TY - BOOK AU - Gentile,Emilio AU - Staunton,George TI - Politics as Religion SN - 9781400827213 AV - HM641 .G4613 2006 U1 - 306.2 23 PY - 2021///] CY - Princeton, NJ : PB - Princeton University Press, KW - Ideology KW - Political aspects KW - Political psychology KW - Religion and politics KW - RELIGION / Religion, Politics & State KW - bisacsh KW - Christianity KW - Illius Magistri KW - Kultur Kampf KW - Political Religions KW - Risorgimento KW - Sacralization KW - Second World War KW - Social Contract KW - Syncretic KW - The Ruling Class KW - anthropological revolution KW - conquering society KW - crowd manipulation KW - functionalist KW - genus incredulorum credulum KW - insecure man KW - new civilization KW - numinous KW - patriotism KW - political liturgy KW - secular collective entity KW - secular religion KW - statolatry KW - totalitarian KW - tovarich KW - tremendum N1 - Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; Acknowledgments --; INTRODUCTION. The Sacralization of Politics --; CHAPTER 1. A Never-Never Religion, A Substitute for Religion, or a New Religion? --; CHAPTER 2. Civil Religions and Political Religions: From Democratic Revolutions to Totalitarian States --; CHAPTER 3. The Leviathan as a Church: Totalitarianism and Political Religion --; CHAPTER 4. The Invasion of the Idols: Christians against Totalitarian Religions --; CHAPTER 5. Toward the Third Millennium: The Sacralization of Politics in States both New and Old --; CHAPTER 6. Religions of Politics: Definitions, Distinctions, and Qualifications --; Notes; restricted access N2 - Emilio Gentile, an internationally renowned authority on fascism and totalitarianism, argues that politics over the past two centuries has often taken on the features of religion, claiming as its own the prerogative of defining the fundamental purpose and meaning of human life. Secular political entities such as the nation, the state, race, class, and the party became the focus of myths, rituals, and commandments and gradually became objects of faith, loyalty, and reverence. Gentile examines this "sacralization of politics," as he defines it, both historically and theoretically, seeking to identify the different ways in which political regimes as diverse as fascism, communism, and liberal democracy have ultimately depended, like religions, on faith, myths, rites, and symbols. Gentile maintains that the sacralization of politics as a modern phenomenon is distinct from the politicization of religion that has arisen from militant religious fundamentalism. Sacralized politics may be democratic, in the form of a civil religion, or it may be totalitarian, in the form of a political religion. Using this conceptual distinction, and moving from America to Europe, and from Africa to Asia, Gentile presents a unique comparative history of civil and political religions from the American and French Revolutions, through nationalism and socialism, democracy and totalitarianism, fascism and communism, up to the present day. It is also a fascinating book for understanding the sacralization of politics after 9/11 UR - https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400827213?locatt=mode:legacy UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781400827213 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/cover/covers/9781400827213.jpg ER -