Responsibility and evil imagination

In this Niebuhrian perspective on hostile and violent discourse the author utilizes H. R. Niebuhr's fourfold notion of responsibility and his concept of evil imagination to examine relations marred by protracted hostility toward hated "other" or "others." The author argues t...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and health
Main Author: LaMothe, Ryan 1955- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [1995]
In: Journal of religion and health
Further subjects:B Violent Discourse
B Time Construct
B Negative Representation
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:In this Niebuhrian perspective on hostile and violent discourse the author utilizes H. R. Niebuhr's fourfold notion of responsibility and his concept of evil imagination to examine relations marred by protracted hostility toward hated "other" or "others." The author argues that violent and hostile discourse manifests a particular form of responsibility whereby persons expressing hostility toward hated "others" construct, by way of negative representations, maligned histories and identities for the "other" and at the same time construct an idealized or glorified history and identity for themselves. These positive and negative representations and histories, then, are utilized to answer questions regarding interpretation, accountability, and solidarity. Niebuhr's concept of evil imagination is employed to hypothesize about the intransigence of this form of responsibility and to suggest reasons why elevated and maligned representations, identities, and histories are, more often than not, inextricably and tragically linked.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/BF02248759