The Experts below are selected from a list of 85335 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Stanley Stowers - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the concepts of Religion Political Religion and the study of nazism
Journal of Contemporary History, 2007Co-Authors: Stanley StowersAbstract:The concept of Political Religion as used in the study of National Socialism depends upon highly criticized expressive-symbolist theories of Religion and an implied opposition to the Religion of genuine Christianity. The idea of a counterfeit substitute for Christianity goes back to ancient Christian discourse about heresy. The article advocates rational-cognitivist approaches to Religion and argues that these prove better for historical work on National Socialism, and that Steigmann-Galls Holy Reich is compatible with this way of theorizing Religion.
Michael Smith - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Sacred Violence: Political Religion in a Secular Age
2014Co-Authors: David Martin Jones, Michael SmithAbstract:1. History Restarted 2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being British 3. The Commentariat and Discourse Failure 4. Counter insurgency (COIN): The Military Revolution that Failed 5. Non-western terror and counter-insurgency: the case of Jemaah Islamiah 6. Beyond Belief: Islamist Strategic Thinking and International Relations Theory 7. Political Fiction and Jihad - The Novel Response to 9/11 Conclusion Terror the Polis and Political Religion
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Conclusion: Terror, the Polis and Political Religion
Sacred Violence, 2014Co-Authors: David Martin Jones, Michael SmithAbstract:Eric Voegelin, the Austrian philosopher who fled the Third Reich in the wake of the Anschluss in 1938, argued that the ideological fanaticism of the Nazis was not only a moral and Political mistake, but also a spiritual perversion. More precisely, so far as the Political Religions of the twentieth century, Fascism, Stalinism, Maoism and Islamism are concerned, the meaning or substance of religious phenomena moved from a spiritual concern with transcending the mundane world towards the realization of imaginary fantasies of immanent apocalypse and the fashioning of this worldly utopias. These fantasies, as Barry Cooper observes, are not “always recognized for what they are because the image of an earthly condition of perfected humanity” was, in Europe before 1990, expressed in scientific, or more accurately, “scientistic” language.1
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Ideology, networks and Political Religion: structure and agency in Jemaah Islamiah's small world
Politics Religion & Ideology, 2012Co-Authors: David Martin Jones, Michael SmithAbstract:It has become orthodoxy in terrorism studies that the survival or durability of the organization or network is central to the terrorist mission. From this perspective, its ideology or Political Religion is subordinated to the core purpose of the group, which is understood to be survival for its own sake. Through a case study that examines the evolution, development and degradation of the Southeast Asian jihadist organization Jemaah Islamiah, this paper tests such a hypothesis. It finds, in contrast to organizational and network theory, that the group mission is not particularly flexible and that the crucial explanatory variable that affecting both the recourse to violence and attempts to counter it, lies in the ideological agenda that the theory dismisses.
David Martin Jones - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Political Religion and the rise of transnational right and left-wing social movements since 9/11
Contemporary Social Science, 2015Co-Authors: David Martin JonesAbstract:The Austrian philosopher, Eric Voegelin, argued that the ideological fanaticism of the Nazis was a spiritual perversion. More precisely, so far, as the Political Religions of the twentieth century, Fascism, Stalinism, Maoism and Islamism, are concerned, the meaning or substance of religious phenomena moved from a spiritual concern with transcending the mundane world towards the realisation of imaginary fantasies of immanent apocalypse and the fashioning of this worldly utopias. These fantasies are not always recognised for what they are because the image of an earthly condition of perfected humanity was often expressed in scientific language. This was not the case with revolutionary Islamic thought, but it remains so with other ideological social movements of both left and right that have evolved since 9/11. This is the case with both race-based and anti-capitalist social movements that pursue national or global purificationism. In this essay, we shall discuss the commonalities between these evolving Political Religions before examining the Western state response and its implications for the future of secular, liberal democracy.
