University of Pennsylvania Press

Eric Voegelin on Nazi Political Extremism

Author(s): Clifford F. Porter
Source: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Jan., 2002), pp. 151-171
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
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Eric

Voegelin

on

Political

Nazi

Extremism

CliffordE Porter
Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) is not as well known among historiansas he is
among political theorists,yet he has had a continuing influence on both German Social DemocratandChristianDemocratpolitical leaders.His early life is
very much a reflection of both the intellectualdevelopmentsand the chaos of
GermanyandAustriabetweenthe wars.Voegelin's analysisof Nazism is worth
revisiting by historiansbecause it delineatedthe Nazi rationalefor the Holocaust in the early 1930s, even if the Nazis themselves had yet to move towards
mass murderearly in the regime. Voegelin was not prescientenoughto predict
the extent of the Holocaust, but he understoodthatthe ideological rationaleof
Nazi violence was unlimited.Furthermore,his descriptionof political extremism as Gnosticism in 1952 is valid for explaining why an individual might
supportthe Nazis and then voluntarilycommit extraordinarilyvicious acts to
try to realize the dream-worldof the ThirdReich.
The political, economic, and social chaos in AustriaafterWorldWarI was
the catalyst for the young Eric Voegelin's studies of the essence of ideologies
and the ideologists who promotedthem from both the left and right wing. As
National Socialism grew, so did his experiences with and understandingof
extremistpolitical ideologies. Contemporaryintellectualdebatesbetween neoKantianand existentialistmethodology,however, did not help penetrateto the
essential causes of political extremism.His experiencesin Americain the mid1920s were essential for his developmentaway from what he characterizedas
narrow methodological provincialism to an empiricism open to philosophic
questions, includingspiritualquestions.By 1938 he had theorizedthat ideologies were political secularreligions that substitutedthe state for divine reality.
Because of this interpretation,Voegelin's approachto totalitarianismhas
been characterizedas an outdatedersatz religion model, better suited for the
Cold War.'The ersatzreligion model workedreasonablywell to describesimiSee, for example, Dominick LaCapra, Representing the Holocaust: History Theory, and
Trauma (Ithaca, N.Y., 1994).

151
Copyright2002 by Journalof the Historyof Ideas,Inc.

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Clifford F Porter

152

laritiesthe National Socialist movement had with religions, but Voegelin recognized thatit did not penetrateto the essence of ideologies. His understanding
of ideologies maturedafterWorld War II into his theory that ideologies were
Gnostic quests for absolutecertaintythat caused alienationfrom reality.
Voegelin thoughtthat the search for certaintyultimatelyrequiredexcluding any evidence to the contraryof the ideology; therefore,ideologies limited
the individual's view of humanreality to the immediateworld. Furthermore,
although ideologies are founded on a kernel of truth-e.g., proletariansare
sometimes oppressed-ideologists become quickly alienatedfrom reality as a
consequenceof theirown quest for certaintyaboutmeaning in existence. The
consequencesof alienationare that ideologists pursuethe perceivedimmanent
good and try to eliminate the perceived immanentevil, therebyrationalizing
criminalityandeven murder.Violenceis inherentto extremistpoliticalideologies.
Backgroundand Influences:Weber, Kraus,University, and America
Eric Voegelin was born in 1901 and grew up in Vienna. After the war
Austria was convulsed by political and social crises ranging from attempted
reactionaryand Communistcoups to constantfood shortages.In the firstpostwar election Voegelin's political and social inclinationsled him to vote for the
Social DemocraticParty(SDP), but he was aggravatedby the uncompromising
Marxistrhetoricof the SDP leadership.In this atmosphereVoegelin began his
long journeytowardunderstandingideologies, but firsthe hadto workthrough
many differentpolitical and philosophic problemsbefore he arrivedat an adequate understanding.The intellectuals that influenced him duringthis long
process were diverse, but they shareda hostility to ideologies.
The firstimportantacademicinfluenceon Voegelin was Max Weber.2Weber encouragedintellektuelleRechtschaffenheit(intellectualhonesty)with others and especially with oneself. Weber insisted on following an ethic of reratherthanmakingapolosponsibilityfor one's actions(Verantwortungsethik),
gies for following an ethic of good intentions (Gesinnungsethik).The latter,
Weber feared, was often used to justify bad consequences of well-intended
actions.3These simple principleshelped guide the young Eric Voegelin away
from violent ideological movements.
Weberalso was intenton "scientifically"understandingsociety. "Science"
(wissenschaft)did not have quite the same positivistic implicationsin German
as it did in either French or English, althoughthere was the positivistic tendency to eliminate any perceived values in scientific work.4 The impact on
Voegelin ratherstraightforwardlyimpressedon him the need to be as honest
AutobiographicalReflections, 11-13.
11.
TheCollected Worksof Eric Voegelin,
4 JiirgenGebhardtand BarryCooper,"Introduction,"
I, On the Form of the AmericanMind, tr. Ruth Hein (Baton Rouge, 1995), xii-xv.
2

