The shift from ‘true’ to ‘truest’ marks territorialized, comparative faith

Evidence

What is so remarkable about this passage is not so much the great Mongol dynast’s calm religious relativism (it is still a religious relativism), as Marco Polo’s attitude and language. It never occurs to him, even though he is writing for fellow-European Christians, to term Kublai a hypocrite or an idolater. (No doubt in part because ‘in respect to number of subjects, extent of territory, and amount of revenue, he surpasses every sovereign that has heretofore been or that now is in the world.’) And in the unselfconscious use of ‘our’ (which becomes ‘their’), and the description of the faith of the Christians as ‘truest,’ rather than ‘true,’ we can detect the seeds of a territorialization of faiths which foreshadows the language of many nationalists (‘our’ nation is ‘the best’ – in a competitive, comparative field). — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 69

Categorization

• XREF: The competitive comparative ‘our nation is the best’ language is directly relevant to the reader’s Islamophobia field and nationalist ‘Other’ construction. — connects to: Pan-movements replaced relative national mission with absolute claims to divine chosenness; Postmodern constitutional thought marks a shift from truth to meaning. — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 874; A crucial rhetorical shift produces a new political narrative — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 134 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Postmodern constitutional thought marks a shift from truth to meaning. #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 874
• A crucial rhetorical shift produces a new political narrative #expands (0.80) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 134
• Skepticism belongs to belief, so faith remains fertile in a postmodern world. #expands (0.75) — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 394
• The printing press replaced cosmological symbolization with questions of confidence and trust #corroborates (0.75)