David S. Katz writes in The Occult Tradition (2005) :
But, most importantly, Fundamentalism places a determined emphasis on the ‘realm of the unknown; the supernatural world or its influences, manifestations, etc.’, which situates it firmly within the occult tradition even by the blandest dictionary definition. Fundamentalists believe in the imminent, visible, sensible and dramatic Second Coming of Christ, according to a plan that they have worked out from encoded references in the Bible, and with supernatural implications for everyone living today on earth. (pp.185-186)
Further, on pp.190-191:
Much has been written over the past few years about the increased role that Evangelical Christianity has played in the presidency of George W. Bush. When reporter Bob Woodford asked the president if he consulted with his father . . . the younger Bush replied, ‘You know, he is the wrong father to appeal to . . . There is a higher father that I appeal to.’ The popularity of this kind of decision-making process is not universal in the United State, so Bush often resorts to an esoteric code worthy of seventeenth-century Rosicrucians. This came out very forcefully . . . in his address to the nation on 7 October 2001 . . . He concluded his remarks with the curious phrase, ‘May God continue to bless America’, the single word ‘continue’ instantly transforming an anodyne cliche into a genuine religious sentiment. . . .
Katz tells us that Professor Bruce Lincoln subjected Bush’s 7 October 2001 address to the nation “to a line-by-line analysis” and discovered covert allusions to Isaiah, Job and the Book of Revelation:
The allusions are instructive, as is the fact that Bush could only make these points indirectly, through strategies of double coding. (p.190)
This kind of ‘Bible talk’ enables George W. Bush to communicate with ordinary people, winking at them conspiratorially as partners in a type of Christianity that is based on the careful reading of an esoteric text. (p.191)
Nothing new here. Except it gets scary, well at least confronting, when a spade is called a spade.
Neil
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