3 Ibid.,

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Voegelin'sInterpretationsof Nazi Extremism

153

withhimselfandin his studiesas he couldbe. Thefirstexampleof thiswas his quick

abandonmentof Marxismwhen he decided it was economically untenable.5
Voegelin followed Weber's methodology of comparativeknowledge for
scientific inquiry;otherwise,without comparisonwith other societies' experiences, a basis for any researchwas limitedto one's own realmof social experience. The premise of Voegelin's comparativeresearchwas that there was a
common groundof humanexperience across time and space. When Voegelin
studied ancient or non-Westernsocieties, he saw essential similarities in human experience,ratherthandifferences.
A problematicaspectofWeber's work,however,was how to define"value."
Weber's emphasis on value-free science meant that many social issues could
not adequatelybe studied because they involved values. Voegelin began to
understandthat ethical judgement in society requireda foundationof values.
This issue would resurfacein the late 1920s in Voegelin's study of political
science as a subset of constitutionallaw. The problemof how to judge value
was not philosophicallydifficult for Voegelin because the underlyingpremise
of his work was thathumanityhas a spiritualas well as a temporalfoundation.
The Weberianeliminationof values severely hinderedstudying political philosophy or ideologies, and it took Voegelin several years to work throughthe
problem.As he put it 50 years later:
But of course so far as science is concernedthat is a very precarious
position, because studentsafterall want to know the reasonswhy they
should conductthemselves in a certainmanner;and when the reasons
-that is, the rationalorderof existence-are excluded fromconsideration, emotionsare liable to carryyou away into all sortsof ideological
and idealistic adventuresin which ends become more fascinatingthan
the means.6
Without a clear science of values or ethics, a basis for human conduct was
missing. Furthermore,withoutsuch a science of values, a critiqueof the behavior of ideologists is difficult. Weber was a very ethical person, so this was not
an issue. The generation after World War I, however, was deeply troubled,
lacking social or political stability in any form, paradigm,zeitgeist, or even a
Platonic noble myth. A related and fundamentalquestion remained, which
Voegelin witnessed aroundhim academically, socially, and politically: why
did intellectuals,political groups, or factions cling to philosophies that were
demonstrablyfalse-for example, Zionist Jewish conspiraciesor the inevitability of the proletarianrevolution?
5AutobiographicalReflections, 11.
6 Ibid., 12.

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154

Clifford F Porter

The Viennese iconoclast,dramacritic,andsocial commentator,KarlKraus,

reinforcedVoegelin's emphasison the pursuitof truthand intellectualhonesty.
Kraus's scathingcommentaryon contemporaryintellectualsandjournalistsin
his journalDie Fackel was essential for Voegelin's developing understanding
of ideologies. Krausruthlesslyexposed the artificialityand pretentiousnessof
much of Viennese literatithroughvicious satire.7He was a masterof language
and firmly held that how a person used language representedhis or her true
character.The Viennese literatihad corruptedtheirprofessionalethics by failing to reportthe complete truth,especially during the war where journalism
decayed into insultingpropaganda.The literatialso failed as leadersof culture,
which was perhapsthe focus of Kraus's bitterestattack,because without culturalleadershipthe civilizationwould decay. If honestyin languagewere used,
honesty of discoursemust follow. Howeverthe reverseheld true:dishonestuse
of language representeddishonest intentions and contempt for the audience,
therebypreventingtruth.8
Voegelin concludedfrom readingKrausthat ideologists could not be successful without destroyinglanguage and truth.The consequence of the abuse
of language in political and social life is that the standardsof thought are so
lowered that the society becomes susceptible to the vulgar propagandaof the
National Socialists.9Wittgensteinwas also profoundlyinfluenced by Kraus:
with ethical precision in language it would be possible to truly study philosophy and preventideology.0 Fifty years laterVoegelin still thoughta thorough
analysis of the success of the Nazis was not possible without studyingKraus's
diagnosis of Austriansociety beginning in the 1890s."
As admirableas Krauswas a critic of society, his tactic of satirizing his
enemies was ineffective against the Nazis. The Nazis twisted language and
appealedto people's worst instincts, raising terrorand violence to an alleged
spirituallevel. In this case, the sword was mightier than the pen.12 However,
once actualeventsusurpedsatire,then society haddecayedtoo farto be saved.'"
Kraus's words were inadequateto influence society, and the effort to change
behaviorby demandinghonest languagefailed. The failure of languagewas a
manifestationof a deeperproblem.

