Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Liu, Yan

Titel

Constructing Christian Nationalism Through Christian Sovereignty Narratives: A Study of Recent U.S. Church Sermons

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Christian nationalism has become more visible in U.S. public and political conversations, particularly after the January 6 Capitol attack. Studies indicate a positive correlation between Christian nationalism, church attendance, and Bible reading frequency. Do U.S. church sermons or the Bible support Christian nationalism? How has God's sovereignty been portrayed in American church sermons historically? What political or socio-cultural factors have influenced Christian sovereignty narratives? Moreover, how have Christian sovereignty narratives shaped various forms of Christian nationalism?This study adopted a comprehensive approach integrating etymological, historical, and contextual analysis to investigate the evolution of Christian sovereignty narratives in theological texts across centuries. It applies keyword frequency, thematic and content analysis, and grounded theory to examine sermon texts across various church traditions in the American Sermon Database (Pew 2019-2020). Using frame alignment theory, this study explores the complex relationship between Christian sovereignty narratives, interpretations of Christian nationalism, and related social movements.My study reveals that White Evangelical pulpits in the U.S. more frequently propagate Christian nationalist messages compared to mainstream and Historically Black Churches, with Evangelical sermons addressing political topics significantly more often. These sermons often link political critiques to America as a Christian nation and feature themes of God's sovereignty, revelation-judgment/millennialism, and the Trump-Israel connection markedly more than in other churches. These themes also resonate more within Protestant mainstream and Historically Black Churches than in Catholic and Orthodox teachings.Flourishing in the latter half of the 20th century, Christian sovereignty narratives— originating from historical church-state conflicts—aligned with the rise of nation-states in Europe and the U.S. These narratives have evolved through frame bridging, amplification, extension, and transformation processes with various social movements. Christian sovereignty narratives were intertwined with the four great awakenings, illustrating their progression from linguistic to institutional recognition and educational initiatives to media and political alliances. As a distinct Protestant phenomenon, Christian sovereignty narratives differ across evangelical, mainline, and Historically Black churches. Each tradition addresses social issues, proposes solutions, and motivates Christian nationalism by interpreting Christian values and principles in their way.