Presidential Election and Evangelism

The USA presidential election of 2016 was quite an entertainment. I had never followed the whole procedure before - from primary elections and caucuses, nominating conventions, the debates, the election day. It was one big dramatic show.

The supporters waving their placards and streamers gather at a huge stadium decorated in their supporting candidates' colour, an enormous monitor projects the self assured candidate convincingly making his / her speech, the excited audience cheer and clap at hearing the words they want to hear. The mass is in rapture, enthralled, sometimes it seemed to me like they were in a group hysteria.

These scenes also reminded me of church congregation in America. I have not attended any for real but I have seen in televised evangelical congregation. The heat, the rapture, the enthrallment, I can see here the source of the festive mood of today's presidential election.

The history of this heated evangelical congregation in America goes back to 18th century, when the first great wave of revivalism hit the country. The evangelists preached round town to town, and some of them wisely used the media, mainly newspaper, and were able to attract a huge mass.

George Whitefield was the most popular preacher in the 18th century. He preached everyday in front of thousands of people from colonies to colonies. Whitefield, who had dreamed of becoming an actor in his youth, had a fine voice, and was dramatic in gesture and in his rhetoric. His words were plain and simple, very easy to understand, even for the people with no schooling and for immigrants.

Whitefield has an unbelievable legend.

Once in his preach, he repeated one single word 40 times, each time changing the tone, and gradually making the audience excited, profoundly inspired that most of them burst out crying. The single word he said was "Mesopotamia".

Yes, "Mesopotamia", the name of the land between Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

I wonder how he made the preach so divinely inspiring that people shed tears.

Recently I found a similar (edited) movie on Youtube. Donald Trump says "China" over and over. I don't think it will move you to tears, but it is surely intriguing, to see there are so many ways of saying the same word.

『反知性主義　アメリカが生んだ「熱病」の正体』　森本あんり　新潮選書　2015