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Sacred Violence: Political Religion in a Secular Age
2014Co-Authors: David Martin Jones, Michael SmithAbstract:1. History Restarted 2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being British 3. The Commentariat and Discourse Failure 4. Counter insurgency (COIN): The Military Revolution that Failed 5. Non-western terror and counter-insurgency: the case of Jemaah Islamiah 6. Beyond Belief: Islamist Strategic Thinking and International Relations Theory 7. Political Fiction and Jihad - The Novel Response to 9/11 Conclusion Terror the Polis and Political Religion
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Conclusion: Terror, the Polis and Political Religion
Sacred Violence, 2014Co-Authors: David Martin Jones, Michael SmithAbstract:Eric Voegelin, the Austrian philosopher who fled the Third Reich in the wake of the Anschluss in 1938, argued that the ideological fanaticism of the Nazis was not only a moral and Political mistake, but also a spiritual perversion. More precisely, so far as the Political Religions of the twentieth century, Fascism, Stalinism, Maoism and Islamism are concerned, the meaning or substance of religious phenomena moved from a spiritual concern with transcending the mundane world towards the realization of imaginary fantasies of immanent apocalypse and the fashioning of this worldly utopias. These fantasies, as Barry Cooper observes, are not “always recognized for what they are because the image of an earthly condition of perfected humanity” was, in Europe before 1990, expressed in scientific, or more accurately, “scientistic” language.1
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Ideology, networks and Political Religion: structure and agency in Jemaah Islamiah's small world
Politics Religion & Ideology, 2012Co-Authors: David Martin Jones, Michael SmithAbstract:It has become orthodoxy in terrorism studies that the survival or durability of the organization or network is central to the terrorist mission. From this perspective, its ideology or Political Religion is subordinated to the core purpose of the group, which is understood to be survival for its own sake. Through a case study that examines the evolution, development and degradation of the Southeast Asian jihadist organization Jemaah Islamiah, this paper tests such a hypothesis. It finds, in contrast to organizational and network theory, that the group mission is not particularly flexible and that the crucial explanatory variable that affecting both the recourse to violence and attempts to counter it, lies in the ideological agenda that the theory dismisses.
Klaus Vondung - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Debatten um den Holocaust und das Deutungskonzept der ›politischen Religion‹ der ›politischen Religion‹
Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik, 2010Co-Authors: Klaus VondungAbstract:Countless studies on National Socialism, notwithstanding debates on the Holocaust will not end. Although the development that led to the ›final solution‹ has been thoroughly investigated, the question will be asked again and again how the genocide of the Jews could happen and why it happened in Germany. The article presents the most important debates on the Holocaust of the past decades: the dispute among German historians (›Historikerstreit‹) of 1986/87, the debate on Daniel Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s Willing Executioners. Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust of 1996, and the discussion between ›intentionalists‹ and ›functionalists‹ among the historians who have dealt with the Holocaust. The article then presents the history and meaning of the concept of ›Political Religion‹, it shows that Hitler and other leading Nazis cherished an apocalyptic worldview, and it argues that the apocalyptic worldview must be seen as the most poignant manifestation of the National Socialist Political Religion and as the only plausible explanation of the Holocaust.
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What Insights Do We Gain from Interpreting National Socialism as a Political Religion
The Sacred in Twentieth-Century Politics, 2008Co-Authors: Klaus VondungAbstract:Over the last ten years, the concept of Political Religion has gained recognition as an instrument to capture certain characteristics of the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. Nonetheless, it is still under dispute. There is skepticism about the adequacy of the term, in particular with respect to the application of the term ‘Religion’ to Political and ideological phenomena. And there are historians and Political scientists who doubt that the concept has any analytical value. In Germany, and with respect to National Socialism, these skeptics can be found, in particular, among the so-called ‘structuralists’ or ‘functionalists’, historians like Hans Mommsen or Martin Broszat, who attach greater importance to Political structures and the mechanisms of power, than to individual persons or to ideological motivations and intentions.1
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National socialism as a Political Religion: Potentials and limits of an analytical concept
Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, 2005Co-Authors: Klaus VondungAbstract:In this paper, I test the analytical value and pertinence of the concept of Political Religion with respect to National Socialism in three steps: (1) I point out the religious’ elements in the area of organisation and cult, and I show that the Nazi festivals and ceremonies provided ritual forms for confessions of faith. (2) Following Eric Voegelin, I maintain that the ‘articles of faith’ that were presented in the Nazi cult can be understood as the manifestation of an existential core of religious character. (3) Finally I demonstrate that ‘believing intellectuals’ outlined a Nazi ‘theology’ and a Nazi ‘history of salvation’ and that Hitler himself and other leading Nazis cherished an apocalyptic world‐view that must be seen as the most poignant manifestation of the National Socialist Political Religion and as the only plausible explanation of the holocaust.
