Editorial

Populism, like nationalism, can be found on the right as well as on the left-wing of the political spectrum. However, current political debates demonstrate how in recent years, nationalist and populist movements have advanced the preservation of Christian “roots” against a global cosmopolitanism. Right-wing populism thus tends to present itself as a guardian of Christian culture, or Judeo-Christian culture. However, there is a struggle over the definition and the ownership of this religious heritage. Whilst it is certainly possible to identify sources within the Protestant tradition that may legitimise support for right-wing populism, the questions this struggle raises often relate to particular intersections of culture, theology, perspectives on history as well as political thought. This special issue explores and critiques these intersections, employing theological, historical, and sociological methods. While the main perspective is that of cross-disciplinary reflections on the fraught relationship between Protestantism and right-wing populism, it also examines the evolution of broader connections between Christianity and nationalism through time.

“Teaching the poor of the Irish nation”: The Endeavours of the Protestant “Sons of Erin” to Educate Their Catholic “Brethren” in the Age of Catholic Agitation, 1800–1850

In Ireland, the Protestant missionary impetus of the early 19th century, known as the 'Second Reformation', coincided with Daniel O’Connell’s movement for the emancipation of Catholics and the Repeal of the Union which concurrently met with resounding success. As the Irish nationalist movement was becoming more and more catholicised, The Irish Society for Promoting the Education of the Native Irish through the Medium of Their Own Language promoted access to the Bible in “the pure Gaelic language and the Irish character” for both the spiritual salvation of “the [poorer] sons of Erin” and “the political repose and moral amelioration of Ireland.” Even if the Second Reformation has often been considered as an attempt at anglicising the Irish through conversion, a reassessment of the reciprocal influences of Protestant missions and Irish nationalism is timely. Therefore, this paper, relying on a wide range of archival material, intends to examine how the discourse of this Protestant society disrupted the status quo of Irish and British identities. Was the Society’s redefinition of Irish identity, which combined a shared Irish culture with loyalty to the British state, perceived by O’Connell’s nationalist movement as a threat or an opportunity? This exploration of the relationship between Christianity and nationalism highlights the complex ties that can be found between several layered identities and disrupts the binaries of the vernacular being promoted by the champions of independence and of native languages being erased by the advocates of imperial rule.

A Posture of Protest? The Search for Christian Identity in A Post-Secular Society: Between Secularised Eschatology and A Sacralisation of History

This article theorises ideations of “the people” in a comparative reflection on Latin-Christian theologies and typologies of time and secularised appropriations thereof in right-wing as well as far-right movements in Europe and the United States of America. Understanding the world in grand narratives of “good” and “evil” emerges from Christian eschatological hope: the hope of the restoration and renewal of the cosmos and the final defeat of evil prophesised in association with the return of Christ. However, this language of good and evil becomes detached from the wider corpus of Christian belief and theology. In its secular expression, it may attach the good to an abstract and normative account of “the people”, who are defined in contrast to a range of others, both internal and external to the nation. Secular iterations might further echo the stratification of present, past and future through a sacralisation of the past and a dramatization of the future. The context of contemporary right-wing and far-right movements poses a series of questions about the relationship between belief and belonging, the acceptability of the secularization of Christian traditions and theologies, and the extent to which Christian communities can legitimately associate with right-wing movements.

Bishops, Kings and Leviathan: Nationalism and Integralism in Light of High Church Anglican Political Thought

This article traces the political thought of high church Anglicans from 1580-1720. Beginning with Richard Hooker, Anglican political thought was shaped by the need to balance competing principles. For high church Anglicans, the monarchy was seen as the institution best positioned to defend this balance against what they saw as the twin threats of "Puritanism and popery." However, high churchmen also began to defend a high view of episcopacy even over against the power of the English government, introducing a tension between royal supremacy and high church Anglicanism with implications for both nationalist and integralist conceptions of the state. This culminated in the nonjurors—Anglican clergy and academics removed from their posts for refusing to swear oaths to William and Mary—defending episcopacy against both the new king and defenders of royal supremacy. The example of high church Anglicans demonstrates some perils of both nationalist and integralist approaches to politics for many religious forms of traditional conservatism.

Prophetic Populism and the Violent Rejection of Joe Biden’s Election: Mapping the Theology of the Capitol Insurrection

For President Donald Trump’s most committed Christian devotees—those with ears to hear—his rise to power was prophesied, and the 2016 victory was miraculous. Prophets again foretold re-election in 2020. These charismatic Trump supporters tended to come from outside the main denominations, and when the electoral college swung towards Joe Biden, the results were not accepted. In rejecting the election, they became fellow travellers with more overtly militant and conspiratorial groups—sometimes sharing a stage with them. This article describes the discourse of prophetic populism from 2011 to 2021—focusing in particular on the three months from the 2020 election to the storming of Capitol Hill to the inauguration of Joe Biden. Although Trump repeatedly says, ‘Promises Made, Promises Kept’, these prophetic promises did not materialise—leading some to try to force God’s hand. This article explores the reaction to three consecutive disappointments that took their toll on prophetic populism: the declaration of Joe Biden as president-elect in November 2020, the certification of his victory in early January 2021 and the inauguration later that month. It demonstrates the power of a relatively new force in conservative politics, the flexibility of beliefs in divine involvement and the resilience of these beliefs in light of weighty disconfirming evidence.

