Roland Boer

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Roland Boer is an Australian theologian and scholar of Marxism. He was awarded the Deutscher Memorial Prize in 2014.

Contents

Career

Boer obtained a bachelors degree in divinity from the University of Sydney. [1] He was a professor at University of Newcastle (Australia). [1]

In 2018, he was described by Xinhua as one of the world's top experts on Marxism. [2] He teaches at the Dalian University of Technology's School of Marxism. [3]

Personal life

He runs the blog Stalin's Moustache. [1] [ dead link ]

Notable works

Political Myth: On the Use and Abuse of Biblical Themes

Political Myth: On the Use and Abuse of Biblical Themes was released in 2009. It examines the political narratives that emerge out of the Hebrew Bible on the political right and provides a framework to critique those narratives from the political left. [4]

The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel

The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel examines the intersection of economics and religion in ancient Israel through the lens of Marxist critical theory. [5]

The Criticism of Heaven and Earth

The Criticism of Heaven and Earth is a series of books which explores the intersection of Marxism and religion. The fifth book in the series, In the Vale of Tears: On Marxism and Theology V, was released in 2012. In 2014 it was awarded the Deutscher Memorial Prize. [1]

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners

In Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners, Boer describes Gordon H. Chang's The Coming Collapse of China (2001) as an example of the "China doomer" approach to historical nihilism. [6] Other examples cited by Boer include anti-communist tropes and atrocity propaganda, as well as "Betrayal" narratives in which Deng Xiaoping is cast as a "traitor" who supposedly undid the achievements of China's revolution and brought capitalism to China may also be characterized as historical nihilism. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian mythology</span> Body of myths associated with Christianity

Christian mythology is the body of myths associated with Christianity. The term encompasses a broad variety of legends and narratives, especially those considered sacred narratives. Mythological themes and elements occur throughout Christian literature, including recurring myths such as ascending a mountain, the axis mundi, myths of combat, descent into the Underworld, accounts of a dying-and-rising god, a flood myth, stories about the founding of a tribe or city, and myths about great heroes of the past, paradises, and self-sacrifice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Deutscher</span> Polish historian and Marxist (1907-1967)

Isaac Deutscher was a Polish Marxist writer, journalist and political activist who moved to the United Kingdom before the outbreak of World War II. He is best known as a biographer of Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin and as a commentator on Soviet affairs. His three-volume biography of Trotsky was highly influential among the British New Left in the 1960s and 1970s.

The historicity of the Bible is the question of the Bible's relationship to history—covering not just the Bible's acceptability as history but also the ability to understand the literary forms of biblical narrative. One can extend biblical historicity to the evaluation of whether or not the Christian New Testament is an accurate record of the historical Jesus and of the Apostolic Age. This tends to vary depending upon the opinion of the scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian communism</span> Form of religious communism based on Christianity

Christian communism is a theological view that the teachings of Jesus compel Christians to support religious communism. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact dates when communistic ideas and practices in Christianity began, many Christian communists argue that evidence from the Bible suggests that the first Christians, including the Apostles in the New Testament, established their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection. Many advocates of Christian communism and other communists, including Karl Kautsky, argue that it was taught by Jesus and practised by the apostles themselves. This is generally confirmed by historians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob wrestling with the angel</span> Episode from the Book of Genesis

Jacob wrestling with the angel is described in the Book of Genesis. The "angel" in question is referred to as "man" (אִישׁ) and "God" in Genesis, while Hosea references an "angel" (מַלְאָךְ). The account includes the renaming of Jacob as Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biblical archaeology</span> Archaeological sub-discipline

Biblical archaeology is an academic school and a subset of Biblical studies and Levantine archaeology. Biblical archaeology studies archaeological sites from the Ancient Near East and especially the Holy Land, from biblical times.

Biblical minimalism, also known as the Copenhagen School because two of its most prominent figures taught at Copenhagen University, is a movement or trend in biblical scholarship that began in the 1990s with two main claims:

  1. that the Bible cannot be considered reliable evidence for what had happened in ancient Israel; and
  2. that "Israel" itself is a problematic subject for historical study.

Thomas L. Thompson is an American-born Danish biblical scholar and theologian. He was professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen from 1993 to 2009. He currently lives in Denmark.

An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. One specific kind of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, which narrates the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place after the initial origin. These stories aim to explain the origins of natural phenomena or human institutions within an already existing world. In Graeco-Roman scholarship, the terms etiological myth and aition are occasionally used to describe a myth that clarifies an origin, particularly how an object or custom came into existence.