7 Carl E.

Schorske,Fin-de-Siecle Vienna:Politics and Culture(New York, 1985), 363.

8 KariGrimstad,Masksof the Prophet:TheTheatricalWorldof KarlKraus(Toronto,1982).

9 Wilma Abeles Iggers, Karl Kraus:A Viennesecritic of the twentiethcentury(The Hague,
1967), 32.
10Allan Janikand StephenToulmin, Wittgensteins Vienna(New York, 1973), 93.
"
AutobiographicalReflections, 18.
12
Kari Grimstad,Masks of the Prophet:The TheatricalWorldof Karl Kraus, 228.
13
Krausdied in 1936, two years before the Anschluss.

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Voegelin'sInterpretationsof Nazi Extremism

155

Voegelin adoptedKraus'sanalysis thatthe Nazis' linguistic vulgarityand

use of pagansymbols indicatedtheirtrueessence as criminalbarbarians.'4
Much
of the symbolismin the propagandaof the Nazis was designedto garnerimmediate supportand did not reflect the truenatureof theirideology. But what was
or was not Nazi ideology was not entirely clear at the time to many people,
including Krausand Voegelin. It was still true that many Germansresponded
positively to the propaganda.5
The academicdebatesof the 1920s at the Universityof Vienna,were dominated by methodological arguments about epistemology and did not help
Voegelin understandthe ideologies. All academicdiscussions,or so it appeared
to Voegelin, were subsetsof the competingargumentsbetweenthe neo-Kantian
Kultur-wissenschaftandthe universalistGeisteswissenschaften.'Reducingthe
debate to its base level, the questionwas whetherknowledge was a priorior if
existence preceded essence. Hans Kelsen, one of Voegelin's professors in
Vienna, used a prioricategoriesfor the logic of a legal system. In the semantics
used at the time Staatslehre(Political Studies)was a partof Rechtslehre(Legal
Studies). Consequently,anythingbeyond Rechtslehrecould not be considered
political science and "values"as defined by Weber and in common use, and
were not consideredimportantfor studyingpoliticalor legal systems. The question in termsof the PureTheoryof Law was whetherthe activities of Communists and, later, the National Socialists were legal. Such a question, however,
hardly explains why ideologists behaved as violently as they did, especially
against innocentpeople when the Nazis made it technically legal after 1933.
Ideologists claimed to be scientific, and the methodologies of neoKantianismand existentialismdid not easily allow a challenge of the values of
the ideologists. So within the academic community in which Voegelin was
working there was not an adequatefoundationto challenge the ideologies as
unethical, immoral,or simply bad "values."In fact all methodologies within
the intellectualclimate tendedto forbidvalue-basedor metaphysicalquestioning. Neo-Kantianismrejectedany study not within a prioricategories,such as
Rechtslehre.Heidegger rejected value judgments because a prioriconsciousness was fallacious. Marxism simply rejected metaphysics as bourgeois abstractions.These intellectualtaboos frustratedVoegelin throughouthis life."
During Voegelin's studies in Americahe learnedhow to breakout of this
limited debateand how to find a betterbasis for analyzingpolitics and ideologies. He studied the British and American common-sense philosophic tradi14 Voegelin describedNazism's appeal in part as pre-Christianpaganism in 1940, "Some
Problemsof GermanHegemony,"TheJournal of Politics, 3 (1941), 164.
15 E.g., see the analysis of Nazi propagandain Ian Kershaw,The "HitlerMyth": Image and
Reality in the ThirdReich (New York, 1987).
16
JiirgenGebhardtand BarryCooper,"Introduction."On the Form of the AmericanMind,

xii-xv.
'7Eric Voegelin, New Science of Politics (Chicago, 1952), 21.

