Race and Religion : The Construction of Race in a Pro-Nazi Christian Association in Interwar Sweden

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to scrutinize how Sveriges Religiösa Reformförbund (Swedish Association of Religious Reform), a pro-Nazi Christian association in interwar Sweden, constructed the concept of race during the years 1929–1940. Using hermeneutic content analysis and a theoretical approach based on “biopolitics” and “political theology,” I examine the construction during three identified periods: 1929–1933, 1934–1937, 1938–1940. Liberal theological in orientation, the association applied a historical-critical exegesis based on late-nineteenth century German Kulturprotestantismus, seeing culture and religion as inseparable components. Also stressing the need for a “religious rebirth” of the Swedish nation, the association pursued a regenerative return to the religious-ethical characteristics of the country’s alleged heroic Germanic past. First using cultural and biological arguments separately in the construction of race, the association would due to its emerging pro-Nazi orientation become influenced by Nazi German theologians, hence incorporating elements of völkisch ideology.