What is the "Joshua generation"?

[rug]

"So here we are, more than half a century later, once again facing the challenges of a new age. Here we are, once more marching toward an unknown future, what I call the Joshua generation to their Moses generation -- the great inheritors of progress paid for with sweat and blood, and sometimes life itself."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-remembrance-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

Is he referring to this?

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/388366.aspx

[lazarus]

1. yes

There's this:

"The Joshua Generation project will be the Obama campaign's outreach to young people of faith. There's unprecedented energy and excitement for Obama among young evangelicals and Catholics. The Joshua Generation project will tap into that excitement and provide young people of faith opportunities to stand up for their values and move the campaign forward."

How wonderful. Because people of faith are just so oppressed and unable to stand up for their values.

Sigh. Just once I'd like an outreach to the skeptic and atheist community. There are an awful lot of us, and we get ignored, for the most part, by every politician. If they do pay attention to us, it's to comment that we're not patriots or citizens or some such crap.

[rug]

2. I agree. This strikes me as pandering.

Too bad he returned to the theme Sunday.

[Jim__]

3. In the context of Martin Luther King Day, I don't think it's pandering.

Look at the context of that sentence:

And yet, as Dr. King rose to take that pulpit, the future still seemed daunting. It wasn't clear what would come next for the movement that Dr. King led. It wasn't clear how we were going to reach the Promised Land. Because segregation was still rife; lynchings still a fact. Yes, the Supreme Court had ruled not only on the Montgomery buses, but also on Brown v. Board of Education. And yet that ruling was defied throughout the South -- by schools and by states; they ignored it with impunity. And here in the nation's capital, the federal government had yet to fully align itself with the laws on its books and the ideals of its founding.

So it's not hard for us, then, to imagine that moment. We can imagine folks coming to this church, happy about the boycott being over. We can also imagine them, though, coming here concerned about their future, sometimes second-guessing strategy, maybe fighting off some creeping doubts, perhaps despairing about whether the movement in which they had placed so many of their hopes -- a movement in which they believed so deeply -- could actually deliver on its promise.

So here we are, more than half a century later, once again facing the challenges of a new age. Here we are, once more marching toward an unknown future, what I call the Joshua generation to their Moses generation -- the great inheritors of progress paid for with sweat and blood, and sometimes life itself.

We've inherited the progress of unjust laws that are now overturned. We take for granted the progress of a ballot being available to anybody who wants to take the time to actually vote. We enjoy the fruits of prejudice and bigotry being lifted -- slowly, sometimes in fits and starts, but irrevocably -- from human hearts. It's that progress that made it possible for me to be here today; for the good people of this country to elect an African American the 44th President of the United States of America.

In this context, he's clearly calling on African-Americans to take advantage of the freedoms that Dr. King won for them.

[rd_kent]

5. +100000.

Just once I'd like an outreach to the skeptic and atheist community. There are an awful lot of us, and we get ignored, for the most part, by every politician.



:applause:

[Igel]

4. Only in part.

Both refer to this:

Martin Luther King:
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
"And I don't mind.
"Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"

Of course, he was a minister. Hence he openly alluded to this:

Deut. 32:
48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: . . .
52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.


Joshua took over from Moses. It was Joshua who led the children of Israel across the Jordan to what Moses could only see. It was Joshua who presided over the destruction of Jericho and, in the OT narrative, the distribution of land to his people.

Taken a bit less literally, Moses' generation had been led to the promised land, had looked at it, and found it too frightening. Joshua and Caleb had been among the "spies" sent to scout out things and said they could do it, but Moses' generation was too timid, not ready. So after 40 years Moses led them again to the border of the land and was allowed to see what was promised. Joshua led his generation into the land to receive the promise.

The "Joshua Project" refers to this, but since the allusion's been around a lot longer it doesn't really own the name or even have dibs on it.

People in general used to know this kind of stuff, if only because it provided a common framework for such allusions. (There are lots more lurking, but oddly we now require reporters to contact specialists to inform us about what probably most people still know.)

[JerseygirlCT]

6. Yes. That's it

and the project in quotes is, as you say, also a reference to this.