National mysticism
National mysticism (German: Nationalmystik) or mystical nationalism is a form of nationalism that elevates the nation to the status of numen or divinity. Its best-known instance is Germanic mysticism, which gave rise to occultism under the Third Reich. The idea of the nation as a divine entity was presented by Johann Gottlieb Fichte.[1] National mysticism is closely related to Romantic nationalism,[citation needed] but goes beyond the expounding of romantic sentiment, to a mystical veneration of the nation as a transcendent truth. It often intersects with ethnic nationalism by pseudohistorical assertions about the origins of a given ethnicity.[2]
National mysticism is encountered in many forms of nationalism other than Germanic or Nazi mysticism and expresses itself in the use of occult, pseudoscientific, or pseudohistorical beliefs to support nationalistic claims, often involving unrealistic notions of the antiquity of a nation (antiquity frenzy) or any national myth defended as "true" by pseudo-scholarly means.[3][4]
Notable examples
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2021) |
- State Shinto in Japan prior to the forced secularization following World War II[5]
- The Sun Language Theory and Turkish History Thesis in Pan-Turkism and Turkish nationalism[6]
- Kurdish nationalists often make the claim that they are the descendants of the Medes[7]
- Polish Sarmatism and later Christ of Europe concept[citation needed]
- Greek Epsilonism[citation needed]
- Indonesian nationalism[8]
- Some branches of revisionist history theories of Bulgarians and Bulgaria (i.e. "Thracomania") and Macedonian nationalist history theories[citation needed]
- Narratives on the origin of the Albanians in Albanian nationalism[9]
- The Croat Illyrian movement[citation needed]
- Romanian protochronism and Dacianism[10]
- Philippine Destiny[citation needed]
- The Kosovo Myth in Serbian nationalism[11]
- American Manifest Destiny[12]
- The Indigenous Aryans hypothesis in Hindu nationalism[13]
- Currents of Tamil nationalism (as in Devaneya Pavanar)
- Claims of interplanetary travel, possible existence of in-vitro fertilization and genetic engineering by ancient Indians (102nd Indian Science Congress) [14]
- Some currents of Armenian nationalism (see Armenia, Subartu and Sumer)
- Currents of Russian nationalism[15]
- Kabbalistic currents in religious Zionism[16]
- Swedish Gothicism[citation needed]
- Hungarian Holy Crown Doctrine[17]
- The Spain destiny in Falangism[citation needed]
- Juche in North Korea and Ilminism in South Korea[citation needed]
- In a 2004 article, David Gelernter described Ronald Reagan as a "mystic nationalist"[18][why?]
- Irish author George William Russell has been described as a "prophet of mystic nationalism"[19][why?]
- Jews as the chosen people in Judaism[citation needed]
- Belgians (and even Benelux) descended from the Kingdom of the Franks[citation needed]
- British Israelism[citation needed]
- Hoteps among African-Americans[citation needed]
- Mormon belief of Israelite descent for Native Americans[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Asmuth, Christoph (April 2024). "Revolution and Nation: Johann Gottlieb Fichte's Late Philosophy of Religion". Religions. 15 (4): 426. doi:10.3390/rel15040426. ISSN 2077-1444.
- ^ Stone, Dan (2017), Pendas, Devin O.; Roseman, Mark; Wetzell, Richard F. (eds.), "Race Science, Race Mysticism, and the Racial State", Beyond the Racial State: Rethinking Nazi Germany, Publications of the German Historical Institute, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 176–196, ISBN 978-1-107-16545-8, retrieved 2024-10-20
- ^ Stone, Dan (2017), Pendas, Devin O.; Roseman, Mark; Wetzell, Richard F. (eds.), "Race Science, Race Mysticism, and the Racial State", Beyond the Racial State: Rethinking Nazi Germany, Publications of the German Historical Institute, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 176–196, ISBN 978-1-107-16545-8, retrieved 2024-10-20
- ^ Mosse, G. L. (1961). "The Mystical Origins of National Socialism". Journal of the History of Ideas. 22 (1): 81–96. doi:10.2307/2707875. ISSN 0022-5037. JSTOR 2707875.
- ^ Susumu, Shimazono; 島茴進; Murphy, Regan E. (2009). "State Shinto in the Lives of the People: The Establishment of Emperor Worship, Modern Nationalism, and Shrine Shinto in Late Meiji". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 36 (1): 93–124. ISSN 0304-1042. JSTOR 30233855.
- ^ Aytürk, İlker (2004). "Turkish Linguists against the West: The Origins of Linguistic Nationalism in Atatürk's Turkey". Middle Eastern Studies. 40 (6): 1–25. doi:10.1080/0026320042000282856. ISSN 0026-3206. JSTOR 4289950.
- ^ Martin van Bruinessen. "The Ethnic Identity of the Kurds in Turkey" (PDF).
- ^ Sahri (2024-12-31). "The role of Tharîqat in strengthening nationalism in Indonesia". Cogent Social Sciences. 10 (1). doi:10.1080/23311886.2024.2347010. ISSN 2331-1886.
- ^ Todorović, Miloš (January 2019). "Nationalistc Pseudohistory in the Balkans". Skeptic Magazine. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ Coțofană, Alexandra (July 2021). "Contorted Naturalisms: The Concept of Romanian Nationalist Mountains".
- ^ Described as national mysticism in Christian Kind, Der Wille zur Macht -Wie sich Milosevic zum Herrscher über Serbien erhob NZZ Folio 06/99
- ^ "The Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny, Divining America, TeacherServe©, National Humanities Center". nationalhumanitiescenter.org. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
- ^ Birkvad, Ida Roland (September 2020). "The Ambivalence of Aryanism: A Genealogical Reading of India-Europe Connection". Millennium: Journal of International Studies. 49 (1): 58–79. doi:10.1177/0305829820971686. ISSN 0305-8298.
- ^ Vincent, Pheroze L. (5 January 2015). "'Mere study of ancient texts not science'". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
- ^ e.g. Alexander Sokurow, www.faz.net; see also Arkaim.
- ^ Moshe Sharon, Studies in Modern Religions and Religious Movements and the Babi-Baha'i (2004), p. 77.
- ^ Kürti, László (2015-10-13). "Neoshamanism, National Identity and the Holy Crown of Hungary". Journal of Religion in Europe. 8 (2): 235–260. doi:10.1163/18748929-00802001. ISSN 1874-8929.
- ^ Gelernter, David (2004-06-21). "What Ronald Reagan Understood". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ^ Tierney, Michael (1937). "A Prophet of Mystic Nationalism: A.E." Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 26 (104): 568–580. ISSN 0039-3495. JSTOR 30097473.