Missionary Politics – A Contribution to the Study of Populism

The sacralization of politics is commonly studied in terms of movements and regimes of the past. This article explains and develops the political–religious concept of missionary politics as an analytical tool to understand political activism in the twenty‐first century. Missionary Politics is a political religion that has at its center a charismatic leadership, a narrative of salvation, ritualization, and the creation of a moral community invested with a collective mission of combating conspiratorial enemies and redeeming the community from its putative crisis. Ongoing research regarding missionary politics demonstrates the continuing importance of the sacralization of the political, which manifests itself in many ways, in contemporary times.