Pro-Life or Pro-Choice? Humanistic Buddhists’ Voices Surrounding Abortion in Contemporary Taiwan

In Taiwan, abortion was legalized in 1984. This paper examines the voices surrounding abortion expressed by monasteries in Humanistic Buddhism, a prominent Buddhist philosophy practiced in modern Taiwan. Humanistic Buddhism emphasizes that it is a “religion of the people.” However, in addition to the law of karma and causality, the value of all life forms is prioritized based on the ethics of “non-harming (ahimsā).” When some monasteries insist that abortion is killing, resulting in karmic retribution, some express sympathy with a woman’s decision to abort. When some monasteries promote a newly popularized ritual to appease aborted fetuses, some are keenly critical of the exploitation of women and manipulation of scriptures. Through a discursive analysis, this paper demonstrates the wide spectrum of Buddhist narratives in response to reproductive politics embedded in the conflicts between modernity and tradition, as well as locality and globality.

Finding the Object of Study: Islamic Studies in Practice

This article argues that, to understand where to find the study object ‘Islam’ and how to address it, researchers in Islamic studies need to be theoretically and methodologically aware of the importance and implications of power practices. By discussing enunciations associated with Islam, the problems with reification, the importance of power, the cognitive power of naming, and the semiotic resources mobilised by enunciations, the article proposes ways to operationalise grand scale theories by Talal Asad and Michel Foucault, with an especial focus on the understanding of semiotic resources. It also provides an account of the personal journey of the author while trying to relate constructively to the field for the last 30 years.

Issues in Quantitative Analysis and Security Studies Involving Muslims

There are very serious ethical and pragmatic issues in the quantitative and security study of Muslims. From an ethical perspective, many of these studies denigrate and stereotype Muslims. They also treat them as a problem to be solved, justifying and expanding US power. Pragmatically, it can be hard to collect detailed data on security issues in many Muslim countries, making conventional studies difficult. Yet, standard approaches to these problems are faulty. We cannot abandon positivist analysis, as well-done quantitative studies are actually the best tools we have to push back on negative stereotypes of Muslims. At the same time, we cannot ignore important security topics among Muslim states just because the data we have available is not ideal. Instead, I present a two-pronged approach that can address these issues without ignoring crucial aspects of international relations; scholars should follow best methodological practices to avoid ethical issues, and adopt new standards and novel tools to deal with imperfect data.

Methodological Eclecticism: Feminist-Pragmatist Reflections on Re/centering Muslims in Research about Islam

For over a decade, researchers have consistently asserted that Muslims in the West are ‘research weary’ (Sangera and Thapar- Bjökert 2008: 544), ‘tired of too much research about them’ (Alvi et al. 2003: p. xv) and are concerned about ‘not being given the opportunity to shape research that is about them (Scott-Baumann et al. 2020). Research on Muslim in Britain and in the West are further complicated by social hierarchies and popular discourses that often position Muslims as the ‘different other’. Working within a feminist-pragmatist epistemological framework this chapter will bring together methodological reflections from a decade of research of Islam and Muslims in the West. It asserts the need for research paradigms that are grounded in partnership and positionality, and which maintain intellectual rigour while also being accountable to the people who are the subjects of research.

Muslims at the United Nations: Ethical and Political Issues

The United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) was established in 2005 by the then United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to try to improve inter-cultural and inter-religious relations after 9/11. Creating UNAOC stimulated wider interest in examining how and in what ways improving inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue might lead to better relations between the West and Muslims, making incidents like 9/11 less likely. Between 2015 and 2018, I researched into the UNAOC, mainly at UN headquarters in New York. The research involved, inter alia, interviewing over 80 knowledgeable people. As time went on, during repeated research trips to New York, it became clear that the issue of improving relations between the West and Muslims was far from straightforward, as it involved profound ethical and political considerations. The first was that at the UN, Muslims had a relatively understated position and did not enjoy equality with secular or Christian entities. I interviewed many Muslims from representative organisations at the UN. All were unwilling to conform to the UN’s understanding that key problems of inter-cultural and inter-religious conflict were a consequence of Islamist extremism and terrorism. Muslims I interviewed saw the issue differently. They pointed to long periods of Western domination of international relations to explain the lowly position of Muslims. As a consequence, the UNAOC was seen to try to address the problem with unsound understanding of where the problem lay. Muslims believed that the modus operandi and aims of the UNAOC would divide not unite the very constituencies – that is, the West and Muslims – that the UNAOC was created to assist. The conclusion is that even well-meaning initiatives such as the UNAOC are bound to fail if they consider only one set of views and excludes others.