Simon Levis Sullam
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264317
- eISBN:
- 9780191734472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264317.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the nature of Mazzini's nationalism by analysing it as a ‘political religion’: a system of myths, symbols, and rituals the subordinates the collectivity to the supreme entity of ...
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This chapter examines the nature of Mazzini's nationalism by analysing it as a ‘political religion’: a system of myths, symbols, and rituals the subordinates the collectivity to the supreme entity of the nation. It studies Mazzinian nationalism both on the level of content – looking at how Mazzini defines the genesis of the nation – and on the level of form, looking at the ‘style’ of Mazzini's political thought. The chapter shows that this style is symbolic and ritual, based on single words that operate as symbols and are ritually repeated for the captivation of the followers. Finally, it explores the boundaries of Mazzini's liberalism, showing the limits of his republicanism and his paternalistic conception of democracy as ‘education’.Less
This chapter examines the nature of Mazzini's nationalism by analysing it as a ‘political religion’: a system of myths, symbols, and rituals the subordinates the collectivity to the supreme entity of the nation. It studies Mazzinian nationalism both on the level of content – looking at how Mazzini defines the genesis of the nation – and on the level of form, looking at the ‘style’ of Mazzini's political thought. The chapter shows that this style is symbolic and ritual, based on single words that operate as symbols and are ritually repeated for the captivation of the followers. Finally, it explores the boundaries of Mazzini's liberalism, showing the limits of his republicanism and his paternalistic conception of democracy as ‘education’.
Charles K. Bellinger
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195134988
- eISBN:
- 9780199833986
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195134982.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Adolf Hitler and Naziism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's aesthetic sphere of existence. Stalin and Russian Communism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's ...
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Adolf Hitler and Naziism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's aesthetic sphere of existence. Stalin and Russian Communism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's ethical sphere of existence. The varying forms of psychopathology they manifest make clear the consequences of human rejection of the divine call to spiritual growth. Naziism and Stalinism can also be interpreted as political religions, in other words, as modern forms of idolatry.Less
Adolf Hitler and Naziism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's aesthetic sphere of existence. Stalin and Russian Communism are interpreted as an extreme example of Kierkegaard's ethical sphere of existence. The varying forms of psychopathology they manifest make clear the consequences of human rejection of the divine call to spiritual growth. Naziism and Stalinism can also be interpreted as political religions, in other words, as modern forms of idolatry.
Manlio Graziano
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231174626
- eISBN:
- 9780231543910
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174626.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular ...
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Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular modernity, religions have again become significant players in domestic and international politics. At the same time, the Catholic Church has sought a "holy alliance" among the world's faiths to recentralize devout influence, an important, albeit little-noticed, evolution in international relations. Holy Wars and Holy Alliance explores the nation-state's current crisis in order to better understand the religious resurgence's implications for geopolitics. Manlio Graziano looks at how the Catholic Church promotes dialogue and action linking world religions, and examines how it has used its material, financial, and institutional strength to gain power and increase its profile in present-day international politics. Challenging the idea that modernity is tied to progress and secularization, Graziano documents the "return" or the "revenge" of God in all facets of life. He shows that tolerance, pluralism, democracy, and science have not triumphed as once predicted. To fully grasp the destabilizing dynamics at work today, he argues, we must appreciate the nature of religious struggles and political holy wars now unfolding across the international stage.Less
Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular modernity, religions have again become significant players in domestic and international politics. At the same time, the Catholic Church has sought a "holy alliance" among the world's faiths to recentralize devout influence, an important, albeit little-noticed, evolution in international relations. Holy Wars and Holy Alliance explores the nation-state's current crisis in order to better understand the religious resurgence's implications for geopolitics. Manlio Graziano looks at how the Catholic Church promotes dialogue and action linking world religions, and examines how it has used its material, financial, and institutional strength to gain power and increase its profile in present-day international politics. Challenging the idea that modernity is tied to progress and secularization, Graziano documents the "return" or the "revenge" of God in all facets of life. He shows that tolerance, pluralism, democracy, and science have not triumphed as once predicted. To fully grasp the destabilizing dynamics at work today, he argues, we must appreciate the nature of religious struggles and political holy wars now unfolding across the international stage.