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Clifford F Porter

tion, attendingthe seminarsof John Dewey and Alfred North Whiteheadand

readingcommentarieson Americaby writerssuch as GeorgeSantayana,Alexis
de Tocqueville,andWilliamJames.He also experiencedthis open-endedcommon-sense philosophy as practicedby his host in Wisconsin, the laboreconomist, JohnR. Commons.He also spent time studyingFrenchphilosophy,from
Bodinto Bergson,andlearnedto appreciatethe Lucretianpoetryof PaulValery.'8
These experiencescaused a profoundchange in his outlook. The methodological debatesof CentralEuropewere no longermeaningful.BritishandAmerican
philosopherswere asking metaphysicalquestions,ratherthanseeking methodological answersabouthow to determinetruthpositivistically in a precise system of thought.19
Voegelin, therefore,becameconvincedof the basic provincialism of Germanacademicquestions,then rejectedneo-Kantianismandexistentialism for a returnto metaphysicsand empiricism.He read Heidegger's Sein
undZeit in 1927, which was creatinga sensationat the time in Austriaand Germany,and latersimply statedthatwhen he readit, "Itjust ranoff."20Heidegger
had essentiallypresenteda closed philosophyby offering a complete answerto
the fundamentalquestions of human consciousness-existence precedes essence. To Voegelin, Heideggerhad denied the open-endednatureof existence.
As Voegelin furtheredhis own studies into medieval Christianand classical philosophy,he cameto believe thatconsciousnessreliedon morethanmerely
externalobjects;it was consciousness of experiencesof both immanentreality
and of spiritualreality.2'Although he never formally became a member of a
Christiandenomination,Voegelin developed an understandingof the Christian
andclassicalideas as symbolsof Divine reality,such as consciousnessor faith.22
The hostilityto metaphysicsin the academiccommunity,he believed,prevented
philosophy from asking transcendentalor spiritualquestions abouthumanexistence and discardedreligious and metaphysicalsymbolism as mere superstition.23He found currentmethodologies limiting, whereas the experiences of
the classical and Christianphilosophersrevealed a greaterbreadthof human
experience. Voegelin concluded that modernphilosophy had closed itself to
the possibility of transcendentreality and consequently provided little guidance for recognizing the Nationalist Socialists for what they were-immature
barbarians.By the late 1920s Voegelin hadthe foundationto formulatea theory
of ideologies. His own work was disciplined by Weber's and Kraus's influences, and he bypassed contemporarymethodologicalproblems by returning
to a classical and Christianunderstandingof metaphysicsand empiricism.
'"AutobiographicalReflections,28-33.
'~ On the Form of the AmericanMind, 4-5.

20AutobiographicalReflections,33.
21Ibid., 70-74, and Ellis Sandoz, The VoegelinianRevolution(Baton Rouge, 1981), 51-53.
22

Autobiographical Reflections, 63.

23 E.g., EricVoegelin, FromEnlightenment

to Revolution,ed. by JohnH. Hallowell(Durham,

N.C., 1975), 25-27.

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Voegelin'sInterpretationsof Nazi Extremism

