Open AccessNational Civil Religion in the German Empire (1871-1918)
Author(s) -
Dariusz J. Piwowarczyk
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
roczniki teologiczne
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2543-5973
pISSN - 2353-7272
DOI - 10.18290/rt.2019.66.9-7
Subject(s) - ideology , mythology , nationalism , german , folklore , argument (complex analysis) , religious studies , civil religion , history of religions , empire , sociology , history , philosophy , aesthetics , law , political science , classics , anthropology , politics , archaeology , biochemistry , chemistry
The article draws on the argument presented by Carolyn Marvin and David Ingle (1996), and specifically on the thesis that nationalism can be also approached as a religious phenomenon- with its distinctive mythology, dogmas, “saints,” and ritual behavior; they term such ideological-ritual complex “national civil religion.” Using this heuristic tool, I analyze the quasi-religious content of German national ideology dominant in the Kaiserreich (1871-1918) by discussing three layers of imagery that can be distinguished in this ideological system: appropriated history as vell as Christian-Biblical and mythological-folkloric components.