John Y. Simon, Harold Holzer, and Dawn Vogel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227365
- eISBN:
- 9780823240869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823227365.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Abraham Lincoln's understanding of the requirements of republican government led him to direct religious sentiment toward responsible democracy or self-government. As a successful republic requires a ...
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Abraham Lincoln's understanding of the requirements of republican government led him to direct religious sentiment toward responsible democracy or self-government. As a successful republic requires a moral or self-controlled people, he believed the religious impulse of society could help moderate the excesses of passion and self-interest in the community. As a means of achieving this social order, Lincoln promoted “support of the Constitution” and “reverence for the laws” to become what he called “the political religion of the nation.” Lincoln believed that the perpetuation of the free government established by the American Revolution depended on this almost sacred law-abidingness, and he called on both politician and preacher to promote this “political religion.” This chapter focuses on a few examples of “Lincoln's political religion and religious politics” to illustrate what he thought was a prudent connection between politics and religion.Less
Abraham Lincoln's understanding of the requirements of republican government led him to direct religious sentiment toward responsible democracy or self-government. As a successful republic requires a moral or self-controlled people, he believed the religious impulse of society could help moderate the excesses of passion and self-interest in the community. As a means of achieving this social order, Lincoln promoted “support of the Constitution” and “reverence for the laws” to become what he called “the political religion of the nation.” Lincoln believed that the perpetuation of the free government established by the American Revolution depended on this almost sacred law-abidingness, and he called on both politician and preacher to promote this “political religion.” This chapter focuses on a few examples of “Lincoln's political religion and religious politics” to illustrate what he thought was a prudent connection between politics and religion.
John D'Arcy May
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847420411
- eISBN:
- 9781447303190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847420411.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
The place of religion within the civil society has always been a contested issue. Some contend that religion should be separated from the mechanisms of the society while some argue that religion is ...
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The place of religion within the civil society has always been a contested issue. Some contend that religion should be separated from the mechanisms of the society while some argue that religion is indispensable to public morality and good government. In addition to the debates on religion, the concept of ‘political religion’ is also contested as it is a term loaded with ambiguities. Should religion be instrumentalised by politics? Should it be kept away from the political sphere? Is it the case that religions are constitutively political in their different ways, such that their political orientation will always come to light in the public sphere? These ambiguities in the notion of political religion call for caution in addressing the topic in the field of Religious Studies as well as in the field of International Relations. This chapter investigates in what sense religion can legitimately be political. It also considers the implications of this in International Relations. It ponders on whether the emerging global civil society will be secular in the same sense as its nation state predecessors.Less
The place of religion within the civil society has always been a contested issue. Some contend that religion should be separated from the mechanisms of the society while some argue that religion is indispensable to public morality and good government. In addition to the debates on religion, the concept of ‘political religion’ is also contested as it is a term loaded with ambiguities. Should religion be instrumentalised by politics? Should it be kept away from the political sphere? Is it the case that religions are constitutively political in their different ways, such that their political orientation will always come to light in the public sphere? These ambiguities in the notion of political religion call for caution in addressing the topic in the field of Religious Studies as well as in the field of International Relations. This chapter investigates in what sense religion can legitimately be political. It also considers the implications of this in International Relations. It ponders on whether the emerging global civil society will be secular in the same sense as its nation state predecessors.
Jason C. Bivins
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231140201
- eISBN:
- 9780231530781
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231140201.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the relationship between religion and politics in America. Historically, both “religion” and “politics” have been intertwined in American public life. Indeed, American religions ...