157

Voegelin's personalexperiences at this time are very revealing about the

natureof ideologies-that is, he experiencedthe consequences of ideological
thinking.Voegelin very much enjoyed discussing political events with his students, while at the same time trying often in vain to keep their minds open to
philosophic questions and to prevent them from falling into the closed
mindednessof an ideological system. He was rattledafterone lively discussion
at the Volkshochschule,24when one of his betterstudentstold him thatit would
be a trueshamethatwhen they-the SDP--came to power, they would have to
kill Voegelin. The ideological logic was very straightforward;
the SDP politics
were correct,and even thoughProfessorVoegelin was a wonderfuland honest
intellect, he would be dangerousto the struggle.The logic disturbedVoegelin
greatly:thepoliticalobjectivesof the ideologistwere moreimportantthanhonest
philosophic inquiry.
The studentclearlyunderstoodVoegelin's critiquesof the SDP or any other
narrowideology. But the ideology was so vitally importantto society, civilization, or the proletariatthat any underminingcriticism had to be eliminatedfor
the ultimate goal. Implicitly, if not explicitly, the studentunderstoodthat the
intellectualhonesty Voegelin had learnedfrom Weber was of secondary importance,or even dangerous,to ideological goals.
Voegelin concluded that ideologies were systems of thought that denied
intellectualhonesty,rejectedmetaphysics,andacceptedpoliticalviolence. Over
the next twenty years Voegelin first challenged the ideologies' claims to be
scientific, then he triedto explain ideologies as secularpolitical religions. Ideologists could not be partnersin scientific inquiry;they were objects of inquiry.
TowardsPolitical Religions
Voegelin's first attemptsto penetrateto the essence of National Socialism
were two books published in 1933 analyzing race theories-Rasse und Staat
andDie Rassenidee in der Geistesgeschichte.He showed thatNational Socialist racismdeniedthe fundamentalhumanityof Jews andotherraces, and,based
on his own studies with biology, that National Socialist race theory was not
science. Voegelin labeled this abuse of science for ideological purposesrather
thanto understandreality as "scientism."25
The Nazi race idea had in fact little to do with biology and ethnography.
Rather,Voegelin believed that racism was the symbolic expression of the ordering principle of Germannationalism.The elaborateuse of scientific language gave comfort to the ideologists that they were actually engaged in sci24 This was the SDP sponsoredcollege for urbanworkers,where Voegelin taughtfrom 1927
to 1938. The AustrianSDP was dominatedby Marxismat the time.
25 From Enlightenmentto Revolution,20-21.

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Clifford E Porter

ence seeking positive truth.Nonetheless, no matterhow elaboratethe use of

languagewas, it still denoted little or nothing.26
In the introductionto Die Rassenidee in der Geistesgeschichte,Voegelin
outlinedthe dangerousimplicationsof modem race theories. Althoughhe did
not mentionNational Socialism by name, it is obviously the object of his contempt:
The fact that human beings are physiologically descended from
each otherdoes not yet make a humanhistory....
... the dangerousthoughtarises that the historicalsubstancecould
be arbitrarilygeneratedby diligent clubs for the breeding of racially
purebodies....
It is a nightmareto thinkthatwe shouldrecognizethe people whom
we follow andwhom we allow to come nearus not by theirlooks, their
words, and their gestures, but by their cranial index and the proportional measurementsof their extremities.27
With the humanity of Jews and other races underminedby race theory, the
nightmarecame trueless than 10 years later.Few could have imaginedin 1933
thatthe worst possible implicationsof National Socialism from a dreamcould
become real. Quite clearly,the words used by the Nazis had real consequences.
Voegelin had foreseen that the Nazis would establish Aryan breeding farms
and cranialmeasurementsas SS enlistmentcriteria.
As the discriminationandlaws directedagainstthe Jews increased,Voegelin
publicly predictedin the ViennaNeue Freie Presse (30 Nov. 1937) thatshould
anotherwar between the greatpowers develop, "totalwar would probablybe a
war of annihilation"(Vernichtungskrieg).28
Judgingby the internationalsituation in late 1937-wars in Spain and China-there were no limits to warfare
between peoples. Warsbetween stateswere previouslylimited,but it was clear
by 1937 that all citizens would become participants.According to Voegelin,
the next war would be a war between racially defined peoples with no logical
limits until one people or anotherwas annihilated.
Having demonstratedNational Socialism's false claim to science and its
implicit logic towardviolence, Voegelin had yet to resolve satisfactorilywhy
ideologies were believable to so manypeople of varyingintelligenceand socioeconomic class. In his next attempt, Der AutoritaireStaat (1936), Voegelin
discussedthe dangerof ideologies in the context of whetheror not the Austrian
26 BarryCooper, Eric Voegelinand the Foundationsof ModernPolitical Science (Columbia, Mo., 1999), 41.
27 Eric Voegelin, The History of the Race Idea: From Ray to Carus, tr. Ruth Hein and ed.
Klaus Vondung (Baton Rouge, 1998), 23-25.
28 "Derneue Stil des Krieges,"Neue Freie Presse, 30 November 1937.

