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War and National Renewal: Civil Religion and Blood Sacrifice in American CultureDOI: 10.4000/ejas.9672 Keywords: United States , patriotism , Abraham Lincoln , Civil War , Gettysburg Address , nationalism , 9/11 , civil religion , death , flag , freedom , Iwo Jima , military , renewal , ritual , self-sacrifice , Soldier’s Oath , war , Benedict Anderson , Robert Bellah , Emile Durkheim , Thomas Franklin , Réné Girard , David Ingle , Carolyn Marvin , Robert Penn Warren , Gary Wills Abstract: 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 Réné 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
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