Totalitarianism and Political Religions, Volume 1

A Case Study in Soviet Political Religion: Modernism, The USSR in Construction, and Stalin’s Russia

“…Again, this is profoundly relevant to some dynamic research being done of late on the interplay of propaganda and dictatorship on the one hand, and on comparative studies of totalitarianism on the other (see e.g. Classen 2008; Maier 2004/2007; Mühlberger 2005; Schönpflug 2007). Given that the USSR in Construction was targeted at an international audience, it is surprising that virtually nothing has been written on the USSR in Construction in Anglophone scholarship, despite over 100 issues being produced in the English language 15 .…”

“…2 2 See, for example, Maier (2004/2007); see also Gray (2007), which opens ‘Modern politics is a chapter in the history of religion. The greatest of the revolutionary upheavals that have shaped so much of the history of the past two centuries were episodes in the history of faith – moments in the long dissolution of Christianity and the rise of modern political religion’, p. 1. …”

“…7 7 More extensive coverage of this issue is given in ‘“Political Religion’– a religion? Some remarks on the concept of religion”, in Maier, Hans, ed., vol. II, pp.…”

The Educational Sociology and Political Theology of Disenchantment: From the Secularization to the Securitization of the Sacred

“…A term framed by Gentile, Mussolini's philosopher, as a state of 'total power', political power replacing theological authority is a theme in much literature on totalitarianism (Friedrich and Brzezinski 1967). Here 'totalizing' political structures replace the old theological order to form what Voegelin in the 1930s described as the new 'political religions' (Maier 2004(Maier , 2007Maier and Schafer 2007;Voegelin 1999).…”

“…As theorists in the sociology of religion, we may usefully return to Voegelin (1999) analysis of the 'political religions' (Maier 2004(Maier , 2007Maier and Schafer 2007) or the enduring literature on autocracy, dictatorship and totalitarianism (Arendt 2004;Casanova 1994Casanova , 2009Friedrich and Brzezinski 1967;Popper 2011;Talmon 1961). But to me, re-reading Schmitt (2005), I note once more his claim that 'All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts' (Schmitt 2005, p. 36).…”