ABSTRACT
The prophecies of the Old Testament are interpreted in the New as pointing to the coming of Christ, the Messiah. Romantic prophets of nationalism, in another powerful correlation of nation and word, often re-interpreted both Old and New Testaments to present a messianic image of the nation. Through its re-enaction of key elements in the life of Christ the nation was portrayed as a re-incarnation of the logos in history. Sometimes this was achieved through the personification of the nation itself, sometimes by reference to the embodiment of national spirit in heroic individuals. The particular forms in which this theme was developed reflect the political and intellectual revolutions of the period. For example, in Idealist philosophy the nation-state became a principle of redemption and mediation. Hegel attempted to reconcile the logos as Christ ('the life and light of men') with the logos of reason, incarnate in the rational state and in the freedom of spirit and history as self-consciousness. In both Idealist and Romantic thought a new synthesis of Greek and Christian traditions centred on the free, promethean individual (whether personal or national), the God-Man who aspired and suffered for the cause of mankind. The myth of Prometheus was now reinterpreted to focus on the national hero who refused to play the role of victim and fought with the gods for the spirit of the nation.