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Voegelin'sInterpretationsof Nazi Extremism

159

authoritarian
constitutionof 1934was anadequatedefensefor democracyagainst
eitherNazi or Communistideologies. An authoritarianstate was certainlybetter thanthe totalitarianregime to the northin Germany.Voegelin also demonstratedthatKelsen's PureTheoryof Law failed: its absence of values allowed
for the legal seizure of power by groups openly hostile to democracy.
Aside from ruininghis personalrelationshipwith Kelsen, Voegelin theorized that the totalitarianconception of the state, as developed by the Nazi
StaatslehretheoristCarlSchmitt,brokedown the distinctionbetween the community or society (Gesellschaft) and the state. The totalitarianstate tried to
controlor lead the communitydirectlyin all aspects of humanlife based on the
ideological conception of human reality. That such control of all of society
proveddifficult for the Nazis is not the essential observation,but ratherthatthe
totalitarianideology tried to subordinatethe individual to the party and the
state.29
The AuthoritarianState on the other hand had no such objective. Its goal
was to defendthe state from ideological assault.If the authoritarianstate could
defend itself successfully, then there existed the very real possibility that a
maturedemocratictraditioncould develop to resist ideologies on its own.3"
The appealof ideologies was not addressedin DerAutoritiireStaat and the
questionremainedwhy the Nazis hatedthe Jews so much.Voegelin concluded
thatthe Nazis made the Jews the Satanicfigurethatany millenarianmovement
needs. The Nazis inheritedthis traditionfrom the lingering anti-Semiticsubcultureof Central-EastEurope,but their ideology changed it into the symbolism of good versus evil manifested as Aryan versus Semite. It is logical that
with sucha religiousmindsetthedestructionof evil couldbecomea politicalgoal.31
Voegelin's last effortto understandthe appealof ideologies before the war
was Die Politischen Religionen (1938). He furtheredhis understandingthat
totalitarianideologists were in the same traditionas the many millenarianperDie Politischen
versionsof Christianityandpoliticalreligionsof ancientEgypt.32
of
is
work.
All
an
emotional
and
Voegelin's principles
Religionen
polemical
are evident from the first few pages. First and foremost, ideologies were at
their basis nothing more than temporal,secular attemptsto create a religious
communityto answer humanity's fundamentallyspiritualneeds. Second, political religions denied divine reality,pervertedtemporalreality,and attempted
to enforce their visions of reality on the rest of the society. Consequently,
Der AutoritaireStaat, 10-11.
Ibid., 281-83.
'
Cooper,"Introduction,"Political Religions, xxi; and, GregorSebba, "Preludeand variations on the Theme of Eric Voegelin," Eric Voegelin's Thought:A CriticalAppraisal, ed. Ellis
Sandoz (Durham,N.C., 1982), 12.
32 Eric Voegelin, Political Religions, Introducedby BarryCooper, trans.T.J. DiNapoli and
E.S. Easterly III, TorontoStudies in Theology, 23 (1986), orig. Die Politischen Religionen
(Stockholm, 1939). The first effort to distributein Vienna in 1938 was obstructedby the Nazi
Anschluss.
29

30

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Clifford F Porter

Voegelin unreservedlyargues that the basis for a renewal of philosophy and

political society requiresa spiritualreligious foundation,whether it is within
the traditionalchurchesor not. His reasons for this are simply that humanity
must be in balancewith its spiritualand physical existence and thatthe denial
of the spiritualaspect has caused many errorsin modem philosophy.33
Voegelin used empiricalevidence on two levels to makehis argument.The
first is simply thatthe consequencesof ideologies are obvious in the terrorthe
Nazis caused. Secondly, and far more profoundly, Voegelin argued that the
basis of humanspiritualityis within the soul and is accessible to everyone by
looking within one's self.34
Man experienceshis existence as a creatureand thereforeas doubtful.
Somewhere in the depths, at the umbilicus of the soul, there where it
touches the cosmos, it strains.This is the place of those stimuli which
are inadequatelyreferredto as "feelings"and which are thereforeeasily confusedwith similarlynamed,superficialmovementsof the soul.35
Religious experiences are real and they are evident throughouthistory in the
varioussymbols every culturehas used to describethem. Furthermore,without
recognizing the foundationof these experiences as evidence of divine reality,
the individualcannotrecognize the breadthof realityandwill attemptto create
false images to account for the missing spiritualityproducingalienation or a
deformationof reality.
Othersare grantedonly scant glimpses of reality,perhapsonly one: of
nature,a great person, his Volk,humanity.What is seen becomes for
him the Realissimum,the metareality;it takes the place of God and
thereforeconceals from him all else, even-and above all-God.36
Not only does this passage demonstrateVoegelin's spiritualphilosophy,it
also introducesnew termsto convey his meaningmoreaccurately.(Realissimum
andmetarealityareused to signify a conceptof realitythatis changedfromand
fails to incorporateall human experiences.) With spiritualreality denied or
obscured,something must take its place to respondto the human need to express the feeling of being created.37Voegelin argues that modem philosophy
had graduallyattributedto the state the redemptivepower thatbelongs to God.
33

