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How God Writes History: a Gramscian Analysis of Religion and Nature in the Writings, Life, and Legacy of John Muir

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BearWorks MSU Graduate Theses Fall 2018 How God Writes History: A Gramscian Analysis of Religion and Nature in the Writings, Life, and Legacy of John Muir Daniel R. Jones Missouri State University, [email protected] As with any intellectual project, the content and views expressed in this thesis may be considered objectionable by some readers. However, this student-scholar’s work has been judged to have academic value by the student’s thesis committee members trained in the discipline. The content and views expressed in this thesis are those of the student-scholar and are not endorsed by Missouri State University, its Graduate College, or its employees. Follow this and additional works at: https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses Recommended Citation Jones, Daniel R., "How God Writes History: A Gramscian Analysis of Religion and Nature in the Writings, Life, and Legacy of John Muir" (2018). MSU Graduate Theses. 3329. https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3329 This article or document was made available through BearWorks, the institutional repository of Missouri State University. The work contained in it may be protected by copyright and require permission of the copyright holder for reuse or redistribution. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HOW GOD WRITES HISTORY: A GRAMSCIAN ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICS OF RELIGION AND NATURE IN THE WRITINGS, LIFE, AND LEGACY OF JOHN MUIR A Master’s Thesis Presented to The Graduate College of Missouri State University TEMPLATE In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Art, Religious Studies By Daniel Jones December 2018 Copyright 2018 by Daniel Jones ii HOW GOD WRITES HISTORY: A GRAMSCIAN ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICS OF RELIGION AND NATURE IN THE WRITINGS, LIFE, AND LEGACY OF JOHN MUIR Religious Studies Missouri State University, December 2018 Master of Arts Daniel Jones ABSTRACT Representations of John Muir, America’s most famous environmentalist, and religion have been highly variegated. A mythological figure of American environmental politics, Muir and his legacy have been an ideological apparatus for presidents, environmentalists, and naturalists performing acts of identification for themselves and their country. Furthermore, religion and environmental scholars have often used Muir as a case study for what they call “nature religion.” Lost in this myth-making labor are the politics of sacred spaces and national discourse. Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of common sense and the intellectual, which this thesis uses to analyze John Muir’s poetics of American wilderness and role in relationship to the nineteenth-century genteel class. By contextualizing Muir’s religion-making and myth-making practices using the critical insights of Gramsci and Gramscian analytic frames, this thesis studies the relationship of Muir’s socio-historical context with the common sense that shaped his nation-making discourse. This is accomplished by the framing of religion using anti- essentialist and critical-contextual lenses. Next, this thesis situates Muir in relation to race, class, and ethnic positionality. Last, Muir oriented himself to the colonial relations of the American wilderness. Situating John Muir in contextual and complex relations of power challenges simplistic notions of religion and functions to reconsider the role of the historical production of Muir, or the Muir-myths. By situating John Muir as an intellectual of the American genteel class with settler common sense thought, this thesis demonstrates that John Muir’s religious wilderness narratives constructed American colonial mythology. KEYWORDS: John Muir, Gramsci, settler common sense, intellectual, religion, nature, rhetoric, discourse, myth, ritual, indigenous, America, colonialism, environmentalism iii HOW GOD WRITES HISTORY: A GRAMSCIAN ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICS OF RELIGION AND NATURE IN THE WRITINGS, LIFE, AND LEGACY OF JOHN MUIR By Daniel Jones A Master’s Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College Of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Religious Studies December 2018 Approved: Martha Finch, Ph.D., Thesis Committee Chair Mark Given, Ph.D., Committee Member J.E. Llewell, J. E. Llewellyn, Ph.D., Committee Member Julie Masterson, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College In the interest of academic freedom and the principle of free speech, approval of this thesis indicates the format is acceptable and meets the academic criteria for the discipline as determined by the faculty that constitute the thesis committee. The content and views expressed in this thesis are those of the student-scholar and are not endorsed by Missouri State University, its Graduate College, or its employees. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Martha Finch, whose tireless labor as an advisor provided wisdom and patience throughout a project that has gone through a number of forms. Jack Llewellyn also served as an advisor and guide for navigating the territories of theory and practice in the academic study of religion. Kathy Pulley was to me as Jeanne Carr was to John Muir, a formative mentor. John Schmalzbauer was an encouraging and brilliant resource for my study of Muir in Victorian America. Vadim Putzu kept me focused and encouraged throughout the process of graduate school and this thesis. Mark Given guided my thesis and matriculation into the department. Lastly, thanks to Jane Terry for being Jane. This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and guidance of a wonderful support group. My wife, Stephanie, has been my partner in graduate school and in life, without whom this would not have been possible. My parents and siblings have stood behind me and supported me throughout my educational journey. The digital community of religious studies has shaped me beyond the boundaries of this paper. I would like to recognize the following individuals for being friendly and formative interlocutors: Craig Martin, Russell McCutcheon, Stacie Swan, Matthew Baldwin, Bron Taylor, Brett Miller, David Bailey, Kerry Mitchell, Donovan Schaeffer, Suzanne Owen, Greg Johnson, Tripp Hudgins, Nathan Loewen, Stephen Hatch, Evan Berry, Randy Haluza-Delay, Lucas Johnson, Matt Sheedy, Kevin Schilbrack, Tenzan Eaghll, Bo Eberle, Hollis Phelps, Aaron Hughes, Leslie Dorrough Smith, Teemu Taira, Pat McCullough, Travis Cooper, Steven Ramey, and Brad Stoddard. I have surely forgotten someone, and the deficiencies of this thesis are solely my own. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Page 1 Machines and Flowers, Books and Mountains: A Biography of Page 8 the Genteel John Muir Literature Review Page 19 Overview of Chapters Page 29 Chapter 1 On Trees and Religion: Antonio Gramsci and the Critical- Page 32 Contextual Study of the History of John Muir, Nature, and Religion From Trees to Religion: Contending with Contentious Page 35 Classifications Critical Contextual Analysis, Antonio Gramsci, and the Page 38 Religioning of John Muir Religion and the Botanizer’s Popular Intellectual Page 45 Cultivating the Forest of “Religion” Page 48 Classification Matters: Or, How Muir Could Do Things with Page 51 Colonial Words Nature Religion as Colonial Common Sense Theory Page 55 Gramsci, Religious Hegemony, and the Genteel Languages of Page 60 Persuasion Chapter 2 Whose Nature? Whose Religion? An Analysis of John Muir Page 64 as a Gramscian Intellectual of the American Genteel Class From Boston to Yosemite: Constructing the Genteel Class Page 65 Muir and the Raising of an Intellectual Page 69 A Swell of Influence: Transatlantic Debates and Genteel Page 76 Cultural Capital Muir, Religious Identification, and the Potential Capital of Page 78 Christian Discourse The Inosculation of Religion and Science in Victorian America Page 83 Muir and the Swedenborg Network Page 92 Mysticism, Empire, Capitalism Page 99 Chapter 3 What’s So Natural about National Parks?: John Muir, Myth- Page 104 Making and the Settler Colonial Common Sense of America’s Wilderness Prophet Indigeneity and Settler Colonial Positionality Page 107 Mobilizing the East to Mythologize the West Page 118 Mythologizing Genteel Wilderness: John Muir and the Genteel Page 122 Ideology of Nature Spirituality and Strategy Page 130 Religion and Muir’s Yosemite Page 141 vi The Big Trees: Muir’s Prized Sequoias and the Enchanting of a Page 145 Nation Conclusion: American Religion-Making and the Making of a Natural Page 154 Nation: A Consideration from the Life of John Muir Bibliography Page 164 vii INTRODUCTION: SEEKING FERTILE GROUND: CONSTRUCTING A GRAMSCIAN ANALYSIS OF JOHN MUIR, RELIGION, AND NATURE IN AMERICAN RELIGIOUS HISTORY American novelist, environmentalist, and historian Wallace Stenger once said that “a place is not fully a place until it has a poet. Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada had [John] Muir.”1 Before John Muir became an American cultural icon, his story begins in the industrial hub of Dunbar, Scotland, where he was born on April 21, 1838. Much of Muir’s life and works were shaped by the culture and politics of his native country. It may have pleased Muir—an avid and acclaimed hiker and mountaineer—that my introduction to his legacy was through my experiences as a climber exploring America’s stone offerings and preservation spaces. I was well aware of the reverence with which Muir was regarded by many Americans who have made the outdoors their playgrounds and their “places of worship.” It is common to hear people say that nature is their religion
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