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This chapter examines the relationship between religion and politics in America. Historically, both “religion” and “politics” have been intertwined in American public life. Indeed, American religions are de facto political (or at least politicized). This is obscured by the assumption that politics is simply government (and thereby something in which religion has had no place—either in the historical record or for normative reasons). This chapter discusses several themes and orientations that characterize American political religions: the embattled legacies, both practical and theoretical, of the constitutional period; the dynamics of allegiance and dissent (as these are understood by specific traditions, community, or practitioners), or the relation between religious obligations and those required by good citizenship (overlap generally yields sociopolitical harmony, while divergence may yield dissent); the embodied experience of political religions, as felt in areas like gender, race, identity, and will-formation; and the texture of public discourse and argumentation.Less
This chapter examines the relationship between religion and politics in America. Historically, both “religion” and “politics” have been intertwined in American public life. Indeed, American religions are de facto political (or at least politicized). This is obscured by the assumption that politics is simply government (and thereby something in which religion has had no place—either in the historical record or for normative reasons). This chapter discusses several themes and orientations that characterize American political religions: the embattled legacies, both practical and theoretical, of the constitutional period; the dynamics of allegiance and dissent (as these are understood by specific traditions, community, or practitioners), or the relation between religious obligations and those required by good citizenship (overlap generally yields sociopolitical harmony, while divergence may yield dissent); the embodied experience of political religions, as felt in areas like gender, race, identity, and will-formation; and the texture of public discourse and argumentation.
A. James Gregor
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804781305
- eISBN:
- 9780804783682
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804781305.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
The totalitarian systems that arose in the twentieth century presented themselves as secular. Yet, as the author of this book argues, they themselves functioned as religions. The author presents an ...
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The totalitarian systems that arose in the twentieth century presented themselves as secular. Yet, as the author of this book argues, they themselves functioned as religions. The author presents an intellectual history of the rise of these political religions, tracing a set of ideas which include the belief that a certain text contains impeccable truths; notions of infallible, charismatic leadership; and the promise of human redemption through strict obedience, selfless sacrifice, total dedication, and unremitting labor. The book provides insight into the variants of Marxism, Fascism, and National Socialism that dominated our immediate past. It explores the seeds of totalitarianism as secular faith in the nineteenth-century ideologies of Ludwig Feuerbach, Moses Hess, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Richard Wagner. The book follows the growth of those seeds as the twentieth century became host to Leninism and Stalinism, Italian Fascism, and German National Socialism—each a totalitarian institution and a political religion.Less
The totalitarian systems that arose in the twentieth century presented themselves as secular. Yet, as the author of this book argues, they themselves functioned as religions. The author presents an intellectual history of the rise of these political religions, tracing a set of ideas which include the belief that a certain text contains impeccable truths; notions of infallible, charismatic leadership; and the promise of human redemption through strict obedience, selfless sacrifice, total dedication, and unremitting labor. The book provides insight into the variants of Marxism, Fascism, and National Socialism that dominated our immediate past. It explores the seeds of totalitarianism as secular faith in the nineteenth-century ideologies of Ludwig Feuerbach, Moses Hess, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Richard Wagner. The book follows the growth of those seeds as the twentieth century became host to Leninism and Stalinism, Italian Fascism, and German National Socialism—each a totalitarian institution and a political religion.
John Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719077388
- eISBN:
- 9781781702000
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719077388.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter examines the developments in Anglo-Protestant culture, with particular reference to its likely consequences for the evolution of American democracy. The factors contributing to the ...
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This chapter examines the developments in Anglo-Protestant culture, with particular reference to its likely consequences for the evolution of American democracy. The factors contributing to the emergence of the Christian Right correspond to those underlying the wider rise of political religion in various parts of the world. The Christian Right threatened American democracy. It promotes a socially conservative agenda. The argument of the Christian Right is that post-war ‘judicial tyranny’ has reinterpreted the First Amendment in such as way as to distort the intention of the founders by creating ever-larger hurdles to religious involvement in politics. There is an interesting parallel between Samuel Huntington's argument that Anglo-Protestant culture is somehow central to American identity and Christian Right claims that good governance requires Christian input into the political process. Christian Right leaders are concerned with their loss of power and authority.Less
This chapter examines the developments in Anglo-Protestant culture, with particular reference to its likely consequences for the evolution of American democracy. The factors contributing to the emergence of the Christian Right correspond to those underlying the wider rise of political religion in various parts of the world. The Christian Right threatened American democracy. It promotes a socially conservative agenda. The argument of the Christian Right is that post-war ‘judicial tyranny’ has reinterpreted the First Amendment in such as way as to distort the intention of the founders by creating ever-larger hurdles to religious involvement in politics. There is an interesting parallel between Samuel Huntington's argument that Anglo-Protestant culture is somehow central to American identity and Christian Right claims that good governance requires Christian input into the political process. Christian Right leaders are concerned with their loss of power and authority.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804781305
- eISBN:
- 9780804783682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804781305.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel was an advocate of political “sacralization” and totalitarian political thought who produced a system of reflections that were to shape the political and religious ...
