PrintMay 8, 2009
Obama's Self-Actualizing Language
In the minds of his believers, Barack Obama has only to utter words and they become so. It is a phenomenon somewhere on the border between politics and religion.In the arena of Biblical scholarship called the New Hermeneutic, spoken words can become self-actualizing language events. This power, reinforced by media adoration, was an effective element of Obama's campaign speeches. And it continued to be effective into his first 100 some days in office. First, we'll review (aiming to be succinct) a school of Biblical criticism based on the notion of self-actualizing language. Then, apply it to how Barack Obama uses language.A self-actualizing language event displays the power of the spoken word to make manifest that reality to which it refers. In the Biblical narrative, that power falls solely within the providence of the divine, either directly, or through an agent like Moses who parts the waters with powers not his own.The creation story in the Old Testament book of Genesis is the...(Read Full Article)
