Vanguards, Sacralisation of Politics, and Totalitarianism: Category-based Epistemology and Political Religion Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2014 Taylor & Francis. This article overviews the current debate on political religion as it relates to totalitarian regimes. Beginning by contrasting Emilio Gentiles sacralisation of politics thesis with Richard Shortens critiques of political religion as a concept, this article discusses the specific role of vanguard party organisation in the sacralising of political systems. Founded upon category- based epistemology where a special, universal part of mass society has unique access to truth and maintained by vanguard organisations populated by professional revolutionaries, totalitarian movements/regimes create practices and self-conceptualisation analogous to religion. This article also addresses the (dis)similarities between religion and political religion, providing some boundaries in which the political religion concept is useful.

published proceedings

  • POLITICS RELIGION & IDEOLOGY

author list (cited authors)

  • Gray, P. W.

citation count

  • 5

complete list of authors

  • Gray, Phillip W

publication date

  • October 2014