The Spirit of Contemporary Politics

Understanding the sources and meanings of the spirit of populism involves deep consideration of a number of questions. Among these is of course the question of the relationship of this spirit or these spirits to larger questions of the substance, meaning, and deployment of religion in these relations. This chapter argues that there is important groundwork to be laid in probing the intersection of religion itself with modern circulations of political and social meaning and value. It looks at the evolving terrain of populism through the lens of religious nationalism and probes these contemporary movements for their roots in the history of media and religion. In doing so, it points to important histories, including the reformation, the European colonial project, and the evolution of Protestantism as a trajectory through these histories, finding a particular expression in the global media and religious hegemony of the United States.