CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Henrich, Anne-Sophie |
|---|---|
| Title | Praying the Nation: At The Crossroads Of Religion Nationalism and Politics |
| Summary | The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is well known for his integration of religion and nationalism into the domain of EU politics. While this political confluence of politics, religion and nationalism might be surprising, it is by now a real phenomenon in the region. This thesis aims to investigate the complex histo-political context of Central Eastern European politics that allows for this merge, as well as to evaluate what this fusion achieves. To explain the underlying tendencies of the region while avoiding the multi-vocal disturbances of (inter-)national politics, this thesis chose to look at the case of Hazatérés Temploma (Church of Homecoming), a small parish in the centre of Budapest that takes this dynamic one step further by merging these concepts in the domain of faith, thereby creating sacrosanct nationalism. The research consists of participant observation during 17 different events organised by the parish, an analysis of 10 YouTube videos (mainly sermons) uploaded by Hazatérés Temploma, as well as of the content of their web- and Facebook-pages. The aim of this thesis is to show that the parish and Orbán try to challenge the concept of Europe and the nation through the merge of religion, nationalism and politics as both feel a kind of othering in their respective fields. This is not only due to the fluidity and malleability of these concepts and their different historical development in Central-Eastern Europe, but more importantly due to present systemic obstacles and prejudices created by the West. |
| Supervisor | Reshetnikov, Anatoly |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/henrich_annesophie.pdf |
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