Sabine A. Haring - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Political Religions: History of the Concept
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2015Co-Authors: Sabine A. HaringAbstract:The history of Western modernity must not only be regarded as a linear process of secularization. It is rather characterized by the ambiguities of the modern age, by both the ‘disenchantment’ and the ‘reenchantment.’ Worldly replacements such as science and Political movements partly took over the function and the meaning of traditional Religions. Political ‘Religions’ not only adopted, transformed and amalgamated the contents of Christian texts and imaginations and used Christian rites and symbols, but also fulfilled special functions for their ‘believers.’ This article discusses the history of the concept ‘Political Religion’ from the period when Voegelin's book ‘The Political Religions’ was published in 1938 to recent works concerning the topic.
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Mysterium tremendum und mysterium fascinans
Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 2008Co-Authors: Sabine A. HaringAbstract:The history of Western modernity must not only be regarded as a linear process of secularisation: even the “classics” of sociology like Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Georg Simmel have dealt with the ambiguities of the modern age, thereby referring to both the “disenchantment” and the “re-enchantment”. Worldly replacements such as science and Political movements partly took over the function and the meaning of traditional Religions. Political ‘Religions’ not only adopted, transformed and amalgamated the contents of Christian texts and imaginations and used Christian rites and symbols, but also fulfilled special functions for their “believers”. One of the most important functions both of traditional Religions and Political ‘Religion’ is to evoke emotions and to give opportunities to act on emotions. The article deals with the relationship between traditional ‘Religions’ and Political ‘Religions’ with regard to emotions. In this context, the Political ‘Religion’ of Soviet communism until Stalin’s death is examined. Die Geschichte der westlichen Moderne kann nicht als einfacher, linear-fort-schreitender Prozess der Säkularisierung beschrieben werden, sondern weist vielfältige, teilweise auch widersprüchliche Tendenzen der Säkularisierung und Resakralisierung auf. Dabei trat die „Wiederverzauberung“ einerseits im spezifischen Gewand traditioneller Religionen auf, andererseits übernahmen jedoch weltliche Ersatzbildungen für die Religion — sei es die Wissenschaft oder seien es politische Bewegungen — Inhalte und Funktionen traditioneller Religionen. Politische ‘Religionen’ übernahmen, transformierten und amalgamierten nicht nur die Inhalte christlicher Texte und Vorstellungen und bedienten sich christlicher Riten und Symboliken, sondern sie erfüllten für ihre „Gläubigen“ auch eine Reihe von Funktionen. Eine zentrale Funktion sowohl von traditionellen religiösen Bewegungen als auch von politischen ‘Religionen’ lag schließlich in dem Vermögen, einerseits Emotionen hervorzurufen und andererseits dem Individuum ein Forum zu bieten, Emotionen, häufig in Form von Ritus und Kult, zu ‘leben’ und in legitimierter Weise artikulieren zu können. Politischen ‘Religionen’ gelingt es also, wie Eric Voegelin bereits unterstrich, ihre Mitglieder affektuell zu binden. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden zunächst die emotionale Dimension von Religionen sowie die Beziehung von Emotion und politischer ‘Religion’ herausgearbeitet und diese anschließend anhand der politischen ‘Religion’ des Sowjetkommunismus bis zu Stalins Tod mit Hilfe literarischer und autobiographischer Texte nachgezeichnet.