Transnational Christian Nationalism
September 2024 – Present
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes by Raphael (CC0)
The Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University and Canopy Forum’s new series hopes to shed light on the development of transnational Christian nationalism, and its impact on politics, the rule of law, and religious freedom with a focus on American political movements, European populism, and Russian politics. The critique of secularism has emerged as a powerful tool of mobilization in anti-Western discourse. In this discourse, “secularism” functions as a code-word for “the West,” liberalism, the overturning of traditional gender and family roles, and sometimes, antisemitism. Churches are used to assert a Christianist alternative to Western liberalism.
However, their invocation of Christianity is not simply about a “return of religion” in European politics. Rather, churches serve as the symbolic basis for a claim to the sacred, proffering alternative conceptions of political legitimacy, as well as justifying their attacks on the rule of law, and in the case of Russia, the international order. These anti-Western discourses in Europe find some resonance in American political movements. This essay series queries the traces of transnational Christian nationalism in America and the interconnection of political rhetoric, transnational networking, and highly engaged activism on both continents. ♦
“Transnational Aspects of Christian Nationalism”
Dr Marietta van der Tol is Leverhulme early career fellow at the University of Cambridge, specialising in the comparative study of politics, law, and religion.
“European elections 2024: Successes and failures of far-right political parties”
Jeffrey Haynes is an Emeritus Professor of Politics at London Metropolitan University, UK. He is the author or editor of more than 60 books and 125 peer-reviewed journal articles (tsjhayn1@londonmet.ac.uk).
“Right-Wing Populism and Religion – The Case of Brothers of Italy”
Luca Ozzano is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Turin, in Italy. His more recent publication is The Masks of the Political God. Religion and Political Parties in Contemporary Democracies (Rowman and Littlefield 2020).
“CPAC and NatCon: Uniting a Transnational Radical Right”
Rita Abrahamsen is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and Research Fellow at the Centre for International and Comparative Politics, Stellenbosch University. She is co-author of World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
Michael C. Williams is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and Global Professorial Fellow at the Institute for Humanities and Social sciences at Queen Mary University of London. He is co-author of World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
“Gender, Russian Orthodoxy, and the Invention of “Traditional” Values”
Regina Elsner is a Catholic theologian and professor for Eastern Church Studies and Ecumenical Theology at Münster University. Her research focusses on the relationship of Orthodoxy, politics and civil society in Eastern Europe, Orthodox social ethics and ecumenical anti-gender movements. See more on X @reginaelmo, Instagram @ostkirchenkunde.muenster, and LinkedIn.
“Politics Of Identity And Exclusion: Italy’s Matteo Salvini And The Rise Of Pan-European Christian Nationalism “
Thomas Jared Farmer is the McDonald Scholar in Residence at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Illinois, an MTS and Th.M. from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, an MA in Philosophy as well as an MA in Religion from Claremont Graduate University and a PhD in the Philosophy from the University of Münster (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster).
Dr. Kyriaki Topidi is a Senior Researcher and the Head of the Research Cluster on Culture and Diversity at the European Centre for Minority Issues (Germany).
“A Christian Constitutional Challenge – Hungary’s Fundamental Law “
Stephen Dolan is associate lecturer in Catholic Social Thought at the University of St Mary’s Twickenham. His PhD analysed the role of Christianity in Hungarian Politics, and his current research explores claims to Christianity within politics, Catholic Political Theology and religion and nationalism.
“The Rise of the Christian Right”
Gionathan Lo Mascolo is a political scientist and author whose work currently focuses on the intersection of religion, far-right politics, extremism and democratic erosion in Europe.
Kristina Stoeckl is professor of sociology at Luiss University in Rome. She specializes in political sociology and sociology of religion with a special focus on Russian Orthodoxy and transnational norm mobilization.
“The Right, Edmund Burke, and Family Policy: Misappropriations of the “Little Platoon”
Madeleine Armstrong (PhD History, Cambridge) is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Politics at Princeton University.
“Religious Freedom in Ukraine: Can we move on from misleading election narratives?”
Dmytro Vovk is a Visiting Associate Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law—Yeshiva University and a member of the OSCE/ODIHR Expert Panel on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Elizabeth A. Clark is Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School and a member of the OSCE/ODIHR Expert Panel on Freedom of Religion or Belief.