jima
%K military
%K renewal
%K ritual
%K self-sacrifice
%K SoldierĄŻs Oath
%K war
%K Benedict Anderson
%K Robert Bellah
%K Emile Durkheim
%K Thomas Franklin
%K R¨Śn¨Ś Girard
%K David Ingle
%K Carolyn Marvin
%K Robert Penn Warren
%K Gary Wills
%U http://ejas.revues.org/9672