Myth and the Christian Nation: A Social Theory of Religion. By Burton L

Abstract

This is neither the first nor the last book in which Burton L. Mack has brought his scholarly expertise as a New Testament scholar, historian of Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins, and theorist of religion to bear upon other matters of very contemporary concern. These other matters are, specifically, the current political situation in the United States with its attendant cultural (de-)formations and preoccupying peculiarities. Thus, I find it helpful to begin this review of the book Myth and the Christian Nation (2008) by placing it within the series of works that both precede and follow it, starting with A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins (1988) and ending, most recently, with Christian Mentality: The Entanglements of Power, Violence, and Fear (2011). When taken up in this fashion, a certain intellectual trajectory or line of inquiry becomes apparent in which the present book—Myth and the Christian Nation—would register an important but nonetheless still provisional theoretical way-station.