Captain America and the crusade against evil Book

	Preface	xiii
1.	The Challenge of a Contradictory Civil Religion	1
	The Strange Persistence of Biblical Language	1
	The Steady Theme of Redeeming the World	3
	A Contradictory Civil Religion in the Time of Jihad	6
2.	The Endangered Towers and the Crusade Against Jihad	10
	Contradictory Responses	11
	The Background of September 11	13
	Martial Response and Lost Opportunities	16
	Militant Jihad's Rationale	18
	The Parallel Logic of Crusade and Jihad	20
3.	Popular Culture as a Bearer of the National Complex	26
	Superheroic Entertainments and Civil Religion	27
	The Rise of the American Monomyth	28
	The Popularization of Crusading Zeal	35
	American Superheroism as a Threat to Democracy	39
	The Challenge of Pop Fascism	42
4.	A Rod of Iron or a Light to the Nations	44
	The Birth of Israelite Zeal and Realism	45
	The Critique of Zealous Warfare by Prophetic Realists	48
	Israel's Dilemma during the Roman Period	51
	The Book of Revelation and the Dominance of Zealotry	53
5.	America's Zeal to Redeem the World	55
	The Rise of a Millennial Mission	55
	Clashes between Zealous Nationalism and Prophetic Realism	61
	Zeal's Frustration and the Claim of Manifest Destiny	66
	The Religious Impulse in American Imperialism	68
	World War I as a Millennial Crusade	71
	World War II and the Disjunction between Zeal and Realism	75
6.	The Frustration of American Zealous Nationalism	79
	The Cold War's Thwarted Crusade	80
	Brinkmanship and the Ideology of Anti-communism	88
	The Arrogant Missteps of Global Idealism	96
	Defeated Superheroism in Vietnam	100
	Zealous Nationalism and the Loss of Honor	103
7.	The Ascendancy of Mythic Politics	107
	Artificial Euphoria and the Mayaguez Episode	108
	Carter's Failure at Domestic Superheroism	112
	Reagan and the Ephemeral Triumph of Macho Superheroism	115
	The Mirage of Invulnerable Defense	118
	Illusions of National Innocence	119
	The Gulf War and the Lost Chance for Prophetic Realism	123
	Clinton's Frivolous Use of Mythic Politics	126
8.	The Rapturous Rebirth of Millennial Zealotry	131
	The Recent Popularity of the Doom Boom	131
	The Background of Millennial Theology	135
	Calendars for the Rapture	138
	Recent Forms of Millennial Civil Religion	142
	Jerusalem and the End of Days	144
	Responsible Uses of the Apocalyptic	147
9.	The Global Popularization of Zeal and Jihad	149
	The Recent Militarization of Jihad	150
	Zealous Fervor in Israel	155
	Spiraling Sanctified Violence	160
	Aum Shinrikyo in Japan	162
	Seeking Responsible Forms of Zeal and Jihad	164
10.	Consumed by Zeal and Jihad	167
	Zeal in the Bible	168
	Hot Zeal in Its Modern Embodiments	170
	The Dominance of Cool Zeal	176
	Artful Zeal's Destructive Legacy	180
	The All-consuming Nature of Zeal and Jihad	186
	The Need for Modest Zeal and Jihad	188
11.	Evil as a Grand Conspiracy	192
	Conspiracy Theory in the Bible	194
	A Realistic Theory of Evil	197
	Grand Conspiracies in American Politics	200
	Conspiracy Theory and the Vietnam War	206
	Paths Away from the Grand Conspiracy	209
12.	Stereotypes of Good and Evil	214
	The Rise of Stereotypes in Biblical History	216
	American Adaptations of Ancient Stereotypes	221
	Six Features of Popular Stereotypes	223
	Problematic Stereotypes in Recent History	226
	Three Negative Effects of Stereotyping	231
	Five Strategies to Overcome Destructive Stereotypes	237
13.	To Convert Them or Destroy Them	245
	Redemptive Violence in the Bible	246
	Violence and America's Sense of Mission	250
	The Mystique of Violence in American Wars	254
	Hosea's Critique of the Mystique of Violence	261
	Overcoming the Illusions of Redemptive Destruction	270
14.	Neither Humiliation Nor Defeat	273
	Victory as the Reward for Piety in the Old Testament	275
	The Deuteronomic Principle in American History	276
	Mythic Responses to Defeat	281
	The Impact of Defeat on Civil Religion	285
	Bringing Prophetic Resources to the Experience of Defeat	288
15.	Crusades Against Symbolic Desecration	294
	The Struggle to Prevent Flag Desecration	297
	The Danger of Sanctifying National Symbols	301
	Holiness as a Theological Issue	302
	Muslim Campaigns against Desecration	304
	Ominous Parallels in the Flag Desecration Campaign	306
	Biblical Links between Desecration and Zealous Violence	309
16.	Prophetic Realism in Response to Jihad	313
	Isaiah's Vision for Conflict Resolution	315
	A Vision of Global Government	316
	Waning American Support for International Law	319
	Recovering America's Constitutional Mission	323
	Acknowledgments	325
	Endnotes	327
	Index of Names and Subjects	372
	Index of Ancient Texts	390