Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Christian Terror in Europe? The Bible in Anders Behring Breivik’s Manifesto

Christian Terror in Europe? The Bible in Anders Behring Breivik’s Manifesto AbstractIn the attempts to understand the ideology underpinning the terror attack in Norway 22nd July 2011, and the growth of far-right extremism in Europe more generally, Christianity and the uses of the Bible are a largely neglected feature. In this article, I examine the way in which the Bible is used in Anders Behring Breivik’s manifesto, arguing that this provides an important example of the role of Christianity in far-right discourse. I show that the Bible functions as a legitimating device, glossing violence as defense of a Christian Europe; as a motivational instrument, positing God as a fellow fighter; and, as an origin for Europe. The Bible is situated in a pre-modern state where its signifying powers are policed. At the same time, it is wrenched out of this solidified framework, cut up and pasted into the manifesto hypertext in order to serve as a contemporary ally to an anti-Muslim and anti-multicultural cause. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the Bible and its Reception de Gruyter

Christian Terror in Europe? The Bible in Anders Behring Breivik’s Manifesto

Journal of the Bible and its Reception , Volume 4 (1): 23 – Apr 25, 2017

Loading next page...
 
/lp/de-gruyter/christian-terror-in-europe-the-bible-in-anders-behring-breivik-s-Gjia1toHce

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
ISSN
2329-4434
eISSN
2329-4434
DOI
10.1515/jbr-2017-2006
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractIn the attempts to understand the ideology underpinning the terror attack in Norway 22nd July 2011, and the growth of far-right extremism in Europe more generally, Christianity and the uses of the Bible are a largely neglected feature. In this article, I examine the way in which the Bible is used in Anders Behring Breivik’s manifesto, arguing that this provides an important example of the role of Christianity in far-right discourse. I show that the Bible functions as a legitimating device, glossing violence as defense of a Christian Europe; as a motivational instrument, positing God as a fellow fighter; and, as an origin for Europe. The Bible is situated in a pre-modern state where its signifying powers are policed. At the same time, it is wrenched out of this solidified framework, cut up and pasted into the manifesto hypertext in order to serve as a contemporary ally to an anti-Muslim and anti-multicultural cause.

Journal

Journal of the Bible and its Receptionde Gruyter

Published: Apr 25, 2017

There are no references for this article.