Lockdown America Analysis

Mark Taylor spends the entire book dealing with the issue of Lockdown America. Lockdown America re-encompasses issues like the over militarization of the police force as well as the mass incarceration of the American population specifically that of colored people. But this chapter more specifically deals with the dramatic action carried out through Jesus’ death, the political implications of His death, the powers of fear and fascination, and how governments will use it to control a population. To start Taylor explains that often violent assaults as well as passive endurance fail to make a lasting impression with the oppressed long enough to rally aid and further action. The two types of political protest also fail to change the actions of those …show more content…
Firstly, he uses reason but setting up evidence and examples then analyzing his points and how they agree or disagree with his current argument. He also used tradition as a source; this is seen through the many times he either directly quote or paraphrases the words and arguments of other ethicist and religious leaders. Simone Weil, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, and Thomas Hobbes are just a few of the people he references throughout the course of this paper. In fact, all of these names are people Taylor referenced on a single page (Taylor, 275). Taylor uses scripture as well by constantly quoting Bible verses; for example, Luke 14:31 was one verse he directly quoted (Taylor, 268). And finally, one of the most prominent sources throughout this chapter was the example of Christ. This entire chapter deals with Jesus’ death and its implications so Jesus is a constant and important example. It is also the basis of Mark Taylor’s argument in this chapter. One of the main theological interpretations of this argument is that Jesus’ death was not a redemptive death, but an act of adversarial politics (Taylor, 280-288). He spends eight pages explaining and defending his argument which is discussed in the first paragraph of this paper. Taylor states that Jesus did not come to earth to die on the cross and bare the worlds sins, but that he came to inspire the people to save themselves by being an example of adversarial …show more content…
Any time Taylor refers to the resurrection he proceeds it with words like, “his creatively remembered death” which is a way of saying the story of his death and resurrection that we have today are not actual complete fact and that some sort of flare (the resurrection) was added to better the story for a particular purpose (Taylor, 269). This is not the only time he precedes references to his resurrection with words that imply the resurrection might be nothing more than a fictional story added on to the fact of his life and death. At one point Taylor says that Jesus torture and death, “Especially when combined with the stories of Jesus’ resurrection” created a show-stopping example of dramatic action (Taylor, 269). Taylor uses the word stories of his resurrection implying that they may not be true if he truly believed in the resurrection he would have just said especially when combined with Jesus’ resurrection. This combined with Taylors repeated opinion that Christ’s death was not a salvific event is an opinion that I disagree with greatly because it takes away the fundamental beliefs of a Christian. The fundamental belief across most denominations of Christianity is that Jesus was Gods son and that he died to save us from our