Ibid.,3.

This is clearly the influence of his classical and Christianstudies, but Voegelin never
specifically indicatedwhat influencedhim towardsthese conclusionsor when he acceptedthem.
35Ibid., 10.
36Ibid., 12-13.
37Ibid., 11.
34

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Voegelin'sInterpretationsof Nazi Extremism

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"Itwas Hegel who proposedthe theorythatthe Volkas the Statewas the spirit
in its immediaterealityand thereforethe absolutepower on earth.""38
The individual becomes subsumedby this apparatusand gains his own meaning only
by being a partof the State.
Unlike a secularthinkerwho might attributethe desire for salvationeither
to culture or to human psychology in the face of death, Voegelin takes the
experienceas real evidence of the existence of the soul in essentially the same
way Socrates did 2300 years earlier in the Phaedo. The real experiences of
divine reality are expressed in complex and confusing sets of symbolic language and concepts formedby historicaland culturalcircumstances.The complexity of symbols createsconfusion, but there are still only two kinds of religion:
The spiritualreligions, which find the Realissimumin the Weltgrund,
shouldbe termedforus "world-transcendent
religions;"all others,which
locate the divine in partialthingsof the world, shouldbe called "worldimmanentreligions."39
The latterare the political religions which have served as the foundationsfor
totalitarianideology.
National Socialism was not the first political religion, however. Voegelin
makes the bold claim that the first political religion in humanhistory was the
Egyptian cult created by the PharaohAkhenaton in approximately1376 Bc.
Using the comparativeapproachlearned from Weber, Voegelin argues that
Akhenatonchanged the ancient religious structureto make himself the direct
conduit of meaning from the gods to the people of Egypt. After Akhenaton's
death the Egyptiansreturnedfairly quickly to their old gods in no small part
because the people had to rely on the Pharaoh-i.e., a man-to participatein a
meaningfulreligious experience.40
Having used the comparativeapproachto demonstratethat political religions were not new in humanhistory,Voegelin outlinedthe essential elements
of a religious structureand the parallel within contemporarypolitical movements. Justas every religion has its own hierarchyand ecclesiastical officials,
faith and the apocalypse also have their essential role. The political religion,
for example, offers itself as the good, and there is an evil, or anti-good. In the
case of Germanythe Jews were the embodimentof evil.
The relationshipbetween the ideologist and the ideology is also very religious. Belonging to the Christianreligious community,ecclesia, is symbolized
as a mystic union with the body of Christ,unio mystica. On the other hand, a
38Ibid., 8.
39Ibid., 14.
40 Ibid., 17-28.

