Adam Kotsko's mode of discourse is well outside my normal wheelhouse, but I do think that this is important. It is generally a mistake in America to think that religious arguments will persuade anyone of anything political or moral. In America, at least, religion tends to act as a righteousness multiplier rather than a set of principles and ideas that can be used for persuasion and to get peoplle to think reflectively:
Adam Kotsko: The Political Theology of Trump: "This brings us to a scriptural parallel that evangelicals themselves have drawn with Trump: Cyrus the Great, the Persian Emperor who allowed Israelite priestly elites to settle back in the Promised Land.... The Prophet Isaiah sings this pagan ruler’s praises, even calling him God’s “anointed”... “Messiah” in Hebrew or “Christ” in Greek—and promising divine assistance in his ongoing conquest.... IT’S THE BIBLICAL VERSION of 'only Nixon can go to China'. Only a pagan ruler who knows nothing of the God of Israel... can restore the righteous remnant to the Promised Land.... The use of an ignorant, pagan ruler makes the divine agency unmistakable from the Israelite perspective. How could it be more clear that God is really controlling events when his purpose is fulfilled without the involvement of any conscious human intention? My mom suggested that something similar was at play on that painful phone call the morning after the election, when she wondered aloud whether the improbable events that made Trump President against the American people’s will spoke of a divine intention.... There is not much that any of us can do to convince evangelical Trump supporters that their anointed one is an antichrist...
#noted
