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How America Became “A City Upon a Hill”: The Rise and Fall of Perry Miller
- thrower123 7y agoThe "City on a Hill" conception is quintessentially Yankee, and for the most part the core of a Yankee identity that doesn't exist organically anymore. While that Yankee ethos was instrumental in forging America, it's far from the only contribution, and looking at everything through the Yankee looking glass misses a great deal. I think the two most valuable US history books I've read in the past decade are Albion's Seed and American Nations. Everything makes a great deal more sense when broken out of the monolithic "American" or bipolar North vs South narrative.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoIt's also from the Bible, which is much more likely the origin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_5:14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_5:14 > You are the light of the world. A city > located on a hill can't be hidden.
- nwsm 7y agoThat is covered in the article but the biblical usage is not the point here.
- FisDugthop 7y agoIt's kind of the point, in two ways. First, the constant usage of the Bible to justify political discourse is both a staple of the USA and also painfully stupid. It doesn't matter how nice of an imaginary picture is painted by the "city upon a hill"; it's still a religious and rose-tinted portrait. Exodus probably didn't happen, and so it is a nice story (like Harry Potter) but not worth bringing to the policy table. Second, the Bible is just not very well-translated. Consider this instead: > You are the salt of the earth. > Your flavor brings merit and mirth. > But use too much extra, anybody could tell ya > Oversalted food has no worth. > You are the light of the world. > Like a town on a hill, you are pearled. > But in light we bask, only while it's unmask'd > So fly your town's flags high and unfurled. Still terrible, but at least now it rhymes correctly.
- oh_sigh 7y agoWith KJV at least, the a goal was to create a work that was dignified and resonated with the public. Doggerel rhymes don't really fit that scheme. Please don't take that as an insult - I actually like your version, but it lacks dignity.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoIt wasn't intending to rhyme though.
- everybodyknows 7y agoThe King James translation: > Ye are the light of the world. A city > that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Both translations are in alliterative, enjambed verse. Try reading each aloud, then consider which was more pleasing to your ear.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoI read through several translations, my personal favorite for general readings is CSB (formerly HCSB). Otherwise I prefer some of the Messianic translations that are not afraid to admit that some verses are properly lost to the ages, such as the Camel going through the eye of a needle, in Aramaic the same word for rope and camel exists, if you say a rich man trying to get into heaven is much like a rope going through the eye of a needle, immediately I understand what you're saying, you're saying that they have to lose all the unnecessary threads just to go through, whereas with a camel I have no idea and could assume that it would never happen. There's Aramaic scrolls that are old and translate better than most Greek New Testament scrolls most mainstream bibles are derived from. KJV has a lot of the same flaws as modern translations. And yes, the CSB still has the same flaws, but it's simple to read.
- xeromal 7y agoI always enjoyed reading the KJV. I love how poetic it can be.
- chrisdhoover 7y agoAlbion’s Seed is an important book. Highly recommend it.
- mzs 7y agoIf you value material such as this >… The White House has requested that Congress appropriate $33.4 million to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for the orderly closure of the agency. … https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-statement-proposed-fy-2021-budget https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-statement-proposed-fy-2021-budg...
- rayiner 7y agoClosure of the agency, along with the NEA, is long overdue. The arts and humanities are politically vastly outside the mainstream of American culture. As a result, there is no practical way for these agencies to operate. If the government doesn’t carefully oversee how the money is used, you end up with a government funded platform for academics and artists to peddle fringe views. There is something deeply wrong about using public money to fund something that has neither functional utility nor aesthetic value to the majority of the public. The alternative is even worse. If the government does actively curate the work funded by these agencies, you end up with propaganda: https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/is-the-neh-worth-keeping https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/is-the-n....
