Religion and Revolution:
Alternative Religiosity and Radical Politics in the (Post-)Industrial Age (1800-2000)
This conference invites scholars to examine the intersections between left-wing and/or revolutionary politics and alternative religiosity over the past two centuries. Alternative religious ideas and practices have served as powerful resources for the political imagination, social critique, and revolutionary mobilization. Yet the relationship between alternative religious currents and emancipatory politics remains underexplored – partly due to the prevalent narrative that religion and left-wing ideology are inherently antagonistic. While anti-clerical and materialist atheist positions have certainly been prominent within socialist, anarchist, and communist worldviews, there have also always been movements and individuals within these same contexts that have drawn on alternative religious traditions in order to further and even radicalize their critiques of capitalism, the state, and authority. Furthermore, processes of individualization and pluralization over the past two centuries have created novel opportunities to employ religious traditions as resources for radical and revolutionary politics. This explains entanglements, for instance, as diverse as spiritualist and labor movements in nineteenth-century England, or the role of techno-mystical movements like Cosmism in the Russian Revolution. On other, and often more intellectual fronts, alternative religious traditions have served as sources of inspiration for utopian constructs and critical theories of society, whether for socio-economic (socialist) blueprints in the nineteenth century (e.g., Fourierism and Saint-Simonianism), or in attempts to conceptualize and break free from the “iron cage” (Weber) of capitalist modernity by means of religious, mystical, and esoteric concepts (e.g. in the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory). While often located in Europe, the above phenomena cannot be fully understood in geographic isolation but also need be placed in their global contexts, for instance concerning the question of colonialism (e.g. utopian-socialist settlements in Africa and America).
Notions like “alternative religiosity” are of course historically contingent, relative to hegemonic discourse, and subject to negotiation. Throughout history, such contested terrain has given rise to labels such as “esoteric”, “occult”, “mystical”, and “heretical”. These labels have often been used polemically, but also affirmatively by actors seeking to distinguish themselves from forms of religious “orthodoxy” and who often combined them with radical political ideas and currents. As such terms have also found their way into scholarly debates, they require scholarly attention and critical examination in their own right. The same goes for normatively charged terms such as “left-wing”, “radical”, and “revolutionary”, which we likewise invite scholars to critically examine.
Using (post-)industrial modernity as a broad historical framework, we invite contributions that examine the entanglements between left-wing and/or revolutionary movements and figures and spiritual, mystical, esoteric, and heterodox traditions. We are interested in how alternative religious currents have played a role in mobilizing people to pursue radical social change. Scholars are warmly invited to submit proposals for 25 minute presentations on the following questions and topics, among others:
| o | “Utopian socialism” and alternative religion | |
| o | Entanglements of Mesmerism, spiritualism, and socialism | |
| o | The varieties of left-wing and spiritual/cultural Zionism | |
| o | Anarchism and mysticism in the early 20th century | |
| o | Occultism and anti-colonial struggle | |
| o | Esotericism and radical climate activism | |
| o | TEXT | |
| o | Intersections of gender, socialism, and religion | |
| o | Terms like “messianism”, “apocalypticism”, “millenarianism” | |
| o | The politics of religious memory (e.g. the German Peasants’ War in communist historiography) | |
| o | Representations of religious radicalism in art, literature and film | |
| o | Critical theories of “capitalism as religion” (W. Benjamin) | |
| o | Critical theory, religion, and (emancipatory) politics |
Proposals should include a title, an abstract of 200–300 words, and a short biographical note. A publication of the conference proceedings is planned. Please send your proposal to
religion-and-revolution@theologie.uni-goettingen.de.
For non-presenters who wish to attend, please register at this email address:
religion-and-revolution@theologie.uni-goettingen.de