Embodied Idolatry

This book is a critique of Christian nationalism and an analysis of Christian theological ethics and practice in the US. Utilizing Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology and René Girard’s mimetic theories, Haden identifies the problematic dynamics of US Christians embodying idolatrous ideological beliefs and calls for Christian conversion from such practices.

What an education! Kyle Edward Haden leads us slowly but with great sure-footedness through some of the most challenging of modern thinkers in order to open us up to that most timely of gifts: the ability to engage in self-critical thinking about who we are and where our lives together are taking us. Highly recommended.

Haden has an uncanny ability to make significant theories understandable and practical; hence Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus are used to show how American nationalism is woven into the consciousness of Christians for whom American = Christian and American = white. Girard’s mimetic theory along with needs/emotional theory is used to show how an emotionally charged and savvy leader can inspire a mimetic emotional contagion to draw crowds into his agenda. The exclusionary nationalist idolatry of a significant segment of US Christianity is contrasted with a sensitive reading of Jesus's teachings on inclusion, hospitality, justice, and a particularly cogent openness to the other.

Kyle Edward Haden is assistant professor of Theology and Franciscan studies at St. Bonaventure University.