Studying Politics and Religion: How to Distinguish Religious Politics, Civil Religion, Political Religion, and Political Theology

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 428-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Bagge Laustsen
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Civil Religion ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Religious Politics ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Political Religion ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The Relationship

The study of politics and religion is today fragmented to a degree that you can hardly refer to it as one academic field anymore. This article lists four fundamentally different approaches to the study of politics and religion: political religion; religious politics; civil religion; and finally, political theology. The article compares the four approaches on a number of significant parameters: their understanding of what religion is; their critical ambition; to which degree a preliminary distinction between politics and religion is presupposed; and most importantly, how to approach the relationship between religion and politics in an analytical, strategic sense. The ambition with this survey is to support a discussion between the four approaches with a view to reach a more complete understanding of the relationship between politics and religion in all its complexity.

scholarly journals Arendt’s Political Theology—From Political Religion to Profanation

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 111-131
Author(s):  
Bulent Diken ◽  
Carsten Bagge Laustsen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Religion ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Voluntary Servitude

The article elaborates on Arendt’s take on the religious and the political and on how they interact and merge in modernity, especially in totalitarianism. We start with framing the three different understandings of religion in Arendt: first, a classic understanding of religion, which is foreign to the logic of the political; second, a secularized political religion; and third, a weak messianism. Both the classic understanding of religion and the political religion deny human freedom in Arendt’s sense. Her transcendent alternative to them both is the notion of the democratic political community: the Republic. Then we turn to Arendt’s political theology, illuminating why interrogating Nazism is central to examine the relationship between politics and religion in modernity. This is followed by a discussion of Nazism as a type of political religion. We focus here on totalitarianism, both as an idea and actual institution. We conclude with an assessment of the role of profanation in Arendt’s work and its significance vis-à-vis the contemporary ‘return of religion’ as well as totalitarian tendencies which call for new forms of voluntary servitude.

scholarly journals The Relevance of the Concept of Civil Religion from a (West) German Perspective

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 366
Author(s):  
Jana Weiss ◽  
Heike Bungert
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Religion ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Political Religion ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The paper argues for the continued importance and usefulness of the term “civil religion” in light of the (West) German discussion and the situation in Europe. For non-Americans, and especially for Germans for whom terms like “political religion” are tied to the National Socialist past, the concept of civil religion helps explain the relationship of religion and politics, both in modern democracies in general and in Germany and the United States in particular.

The Political Psychology of Religion in Plato's Laws

1976 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 1059-1077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Pangle
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Civil Religion ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
The Political ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Political Religion ◽  
The City

This paper explains Plato's conception of the relation between politics and “political religion” (ideology) in a nonliberal participatory republican system. The discussion is in the form of a commentary on the drama of a part of Plato's Laws. The underlying methodological assumption is that Plato presented his political teaching not so much through the speeches as through the drama of the dialogue, and that he held this to be the most appropriate form for political science because in this way political science can most effectively stimulate thought about its subject matter, the psyche involved in social action.Following Plato, we focus first on the psychological needs such a political system generates and attempts to satisfy through civil religion. We then move to a consideration of how political “theology” serves to mediate between science and society, or the philosopher and the city.The essay is intended to contribute to the Montesquieuian project engaging the attention of more and more political theorists: the endeavor to help contemporary political science and psychology escape from the trammeling parochialism of exclusive attention to twentieth century theoretical categories and empirical experiences.

scholarly journals PASANG SURUT PERPOLITIKAN ISLAM DALAM KANCAH SEJARAH

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-91
Author(s):  
Mansur Mansur
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Islamic Religion ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses the ups and downs of Islamic politics in the historical arena, the politics referred to in this paper is photographing the history of politics at the time of the Caliph or Companions and politics in the history of Islam. Political Islam is often seen as a combination of "religion and politics". The relationship between politics and religion is interrelated and inseparable, although technically and practically the relationship is distinguished, religion is the authority of Shahibu as-Shari'ah, while politics is public / human authority. But these two things go hand in hand just as the Islamic religion developed as a religious and political movement which in turn merged with the "public" state and society. The belief of a Muslim who considers that Islam is something that concerns the faith and politics and is rooted in the holy book of Islam "al-Qur'an" and the hadith of the Prophet, so that Muslims believe that this has been reflected in the teachings of Islam, its history, and political development.

scholarly journals Religion and politics: taking African epistemologies seriously

2007 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Ellis ◽  
Gerrie ter Haar
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The World ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTReligious modes of thinking about the world are widespread in Africa, and have a pervasive influence on politics in the broadest sense. We have published elsewhere a theoretical model as to how the relationship between politics and religion may be understood, with potential benefits for observers not just of Africa, but also of other parts of the world where new combinations of religion and politics are emerging. Application of this theoretical model requires researchers to rethink some familiar categories of social science.

scholarly journals On the Limits Between Religion and Politics: Contributions of John Locke for Thinking the Present

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Alan Santana Rauschkolb ◽  
José Reinaldo Felipe Martins Filho
Keyword(s):  
John Locke ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Human Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
Internal Logic ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract: this article is at the point of convergence between the universes of politics and religion, trying to demonstrate the limits of one against the other, especially in view of the growth of "ideologically converted" initiatives within the current Brazilian political scenario. To this end, it pursues and exposes the understanding of the English philosopher John Locke regarding the relationship between politics and religion from the concept of religious tolerance. For Locke, politics and religion represent two distinct spheres of human action, each of which is governed by an internal logic both as to its scope over individuals and as to its social role - the first directed to the sphere of security , order and maintenance of life and property and the second to the internal forum and the search for the salvation of souls. At the end of this study we intend to highlight how Lockean thought can contribute to the construction of a posture of openness to dialogue with differences, which the author has named: tolerance.Sobre os Limite entre a Religião e a Política: contributos de John Locke para se pensar o presenteResumo: o presente artigo situa-se no ponto de confluência entre os universos da política e da religião, procurando demonstrar os limites de um em face do outro, sobretudo em vista do crescimento de iniciativas “ideologicamente convertidas” dentro do atual cenário político brasileiro. Para isso, persegue e expõe o entendimento do filósofo inglês John Locke no que tange à relação entre política e religião a partir do conceito de tolerância religiosa. Para Locke política e religião representam duas esferas distintas da ação humana, sendo cada uma gerida por uma lógica interna tanto no que diz respeito ao seu alcance sobre os indivíduos, quanto no que se refere ao seu papel social – a primeira dirigida à esfera da seguridade, da ordem e da manutenção da vida e da propriedade e a segunda ao foro interno e à busca pela salvação das almas. Ao término deste estudo pretende-se realçar em quê o pensamento lockeano pode contribuir na construção de uma postura de abertura ao diálogo com as diferenças, o que o autor nomeou: tolerância.

scholarly journals RELIGION AND POLITICS IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-133
Author(s):  
Danoye Oguntola Laguda
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Pluralistic Society ◽  
Pluralistic Societies ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Determinant Factor

The interaction between religion and politics has been a subject of debate among scholars of religion, political scientists and sociologists. The arguments have generally been that of total or partial dis-interaction between the two phenomena. To the protagonists, religion should not be corrupted with the tricks, intrigues and challenges of politics. On the other side of the divide, the opinion is that the two institutions should relate to each other for the benefits of humanity. Our observation has shown that the nature of the society is a determinant factor if the relationship should ever be allowed to exist. It has been argued that in homogenous societies, politics and religion can relate to each other as suggested by the protagonists. However, in pluralistic societies like Nigeria, secularism has been suggested as an alternative. In Nigeria, our case study, it is noted that religions have always played significant roles in the political process, policy formulations and their implementation.

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