Where a given community manifests a clear sense of itself as ‘chosen’ for a task or covenant… there we may expect to find a lively sense of national identity, one able to withstand the dangers and temptations of rapid change in a more interdependent world.
Anthony Smith
Chosen Peoples
Topic: Justice, Vision, & Leadership
“Where a given community manifests a clear sense of itself as ‘chosen’ for a task or covenant, where its members are firmly attached to homeland and soil, where they seek to emulate the virtues of past golden ages, and where their members are prepared to make personal sacrifices, if not of life, then of time and effort for the future of the community and the yet unborn, there we may expect to find a lively sense of national identity, one able to withstand the dangers and temptations of rapid change in a more interdependent world.“
Anthony David Stephen Smith (23 September 1939 – 19 July 2016) was a British historical sociologist who, at the time of his death, was Professor Emeritus of Nationalism and Ethnicity at the London School of Economics. He is considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of nationalism studies.
Smith took his first degree in classics and philosophy at Oxford University and his master's degree and doctorate in sociology at the London School of Economics. He was the first president of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism.
Chosen Peoples
Smith, Anthony D. Chosen Peoples: Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 260 [Anthony Smith, Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity (Oxford U. Press, 2003)].
Anthony Smith
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Anthony Smith, Chosen Peoples
Stories create memory, and memory creates identity. That is why covenant and narrative are at the heart of nations consciously created out of diversity. Given the centrifugal forces at work in an era of globalization, this ancient form of society-building may be necessary if we believe, as many do, that liberal democratic politics needs a sense of collective belonging. This, at any rate, is the conclusion drawn by the eminent historian of nationalism, Anthony Smith, in his recent book Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity [See quote in Context].
–Jonathan Sacks [The Home We Build Together (Continuum, 2007)] p. 120
Additional Quotes
“People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.”
–Edmond Burke, Revolution In France