Political Religion Reconsidered: An Analysis of Marxism-Leninism in the GDR through the Lens of Roman Religion
(2025) TRVM50 20251Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
- Abstract
- This thesis will explore Roman religion of the imperial time from 29 BCE until the 370’s CE as an alternative lens to enhance the academic discourse on political religion. As a case study, Marxism-Leninism which was the guiding ideology of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) will be analysed. According to Emilio Gentile, a political religion is characterised by six criteria. It shall be (1) a secular collective entity, (2) have a code of commandments, (3) form a community of the elect that has (4) a messianic function, (5) follows a political liturgy, and (6) narrates a sacred history. This definition has been applied to this case study before and will be utilised throughout this thesis. In her analysis, Ulrike Klötzing-Madest... (More)
- This thesis will explore Roman religion of the imperial time from 29 BCE until the 370’s CE as an alternative lens to enhance the academic discourse on political religion. As a case study, Marxism-Leninism which was the guiding ideology of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) will be analysed. According to Emilio Gentile, a political religion is characterised by six criteria. It shall be (1) a secular collective entity, (2) have a code of commandments, (3) form a community of the elect that has (4) a messianic function, (5) follows a political liturgy, and (6) narrates a sacred history. This definition has been applied to this case study before and will be utilised throughout this thesis. In her analysis, Ulrike Klötzing-Madest concluded that the GDR’s Marxism-Leninism could not provide a political religion because it lacked sufficient support by the population. It will be argued in this thesis that this reflects the Eurocentric Christian definition of religion as it in the 19th century. By that time, a major cultural shift took place, subsumed as Protestantisation. This describes a process in which Protestantism was increasingly perceived as representing a progressive conception of religion. In the following, it became the dominant influence on the new subject of religious studies. This meant an advanced focus on orthodoxy, the individual’s responsibility to practice their faith, the supreme authority of scripture (namely the Bible) over Church institutions, and an increased ideal of separating religion from politics. Further, this changed focus favoured the secular ideal of state organisation that prevails in Western thinking ever since.
In this thesis, it will be argued that these continued trends since the second half of the 19th century allowed for the rise of political ideologies like Marxism-Leninism to present themselves as secular alternatives to traditional religions. They are therefore named political religions. Marxism-Leninist theory centres on a predestined interpretation of history and the organisation of the aspired socialist revolution through professional politicians. The Marxist reading of history understands capitalist societies as an intermediate stage which will be vanquished by a revolution of the working class, determined to free themselves from any oppression. Through the establishment of socialism, the final utopian state of communism will then be attained. The parallels to Christian motifs like an eschatological teaching have been noted by several scholars. In this thesis, it will be argued that the evaluation of this political ideology and its implementation in the German Democratic Republic was impacted by the Protestant influence on the study of religion. It will be noted that the emphasis on individual belief in the political system has been deemed a necessary trait that must be fulfilled to qualify Marxism-Leninism as a political religion.
It shall further be argued that the research on religion in imperial Rome tends to highlight its orthopraxy while the individual’s commitment to the public cult is regarded as less important as long as rituals were conducted according to custom. In addition, the Roman organisation of religion and Marxism-Leninism in the GDR share some similarities which will be explored in six dimensions. Among these are (1) the cult of personality, (2) ritual centrality, (3) political entanglement, (4) affiliation through place of birth, (5) the call for tradition, and (6) fluid belonging. It is hence argued that the presented comparison reveals a discrepancy in the evaluation of state defining practices in terms of religion. The purpose of this argument is to open the discussion on the theory of political religion based on the advanced understanding of religious practice in imperial Rome. (Less)
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abstract = {{This thesis will explore Roman religion of the imperial time from 29 BCE until the 370’s CE as an alternative lens to enhance the academic discourse on political religion. As a case study, Marxism-Leninism which was the guiding ideology of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) will be analysed. According to Emilio Gentile, a political religion is characterised by six criteria. It shall be (1) a secular collective entity, (2) have a code of commandments, (3) form a community of the elect that has (4) a messianic function, (5) follows a political liturgy, and (6) narrates a sacred history. This definition has been applied to this case study before and will be utilised throughout this thesis. In her analysis, Ulrike Klötzing-Madest concluded that the GDR’s Marxism-Leninism could not provide a political religion because it lacked sufficient support by the population. It will be argued in this thesis that this reflects the Eurocentric Christian definition of religion as it in the 19th century. By that time, a major cultural shift took place, subsumed as Protestantisation. This describes a process in which Protestantism was increasingly perceived as representing a progressive conception of religion. In the following, it became the dominant influence on the new subject of religious studies. This meant an advanced focus on orthodoxy, the individual’s responsibility to practice their faith, the supreme authority of scripture (namely the Bible) over Church institutions, and an increased ideal of separating religion from politics. Further, this changed focus favoured the secular ideal of state organisation that prevails in Western thinking ever since.
In this thesis, it will be argued that these continued trends since the second half of the 19th century allowed for the rise of political ideologies like Marxism-Leninism to present themselves as secular alternatives to traditional religions. They are therefore named political religions. Marxism-Leninist theory centres on a predestined interpretation of history and the organisation of the aspired socialist revolution through professional politicians. The Marxist reading of history understands capitalist societies as an intermediate stage which will be vanquished by a revolution of the working class, determined to free themselves from any oppression. Through the establishment of socialism, the final utopian state of communism will then be attained. The parallels to Christian motifs like an eschatological teaching have been noted by several scholars. In this thesis, it will be argued that the evaluation of this political ideology and its implementation in the German Democratic Republic was impacted by the Protestant influence on the study of religion. It will be noted that the emphasis on individual belief in the political system has been deemed a necessary trait that must be fulfilled to qualify Marxism-Leninism as a political religion.
It shall further be argued that the research on religion in imperial Rome tends to highlight its orthopraxy while the individual’s commitment to the public cult is regarded as less important as long as rituals were conducted according to custom. In addition, the Roman organisation of religion and Marxism-Leninism in the GDR share some similarities which will be explored in six dimensions. Among these are (1) the cult of personality, (2) ritual centrality, (3) political entanglement, (4) affiliation through place of birth, (5) the call for tradition, and (6) fluid belonging. It is hence argued that the presented comparison reveals a discrepancy in the evaluation of state defining practices in terms of religion. The purpose of this argument is to open the discussion on the theory of political religion based on the advanced understanding of religious practice in imperial Rome.}},
author = {{Schwinn, Henriette}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Political Religion Reconsidered: An Analysis of Marxism-Leninism in the GDR through the Lens of Roman Religion}},
year = {{2025}},
}