Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement (Paperback)

~ (Author) "In one sense, Christian Identity is barely half a century old..." (more)
Key Phrases: serpent seedline, conspiratorial ism, satanic paternity, Christian Identity, United States, Los Angeles (more...)

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: 330 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; revised edition (November 6, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807846384
• ISBN-13: 978-0807846384
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #615,441 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 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.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	michael benson "mbe1877356" (raleigh, north carolina USA) - 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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Religion of White Supremacy, March 21, 1997

By A Customer

This is really the only complete history of the Christian Identity movement, a modern descendent of the anglo-centric British Israelism movement of the late 19th century. Identity is the overtly racist religion practiced by Aryan Nations, the Freemen, and many other fringe White Supremacist movements. Among the beliefs subscribed to by a variety of Identity groups are that Jews are descendents of Satan, and that all non-Whites are descendents of sub-human "beasts of the field" created before Adam and Eve. Identity believers claim that they are the "remnant" of the lost tribes of Israel, and will have dominion over the earth after a racist holy war in which God will smite all their enemies. This is a fascinating book that sheds light on an obscure and shadowy movement that has united many disparate elements of the racist fringe for the past couple of decades. I could't put it down! While Identity has been covered in passing in other books or articles, nobody has researched and explained this movement quite like Barkun, a professor of Political Science at Syracuse. Tad Cook