- arcticbull 7y ago“Government funded culture” is literally how all of Europe and Canada pays for their culture. Art tends not be a profit driver, but provides intrinsic social value and therefore thrives when funded socially. The problem isn't where the money comes from, there may well be need of a "Chinese wall" setting out how it's used, but tearing it down isn't the answer. [1] https://www.nfb.ca https://www.nfb.ca [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Canadian_Heritage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Canadian_Heritag...
- rayiner 7y ago> Government funded culture” is literally how all of Europe and Canada pays for their culture America isn’t Europe. For one thing, it’s not nearly as culturally homogenous. More Americans want their state to leave the union (about 1 in 4 nation wide) than people in Basque Country want independence from Spain (about 1 in 6). The French have an idea of what “French culture” is and what’s desirable about it. Americans have highly divergent views on what is American culture or what’s desirable about it (or even if anything is desirable about it). In practice, the NEA and NEH end up funding not “American culture” but “coastal urban culture.” Now, I happen to like coastal urban culture. My wife and I take the kids to the MOMA when we’re in NYC. But a federally funded agency picking sides in an active and ongoing culture war is wrong. The government shouldn’t be putting a thumb in the scale when it comes to influencing the evolution of culture. But that’s exactly what NEA and NEH end up doing in practice. They hand an elite cultural minority a $300 million a year platform.
- _bxg1 7y ago> The irony of history—one that Miller might well have appreciated—is that in promoting Winthrop’s sermon, he caused it to become the key statement of all that he most feared and lamented. In the years to come, Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” sermon would become “the shining city on a hill” of President Reagan: a celebration of individual freedom, material prosperity, and American power This is the problem with nationalistic rhetoric. Because it is about a place, and not about any real principle in particular, it easily spirals out of control (with vigor!) in whichever random (or maliciously designed) direction. It's like gasoline without a container: some of it may make it into the engine and move things forward, but it's just as likely to light everything on fire.
- microcolonel 7y ago> This is the problem with nationalistic rhetoric. Because it is about a place, and not about any real principle in particular, it easily spirals out of control (with vigor!) in whichever random (or maliciously designed) direction. A nation is not merely a place, and America is a nation based on principles; mere loyalty to the abstract of the territory is not recognizably American.
- _bxg1 7y agoAmerica is a word, and a place, and a group of people, and a government. All of these are fallible. Everything beyond these is subjective and constantly in flux. "American Values" have meant countless different things to different people at different times. Like Miller you can try to wrap them up in a coherent story, but it will eventually reveal itself to be at best incomplete, at worst delusional. If you want to advocate for values then advocate for values, not Americana. The concept of Americana does not exist in any concrete reality, and can (and will) be co-opted by whichever politician, or corporation, or individual, who can use it for their own ends. By stoking the flames one is only sharpening a weapon that can be used by anybody, for anything.
- 50ckpuppet 7y agoSimple, distinguish between art and "grant abuse."
- softwaredoug 7y agoEvery American should really learn about the post civil war reconstruction period before making any claims about moral superiority. In my experience most Americans want to pay attention to just the civil war, and pat ourselves on the back for ending slavery. It’s far less comfortable to see the rule of law subverted by southern KKK and militias and northern moral fatigue in the decades that follow. Events like the civil war and civil rights movement in US history are notable as exceptions of the rule of racism or apathy towards racial injustice.
- dntbnmpls 7y ago> Every American should really learn about the post civil war reconstruction period before making any claims about moral superiority. Was the pre-civil war period a shining bastion of morality? Pre, post or during the civil war, you can choose any time period and see unwarranted self-righteousness. I can't think of any period in US history where we could genuinely consider ourselves the moral superiors. But you don't get to be the wealthiest and the most powerful nation on earth by being morally superior. > It’s far less comfortable to see the rule of law subverted by southern KKK and militias and northern moral fatigue in the decades that follow. "Northern moral fatigue". That's cute. You make it sound like the north was any less racist.
- softwaredoug 7y agoIt definitely wasn’t, which is exactly my point. But neither was the post civil war period.