The Political Theologies of Populism by Colin Bossen

The Political Theologies of Populism by Colin Bossen

In this work, author Colin Bossen argues that for over a century, American populist movements?even explicitly secular ones?have drawn on religious ideas and practices to infuse their politics and bring people together. Bossen explores Pan-African populism, white supremacist populism, and early twentieth-century pluralistic populism in the United States that coalesced into well-known, vastly different groups with a lasting presence in the American imagination: the Universal Negro Improvement Association (also known as the Garveyites), the Ku Klux Klan, and the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies). This book employs both historical analysis and political theory to unpack the trajectory of these groups and to illustrate how their respective search for belonging showcases as similar principles, despite their extremely different beliefs. This is a finding that, Bossen argues, exemplifies the mechanisms behind twenty-first-century politics, including the rise of Trumpism. This groundbreaking comparative analysis challenges readers to consider the repetition of history in today's political landscape and shows them how to rise to the challenges of our current political moment.

Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen is senior minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston and a visiting fellow with Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford. He is the coauthor of Resistance and Transformation: Unitarian Universalist Social Justice History and author of the forthcoming publications American Populism and Unitarian Universalism and Unitarian Universality Theologies: A Global Study.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780814351567
ISBN 10	0814351565
Title	The Political Theologies of Populism
Author	Colin Bossen
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Wayne State University Press
Year published	2026-04-14
Number of pages	362
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.