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Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel was an advocate of political “sacralization” and totalitarian political thought who produced a system of reflections that were to shape the political and religious thought of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For him, political, philosophical, and religious convictions constituted a principled unity. In this chapter, the philosophy of Hegelianism as political religion is examined.Less
Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel was an advocate of political “sacralization” and totalitarian political thought who produced a system of reflections that were to shape the political and religious thought of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For him, political, philosophical, and religious convictions constituted a principled unity. In this chapter, the philosophy of Hegelianism as political religion is examined.
Sultan Tepe
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804758642
- eISBN:
- 9780804763158
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804758642.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The global rise of political religion is one of the defining and most puzzling characteristics of current world politics. Since the early 1990s, religious parties have achieved stunning electoral ...
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The global rise of political religion is one of the defining and most puzzling characteristics of current world politics. Since the early 1990s, religious parties have achieved stunning electoral victories around the world. This book investigates religious politics and its implications for contemporary democracy through a comparison of political parties in Israel and Turkey. While the politics of Judaism and Islam are typically seen as outgrowths of oppositionally different beliefs, the author's comparative inquiry shows how limiting this understanding of religious politics can be. Her cross-country and cross-religion analysis develops a unique approach to identifying religious parties' idiosyncratic and shared characteristics without reducing them to simple categories of religious/secular, Judeo-Christian/Islamic, or democratic/antidemocratic. The author shows that religious parties in both Israel and Turkey attract broad coalitions of supporters and skillfully inhabit religious and secular worlds simultaneously. They imbue existing traditional ideas with new political messages, blur conventional political lines and allegiances, offer strategic political choices, and exhibit remarkably similar political views. The book's findings will be especially relevant to those who want to pass beyond rudimentary typologies to better assess religious parties' capacities to undermine and contribute to liberal democracy. The Israeli and Turkish cases open a window to better understanding the complexities of religious parties. Ultimately, the book demonstrates that the characteristics of religious political parties—whether Jewish, Muslim, or yet another religion—can be as striking in their similarities as in their differences.Less
The global rise of political religion is one of the defining and most puzzling characteristics of current world politics. Since the early 1990s, religious parties have achieved stunning electoral victories around the world. This book investigates religious politics and its implications for contemporary democracy through a comparison of political parties in Israel and Turkey. While the politics of Judaism and Islam are typically seen as outgrowths of oppositionally different beliefs, the author's comparative inquiry shows how limiting this understanding of religious politics can be. Her cross-country and cross-religion analysis develops a unique approach to identifying religious parties' idiosyncratic and shared characteristics without reducing them to simple categories of religious/secular, Judeo-Christian/Islamic, or democratic/antidemocratic. The author shows that religious parties in both Israel and Turkey attract broad coalitions of supporters and skillfully inhabit religious and secular worlds simultaneously. They imbue existing traditional ideas with new political messages, blur conventional political lines and allegiances, offer strategic political choices, and exhibit remarkably similar political views. The book's findings will be especially relevant to those who want to pass beyond rudimentary typologies to better assess religious parties' capacities to undermine and contribute to liberal democracy. The Israeli and Turkish cases open a window to better understanding the complexities of religious parties. Ultimately, the book demonstrates that the characteristics of religious political parties—whether Jewish, Muslim, or yet another religion—can be as striking in their similarities as in their differences.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804781305
- eISBN:
- 9780804783682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804781305.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This concluding chapter discusses developmental systems, reactive nationalism, totalitarianism, and the forms of political religion that accompanied it. At the turn of the twentieth century, ...
