The concept of political religion as used in the study of National Socialism depends upon highly criticized expressive-symbolist theories of religion and an implied opposition to the religion of genuine Christianity. The idea of a counterfeit substitute for Christianity goes back to ancient Christian discourse about heresy. The article advocates rational-cognitivist approaches to religion and argues that these prove better for historical work on National Socialism, and that Steigmann-Galls Holy Reich is compatible with this way of theorizing religion. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications.
CITATION STYLE
Stowers, S. (2007). The concepts of “religion”, “political religion” and the study of Nazism. Journal of Contemporary History. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009407071628
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