Manifesting America: MAGA & the New Civil Religion

Homebrewed Christianity

Dr. Tripp Fuller | Theologian, Philosopher, Minister

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.6 • 612 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is an audio version of an essay on my substack, Process This. The essay explores the evolving spiritual landscape of America, noting the decline of traditional religious institutions and the rise of new forms of meaning-making. Here, I examine how Donald Trump and the MAGA movement reflect a unique manifestation of a new civil religion, combining aspects of self-creation, positive thinking, and atavism. Historical context traces the roots of self-creation from Martin Luther's reforms through the Enlightenment and the rise of consumer capitalism. I highlight how Trump's persona and the MAGA movement resonate with American cultural consciousness, focusing on self-promotion, community, and opposition. It also explores the psychological and sociopolitical implications of this movement, the erosion of community, and the yearning for a mythological past, providing insights into the appeal and dangers of this modern spiritual-political fusion. I hope you enjoy it and consider supporting my work by joining 80k+ other people on Process This. If you want to read or watch the essay, you will find it here on SubStack. Resources: (Book) Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians, Tara Isabella Burton (Book) The Expulsion of the Other: Society, Perception and Communication Today, Byung-Chul Han (Lecture) Self-Creation, Tara Isabella Burton A Five-Week Online Lenten Class w/ John Dominic Crossan Join us for a transformative 5-week Lenten journey on "Paul the Pharisee: Faith and Politics in a Divided World."This course examines the Apostle Paul as a Pharisee deeply engaged with the turbulent political and religious landscape of his time. Through the lens of his letters and historical context, we will explore Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ Life-Vision, his interpretation of the Execution-and-Resurrection, and their implications for nonviolence and faithful resistance against empire. Each week, we will delve into a specific aspect of Paul’s theology and legacy, reflecting on its relevance for our own age of autocracy and political turmoil. . For details and to sign-up for any donation, including 0, head over here. _____________________ Join our class - TRUTH IN TOUGH TIMES: Global Voices of Liberation This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 80,000 other people by joining our Substack - Process This! Get instant access to over 45 classes at www.TheologyClass.com Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an essay from Tripsubstack titled Manifesting America, Maga and the New Civil Religion.
0:10.2	For more content like this, visit process this.substack.com.
0:18.4	The emergence of a new civil religion.
0:21.6	Something extraordinary is happening in American spiritual life.
0:34.6	This traditional religious institutions decline. New forms of meaning-making have emerged,
0:40.6	creating what scholars are calling a new civil religion.
0:43.4	This contemporary spiritual landscape is characterized by its provision of meaning, purpose,
0:48.7	community, and ritual outside traditional religious frameworks.
0:52.4	Within this context, Donald Trump and the MAGA movement
0:55.2	represent a unique manifestation of this new civil religion, blending elements of self-making,
1:01.3	positive thinking, and reactionary adivism into a potent spiritual and political force.
1:08.9	The historical roots of self-creation.
1:12.5	To understand how we arrived at this moment, we need to trace the genealogy of self-creation
1:18.0	in Western culture. This history begins crucially with Martin Luther's radical
1:22.4	reconception of religious authority by establishing an inner outer distinction within the self, and emphasizing
1:29.3	personal experience in matters of faith, Luther inadvertently set the stage for the individual's
1:34.9	internal authority to become paramount in matters of meaning and truth. His insistence that no
1:40.5	external body should mediate between the individual and sacred text would eventually evolve
1:45.4	far beyond what he could imagine. From this foundation, as Tara Isabella Burton demonstrates,
1:52.6	the theology of self-creation developed through four crucial stages. The first emerged in the
1:58.2	European Renaissance, where figures like Albert Dreher began presenting themselves in ways previously reserved for religious figures.
2:06.4	The self-maker appeared as a kind of demigod, a special being chosen by God or nature to participate in the divine right of creation.
	...

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