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This concluding chapter discusses developmental systems, reactive nationalism, totalitarianism, and the forms of political religion that accompanied it. At the turn of the twentieth century, ideologies of reactive nationalism and rapid economic, particularly industrial, development made their appearance. Developmental nationalisms crystallized into true totalitarianisms—Marxist-Leninist, fascist, and national socialist. Hegelianism also had taken on the explicit attributes of secular religiosity typically found in modern totalitarianism.Less
This concluding chapter discusses developmental systems, reactive nationalism, totalitarianism, and the forms of political religion that accompanied it. At the turn of the twentieth century, ideologies of reactive nationalism and rapid economic, particularly industrial, development made their appearance. Developmental nationalisms crystallized into true totalitarianisms—Marxist-Leninist, fascist, and national socialist. Hegelianism also had taken on the explicit attributes of secular religiosity typically found in modern totalitarianism.
Paul Zawadzki
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814748923
- eISBN:
- 9780814748930
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814748923.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the role of the Protocols as part of an ominous new phenomenon: secular “political religions.” The Protocols is a remarkable case study in the way that, under the secular ...
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This chapter examines the role of the Protocols as part of an ominous new phenomenon: secular “political religions.” The Protocols is a remarkable case study in the way that, under the secular pressures of modernity's skepticism, scientific rigor, and drive to separate church and state, religious beliefs reemerged in a new and different idiom. The Protocols appeared in the middle of the “1900 moment” (1880–1910), when “the general worldview was affected by the fall in influence of the great religions” and when that collapse of traditional religion created a devastating psychological void. In this sense, the Protocols as a mythical narrative participated in the “re-enchantment” of the world—acting not as a regression from modernity but as a response to it.Less
This chapter examines the role of the Protocols as part of an ominous new phenomenon: secular “political religions.” The Protocols is a remarkable case study in the way that, under the secular pressures of modernity's skepticism, scientific rigor, and drive to separate church and state, religious beliefs reemerged in a new and different idiom. The Protocols appeared in the middle of the “1900 moment” (1880–1910), when “the general worldview was affected by the fall in influence of the great religions” and when that collapse of traditional religion created a devastating psychological void. In this sense, the Protocols as a mythical narrative participated in the “re-enchantment” of the world—acting not as a regression from modernity but as a response to it.
Gregory Claeys
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198785682
- eISBN:
- 9780191827471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198785682.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, World Modern History
This chapter focuses on the Hitler and the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, Stalin’s Bolshevik regime and the Gulag camps, and Pol Pot’s rule in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. It also includes ...
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This chapter focuses on the Hitler and the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, Stalin’s Bolshevik regime and the Gulag camps, and Pol Pot’s rule in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. It also includes consideration of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Its aim, as in Chapter 3, is to explain how persecution became so extreme, violent, and bloody in these regimes. An explanation is offered of how the concept of ‘political religion’ has been defended as a means of explaining these regimes. The foregoing argument about the relationship between fear, paranoia, and dystopian groups is then used to extend and refine this analysis.Less
This chapter focuses on the Hitler and the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, Stalin’s Bolshevik regime and the Gulag camps, and Pol Pot’s rule in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. It also includes consideration of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Its aim, as in Chapter 3, is to explain how persecution became so extreme, violent, and bloody in these regimes. An explanation is offered of how the concept of ‘political religion’ has been defended as a means of explaining these regimes. The foregoing argument about the relationship between fear, paranoia, and dystopian groups is then used to extend and refine this analysis.
Neil Gregor
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780859897457
- eISBN:
- 9781781387238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780859897457.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter offers a critique of Michael Burleigh's description of National Socialism during the Third Reich as a ‘political religion’. It examines many of Burleigh's arguments, such as his claim ...
