Monotheism, Nationalism, & Violence

25 Interlocking Theses on Religion and Politics

“The price monotheism always has to pay for its alliance with exclusive nationalism is the loss of its soul. When monotheism embraces exclusive nationalism, monotheism’s God morphs from the creator and lover of all people and all creatures into a selfish and violent idol of a particular nation.”

—Miroslav Volf, Thesis #25

Friends,

In the spring of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and with it we saw another expression of Christian Nationalism expose itself. Many of us were used to the familiar American variety, but could it be that a similar spirit of political and religious sensibilities was giving rise to this new violence in Ukraine?

As a way to seek understanding of the religious dimensions of this violence, I decided to offer a session of my systematic theology course at Yale Divinity School, dedicated to some thinking about the relation between monotheism and nationalism.

That session led to the development of these 25 interlocking theses.

Earlier this week, terrorist atrocities have awoken another war in Israel and Palestine, and again the concept of national identity, and perhaps monotheism, is intermixed with the eruption of this violence.

These theses emerge from my conviction that God is indeed the creator and lover of all people. And I hope they offer some insight during times such as now.

Sursum corda—lifting up my heart nevertheless,

Miroslav Volf

Yale Center for Faith & Culture

New Haven, October 2023

From the introduction…

“In this essay, written in the form of 25 interlocking theses, I approach the problem of religiously motivated or legitimized violence by exploring the relation between monotheism and nationalism.

The first is allegedly the most violent of all forms of religion and the second one of the most violent forms of political arrangements, especially when it is cut loose from universal moral commitment and tied to some form of tribal identity (‘exclusive nationalism’).

I argue that monotheism is a universalist creed and that it is compatible only with inclusive nationalism, a nationalism that is a form of special relations framed by a universal moral code.

When monotheism is aligned with exclusive nationalism—when it becomes a ‘political religion’ aligned with exclusivist nationalism—monotheism betrays its universality, a feature which lies at its very core, and morphs into violence, generating and legitimizing henotheism: our god of our nation in contrast and competition to other nations with their gods.

Alternatively, if monotheism keeps its universality while associated as political religion with exclusive nationalism it will tend to underwrite dreams of nationalist imperialism: our god and our nation as masters of the world.”