Beteiligte: | |
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In: | Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 18, 2015, 2, S. 301-330 |
veröffentlicht: |
Michigan State University Press
|
Medientyp: | Artikel, E-Artikel |
Umfang: | 301-330 |
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ISSN: |
1094-8392
1534-5238 |
DOI: | 10.14321/rhetpublaffa.18.2.0301 |
veröffentlicht in: | Rhetoric & Public Affairs |
Sprache: | Englisch |
<p>In 2008, two of the leading presidential candidates emerged from controversial, outsider religious groups—Mormonism and the black church tradition. Dogged by ongoing questions from the media, each candidate produced a high-profile public address. In this article, I argue that Mitt Romney’s “Faith in America” and Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” craft competing visions for American civic piety. Drawing on recent literature in the area of <italic>practical</italic> piety, I read the speeches as evidence that civic piety may be more than a subordinating, pragmatic agreement between church and state. It may instead be read as a spiritually substantive space of cultural identity formation. I further conclude that the 2008 election reveals a contested piety in the midst of transition, and that this transition points in a relatively well-defined direction for American civil-religious culture.</p> |