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This chapter offers a critique of Michael Burleigh's description of National Socialism during the Third Reich as a ‘political religion’. It examines many of Burleigh's arguments, such as his claim that ‘Adolf Hitler's refashioned and selective account of his own life consisted of a series of dramatic awakenings like Paul on the road to Damascus’. It also challenges Burleigh's characterisation of the context which produced Nazism and his identification of the perpetrators, arguing that his perspective on the history of the Third Reich is at odds with much of the most compelling recent scholarship. In particular, the chapter contends that Burleigh's characterisation of the Nazi movement and regime as a ‘political religion’ reflects an older theoretical literature on nationalism which attributed its emergence mainly to secularisation. Finally, it finds the language of ‘political religion’, and its use to explain genocide, problematic because of what it implies about the nature of the act of killing of the Jews.Less
This chapter offers a critique of Michael Burleigh's description of National Socialism during the Third Reich as a ‘political religion’. It examines many of Burleigh's arguments, such as his claim that ‘Adolf Hitler's refashioned and selective account of his own life consisted of a series of dramatic awakenings like Paul on the road to Damascus’. It also challenges Burleigh's characterisation of the context which produced Nazism and his identification of the perpetrators, arguing that his perspective on the history of the Third Reich is at odds with much of the most compelling recent scholarship. In particular, the chapter contends that Burleigh's characterisation of the Nazi movement and regime as a ‘political religion’ reflects an older theoretical literature on nationalism which attributed its emergence mainly to secularisation. Finally, it finds the language of ‘political religion’, and its use to explain genocide, problematic because of what it implies about the nature of the act of killing of the Jews.
Matthew Taunton
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198817710
- eISBN:
- 9780191859175
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198817710.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature, World Literature
The illiteracy of the Russian peasantry was a key term in British understandings of the country in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. For writers such as the Russophile Stephen Graham, the Russian ...
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The illiteracy of the Russian peasantry was a key term in British understandings of the country in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. For writers such as the Russophile Stephen Graham, the Russian peasants benefited from an oral culture that brought them closer to God, and exempted them from the excessive rationality of Western literate culture. The opposition between Russian orality and British literacy was fundamental to many British responses to the Russian Revolution, and this chapter explores the lasting impact of this not only on views of Russia but also the development of the idea of literature, which was increasingly constructed as a dialogical alternative to the monologism of Soviet culture. The chapter also shows how deeply such debates were embedded in a much longer intellectual history of the Reformation. Writers discussed include Stephen Graham, Doris Lessing, and Jack Lindsay.Less
The illiteracy of the Russian peasantry was a key term in British understandings of the country in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. For writers such as the Russophile Stephen Graham, the Russian peasants benefited from an oral culture that brought them closer to God, and exempted them from the excessive rationality of Western literate culture. The opposition between Russian orality and British literacy was fundamental to many British responses to the Russian Revolution, and this chapter explores the lasting impact of this not only on views of Russia but also the development of the idea of literature, which was increasingly constructed as a dialogical alternative to the monologism of Soviet culture. The chapter also shows how deeply such debates were embedded in a much longer intellectual history of the Reformation. Writers discussed include Stephen Graham, Doris Lessing, and Jack Lindsay.
Federico Finchelstein
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199930241
- eISBN:
- 9780199372256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199930241.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
The fascists of Argentina believed fascism had to be rooted in Catholicism.This Argentine emphasis on the Catholic nature of their fascism did not affect the dissemination of an international ...
