Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement [Paperback]

Michael Barkun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1994

According to Michael Barkun, many white supremacist groups of the radical right are deeply committed to the distinctive but little-recognized religious position known as Christian Identity. In Religion and the Racist Right (1994), Barkun provided the first sustained exploration of the ideological and organizational development of the Christian Identity movement.

In a new chapter written for the revised edition, he traces the role of Christian Identity figures in the dramatic events of the first half of the 1990s, from the Oklahoma City bombing and the rise of the militia movement to the Freemen standoff in Montana. He also explores the government's evolving response to these challenges to the legitimacy of the state.

Michael Barkun is professor of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is author of several books, including Crucible of the Millennium: The Burned-over District of New York in the 1840s.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While the Christian Identity cult is numerically insignificant, its ideology informs and influences American racist powers of every stripe. Identity's bizarre conceptual stew stirs together peculiar interpretations of biblical scripture to "prove" inherent Caucasian superiority. Its literal demonization of Jews fuels not only white racist groups such as WAR but also Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. Barkun (political science, Syracuse Univ.) here proffers the first sustained study of Identity from its origins in 19th-century British-Israelism, which held that the Anglo-Saxons were the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. While James Aho's fine Politics of Righteousness (Univ. of Washington Pr., 1990) addresses Identity's political activity, this work remains the only complete analysis of its more pervasive religious teachings. Essential to every academic collection concerned with racism, anti-Semitism, and American religious cults.
Bill Piekarski, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Chula Vista, Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A fascinating and terrifying account that is at once a work of academic scholarship and a startling expos‚ of a particularly virulent form of religious extremism. Barkun (Political Science/Syracuse Univ.) examines the origins and ideology of the so-called Christian Identity Movement. This small movement (upper-range estimates figure its adherents at no more than 50,000 and lower guesses say they number only 2,000) has nevertheless succeeded in dominating the discourse of the extreme right--even among groups not even distantly related to it. White supremacist and anti-Semitic, the Christian Identity Movement (composed of groups like the Aryan Nation, the Posse Comitatus, and David Duke's element of the Ku Klux Klan, among others) has three core beliefs--whites are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites and as such have a providential role to fulfill; Jews are unrelated to the biblical Israelites and are instead the spawn of Satan; and the world is on the verge of a fiery apocalypse in which the Aryans must battle the Jews and their allies to redeem the world. In this last regard, the Israel of the traditional apocalyptic accounts becomes identified with the United States rather than the ancient land of Palestine. Barkun convincingly demonstrates the direct roots of these Christian Identity groups in an obscure school of 19th-century thought in England known as British-Israelism. This philosophy saw Britons as the descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel, and thus linked to the Jews, with a role as a chosen people. Unlike its violent American progeny, however, the previous movement was not anti-Semitic and, in fact, recognized a kinship with Jews. Compelling and well presented, this volume deserves to be read by anyone concerned with Christian or political extremism in America. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 303 pages
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr; 1st edition (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807844519
• ISBN-13: 978-0807844519
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,650,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tour of one region in America's chaotic religious landscape, February 22, 2001

By 

B. Jackson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement (Hardcover)

While I highly enjoyed this book and found it meticulously, yet engagingly, researched, I will try to refrain from repeating what other reviewers have already stated. What I would like to add, is that I was unexpectedly impressed with the tortuous connections Barkun unearthed between the Identity/British-Israel sects/movements and other strains of Protestants and Pentecostals. I felt that I learned not only about Identity, but also gained a wider perspective on America's colorful religious history. Barkun also did an admirable job of maintaining a degree of objectivity and emotional distance from his subject, preventing a preachy or moralistic tone from overwhelming the book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This Book is Pure Hate Speech and Nonsense!, November 1, 2011

By 

Daniel Guyewski "Patrick Henry" (Mulberry AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement (Paperback)

This book is bashing christians using hate speech and I would seriously reccomend that nooene else reads this trash, where is the tolerance for other religions here? why is the author being so hateful!

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars invaluable study of christian identity, February 27, 2000

By 

michael benson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement (Hardcover)

This is easily the best book on the subject. The first section on the history of British Israelism (a little known theory today but well known during the last half of the 19th cen. and first half of the twentieth) is simply invaluable. Three cheers for Professor Barkun. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants to be informed about one of the most dangerous and bizarre movements in our country today.