The modernist God state
Subtitle: a literary study of the Nazis' Christian Reich
By: Michael Lackey
Publisher: Continuum
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 358
ISBN-13: 9781441197597; 9781441125453
Subjects: Literature; Politics and literature; Church and state; History and criticism; Christianity and literature; Fiction; Nation-state; Aesthetics; National socialism and religion; History
Other titles: Literary study of the Nazis' Christian Reich
Description: "The Modernist God State seeks to overturn the traditional secularization approach to intellectual and political history and to replace it with a fuller understanding of the religious basis of modernist political movements. Lackey demonstrates that Christianity, instead of fading after the Enlightenment, actually increased its power by becoming embedded within the concept of what was considered the legitimate nation state, thus determining the political agendas of prominent political leaders from King Leopold II to Hitler.     Lackey first argues that novelists can represent intellectual and political history in a way that no other intellectual can. Specifically, they can picture a subconscious ideology, which often conflicts with consciously held systems of belief, short-circuiting straight into political action, an idea articulated by E.M. Forster. Second, in contrast to many literary scholars who discuss Hitler and the Nazis without studying and quoting their texts, Lackey draws his conclusions from close readings of their writings. In doing so, he shows that one cannot understand the Nazis without taking into account the specific version of Christianity underwriting their political agenda."--Bloomsbury Publishing.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-357) and index.