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The fascists of Argentina believed fascism had to be rooted in Catholicism.This Argentine emphasis on the Catholic nature of their fascism did not affect the dissemination of an international understanding of fascism, including Italian fascism and Nazism. Argentine fascists believed that fascism was a universal ideology with distinctive local adaptations. Their ideology was not only a radical form of political religion but also an extreme fascist political theology. Sacred violence was the premier Argentine way to synthesize fascism and religion. For the Argentine fascists, fascism as it was known in Europe was objectionable, but conceived for the Argentine context and in terms of the nacionalista religious crusade it was not only possible, but sound. The nacionalista concept of a war between believers and infidels represented a metaphor for future state-sanctioned terrorism. Nacionalistas justified this terrorism theoretically before it actually became a reality some decades later.Less
The fascists of Argentina believed fascism had to be rooted in Catholicism.This Argentine emphasis on the Catholic nature of their fascism did not affect the dissemination of an international understanding of fascism, including Italian fascism and Nazism. Argentine fascists believed that fascism was a universal ideology with distinctive local adaptations. Their ideology was not only a radical form of political religion but also an extreme fascist political theology. Sacred violence was the premier Argentine way to synthesize fascism and religion. For the Argentine fascists, fascism as it was known in Europe was objectionable, but conceived for the Argentine context and in terms of the nacionalista religious crusade it was not only possible, but sound. The nacionalista concept of a war between believers and infidels represented a metaphor for future state-sanctioned terrorism. Nacionalistas justified this terrorism theoretically before it actually became a reality some decades later.
Derek Hastings
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199843459
- eISBN:
- 9780190254513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199843459.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on developments that ultimately set Nazism on a markedly different trajectory and led to the demise of its relationship with Catholicism. It first considers Adolf Hitler's ...
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This chapter focuses on developments that ultimately set Nazism on a markedly different trajectory and led to the demise of its relationship with Catholicism. It first considers Adolf Hitler's decision in September 1923 to abandon his previous insistence on strict organizational independence before turning to the Nazi movement's alliance with other radical right-wing organizations under the leadership of the staunchly anti-Catholic Erich Ludendorff to form the Kampfbund. It then examines the impact of the Beerhall Putsch on the Catholic faith and the reconstitution of the Nazi party that signaled the shift away from Catholic imagery toward an increasingly secularized, all-encompassing political religion. The chapter concludes by describing the new Nazi trajectory after 1925.Less
This chapter focuses on developments that ultimately set Nazism on a markedly different trajectory and led to the demise of its relationship with Catholicism. It first considers Adolf Hitler's decision in September 1923 to abandon his previous insistence on strict organizational independence before turning to the Nazi movement's alliance with other radical right-wing organizations under the leadership of the staunchly anti-Catholic Erich Ludendorff to form the Kampfbund. It then examines the impact of the Beerhall Putsch on the Catholic faith and the reconstitution of the Nazi party that signaled the shift away from Catholic imagery toward an increasingly secularized, all-encompassing political religion. The chapter concludes by describing the new Nazi trajectory after 1925.
David Redles
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814748923
- eISBN:
- 9780814748930
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814748923.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines perhaps the most famous case of a “political” or “secular religion”—Nazism. The apocalyptic urgency and the absolute stakes of the Protocols appealed to precisely those Germans ...
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This chapter examines perhaps the most famous case of a “political” or “secular religion”—Nazism. The apocalyptic urgency and the absolute stakes of the Protocols appealed to precisely those Germans filled with passionate intensity who, embracing the text as “true,” unleashed the “blood-dimmed tide” upon the world in the following decades. Hitler looked deep into the Protocols and discovered himself—what he wanted and how to get it. His attitude toward the Protocols reveals not a shrewd politician manipulating the masses but a profoundly religious mind struggling with apocalyptic gnosis. In this way, an imaginary enemy, involved in an imaginary world conspiracy as revealed in the imaginary Protocols, led to a very real genocide.Less
This chapter examines perhaps the most famous case of a “political” or “secular religion”—Nazism. The apocalyptic urgency and the absolute stakes of the Protocols appealed to precisely those Germans filled with passionate intensity who, embracing the text as “true,” unleashed the “blood-dimmed tide” upon the world in the following decades. Hitler looked deep into the Protocols and discovered himself—what he wanted and how to get it. His attitude toward the Protocols reveals not a shrewd politician manipulating the masses but a profoundly religious mind struggling with apocalyptic gnosis. In this way, an imaginary enemy, involved in an imaginary world conspiracy as revealed in the imaginary Protocols, led to a very real genocide.