19th-century German philosopher Karl Marx, the founder and primary theorist of Marxism, viewed religion as "the soul of soulless conditions" or the "opium of the people". According to Marx, religion in this world of exploitation is an expression of distress and at the same time it is also a protest against the real distress. In other words, religion continues to survive because of oppressive social conditions. When this oppressive and exploitative condition is destroyed, religion will become unnecessary. At the same time, Marx saw religion as a form of protest by the working classes against their poor economic conditions and their alienation. Denys Turner, a scholar of Marx and historical theology, classified Marx's views as adhering to Post-Theism, a philosophical position that regards worshipping deities as an eventually obsolete, but temporarily necessary, stage in humanity's historical spiritual development.

Rick Kuhn is an Australian Marxian economist, political analyst and reader at the Australian National University in Canberra. He is best known for his biographical study on Henryk Grossman, for which he won the Deutscher Memorial Prize in 2007. Chris Harman of the British Socialist Workers Party and editor of International Socialism described the biography as "a valuable addition to our theoretical armour." Kuhn is of Jewish origin and is a member of Jews Against Oppression and Occupation. He was the convenor of ACTNOW, the umbrella anti-war organisation in Canberra, formed in response to the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. He is also a long-term member of the Trotskyist organisation Socialist Alternative and was a founding editor of the online journal Marxist Interventions. Kuhn has published articles in Socialist Alternative, International Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, New Matilda, Monthly Review, ZNet, The Canberra Times and various academic journals and edited collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Marxist communism</span> Overview of communist-oriented ideologies and practices prior to the works of Karl Marx

While Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels defined communism as a political movement, there were already similar ideas in the past which one could call communist experiments. Marx himself saw primitive communism as the original hunter-gatherer state of humankind. Marx theorized that only after humanity was capable of producing surplus did private property develop.

John A. Rapp is an American political science professor teaching at Beloit College, USA since 1986. He primarily specialises in "Chinese politics, Communist and post-Communist systems, comparative democracies and electoral systems, and Chinese and comparative political thought."

People's democratic dictatorship is a phrase incorporated into the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. The premise of the "People's democratic dictatorship" is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and state represent and act on behalf of the people, but in the preservation of the dictatorship of the proletariat, possess and may use powers against reactionary forces. The term forms one of the CCP's Four Cardinal Principles. Implicit in the concept of the people's democratic dictatorship is the notion that dictatorial control by the party is necessary to prevent the government from collapsing into a "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", a liberal democracy, which, it is feared, would mean politicians acting in the interest of the bourgeoisie. This would be in opposition to the socialist charter of the CCP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kornelis Heiko Miskotte</span>

Kornelis Heiko Miskotte was a Dutch Protestant theologian and a representative of dialectical theology.

<i>The Coming Collapse of China</i> Book by Gordon G. Chang

The Coming Collapse of China is a book by Gordon G. Chang, published in 2001, in which he argued that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was the root cause of many of China's problems and would cause the country's collapse by 2011. When 2011 was almost over, Chang admitted that his prediction was wrong but said it was off by only a year, asserting in Foreign Policy that the CCP would fall in 2012. Consequently he made the magazine's "10 worst predictions of the year" twice.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a set of political theories and policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that are seen by their proponents as representing Marxism–Leninism adapted to Chinese circumstances and specific time periods, consisting of Deng Xiaoping Theory, Three Represents, Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought. According to CCP doctrine, Xi Jinping Thought is considered to represent Marxist–Leninist policies suited for China's present condition while Deng Xiaoping Theory was considered relevant for the period when it was formulated.

Norman Karol Gottwald was a 20th-century American Marxist, political activist, and Old Testament scholar who pioneered the use of social theory and method in biblical studies.

Historical nihilism is a term used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and some scholars in China to describe research, discussions, or viewpoints deemed to contradict an official state version of history in a manner perceived to question or challenge the legitimacy of the CCP. The CCP opposes historical interpretations that are critical of it, the People's Liberation Army, socialism, and related topics. Viewpoints the state judges to be historical nihilism are subject to censorship and legal prosecution.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Left of his field". newcastle.edu.au. Newcastle University. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  2. "Marx big again in China". theaustralian.com.au/. The Australian. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  3. Eysel, Benjamin. "Plötzlich eine "Demokratie"?". tagesschau.de. Tagesschau. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  4. Schweitzer, Steven J. (2011). "Roland Boer, Political Myth: On the Use and Abuse of Biblical Themes". Roland Boer,POLITICAL MYTH:ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF BIBLICAL THEMES. pp. 727–729. doi:10.31826/9781463234904-079. ISBN   9781463234904 . Retrieved 28 November 2022.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  5. Cherney, Kenneth A. "The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel by Roland Boer". Wisconsin Lutheran Review.
  6. 1 2 Boer, Roland (2021). Socialism with Chinese characteristics : a guide for foreigners. Singapore: Springer. pp. 10–12. ISBN   978-981-16-1622-8. OCLC   1249470522.