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political religion also offers purposeand salvation,but only within the temporal community.The ideologist enjoys a mystical connectionwith the ideological community,giving a purposeto existence. The ideological communityincarnatesthe source of meaning, offering salvation, replacing God as the conduit for salvation.Thus, the ideologists' position entails thatthe state controls
everythingjust as a church determinesreligious practices;in a political religion public policy replaces theology. Consequently,the ideological community becomes clearly totalitarianafter it controls the state.
The historicaldevelopmentof the idea that the communityhas purported
divine qualitiesis tracedby Voegelin to Joachimof Florain the thirteenthcentury.41Yet it takes centuriesfor the culturaldevelopmentof the symbolism of
the temporalcommunity to replace God completely as the spiritualbasis of
humanexistence. By the seventeenthcenturyHobbes's Leviathanbecame the
mediatorbetween God andman, as Akhenatonwas for Egypt. Again, the individual finds meaning and salvationnot in an individualrelationshipor understanding of existence but strictly in terms of how the individual fits into the
state.
The historicaldevelopmentrequiredfor the religious/politicalsymbols of
the temporal community or state to replace God is long and complex. As
Voegelin recounts this process, beginning with Joachim and the millenarian
traditionsof the Reformationmixed with the scientific revolution, it leads to
the creationof the symbols of scientism, where "scientificphilosophies"offer
the knowledge of how to achieve salvationwithoutRevelation.42Science thus
gains the statusof Revelation.
Challenging science is difficult because science contains powerful symbols that offer definitive answersabouthumanexistence. But the scientism of
the political religion has dubiousclaims to truth,which Voegelin demonstrated
in Rasse und Staat and Die Rassenidee in der Geistesgeschichte. The most
bothersomeaspect of scientism is thatit obscurestruthin the name of science.
The questionremains:why did otherwiseintelligentpeople accept the dubious
claims of scientism and ignore the weaknesses in their ideological theories?
Voegelin continues,
Since the myth [ideology] is not justified by supernaturalrevelation
and scientific criticism cannot stand its ground,there develops in the
second phase a new conception of truth-Rosenberg's concept of socalled organic truth.The theory is then furtherdeveloped into the interpretation,that thatwhich promotesthe existence of the organically
closed temporalcommunityof a people is true.43
41

Ibid., 44-45.

42

Ibid.,59.

43 Ibid., 63.

Rosenbergwas the chief philosopherof National Socialism.

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Truthbecomes malleableanddependenton the politicalgoals thatthe ideology

has established,which Kraushad satirizedearlier.The purveyorof truthis the
party or the state with its ultimate arbiterbeing the leader;in the case of the
ThirdReich, the leader is the Fiihrerplaying the identical role of Akhenaton
and acting as the conduitof meaningto the Volk.Voegelin concludes the main
body of discussion with the evidence of the poetry of GerhardSchumann's
Lieder vom Reich (1935), which illuminatesall of the religious symbolism of
the ideology:
Lost myself and found the Volk,the Reich.
The Fiihrer!Slaves that we are, make us free!
Millions bowed down before him in silence
Redeemed. The Heavens flamed pale as morning.
The sun grew. And with it grew the Reich.
The deed was good, if you reddenedit with blood.'
The symbolism is painfully obvious, disturbing,and came from an otherwise
well-educatedman.
Religious symbolism includes an "anti-idea"or Satanic foe that opposes
the good offered by the ideology. In the case of the ThirdReich, the Jews are
the anti-idea. Voegelin states very early in the book that the danger to other
people is very real:
The mechanicalmeans of killing were thereforeinventednot by accident,butratherby the spiritthathas become the State,in orderto transformthe personalformof courageinto the impersonal.This homicidal
urge is directedagainstan abstractfoe, not againsta person.45
The dangerto the Jews as an abstractfoe was imminent.By 1938 Voegelin
had outlinedthe logic of ideological violence, andtherewas no reasonwhy the
National Socialists would stop. Theorywas translatedinto practice,and physical attackson Jews acceleratedas Hitlergrew more secure in power. (Thatthe
Nazis requiredseveral years before they actually formulatedthe idea of the
Holocaustandthatthey triedto keep it a secrettestify to the resistanceof traditional culturalmorality to murder.That the resistance was eventually overcome demonstratesthe power of the ideology.)
44Ibid., 71-74.
45Ibid., 8.

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Gnosticism

Political Religions worked well to describeNazi symbolism, because the

Nazis used a variety of Christianand Pagan symbols for propagandaand for a
vague metaphysicalappealto the masses and to themselves.46But with the rise
of Communisttotalitarianismand East Europeancoups by Stalin's regime, describingMarxistideology as a political religion or manifestationof pre-Christian pagan symbolism did not hold. Throughoutthe 1940s Voegelin struggled
to better understandideologies, but first he had to escape the ThirdReich to
find refuge in Britainor the United States.
In 1938 the Anschluss forced Voegelin to flee Europe.The Anschlusswas
not opposed by the West-Italy, Britain,and France--despite Mussolini's effortsatjoint actionandto Voegelin's intensedissatisfaction.Voegelin believed
the West would stop the Anschluss in order to prevent a Germanrevanchist
threatdirectedagainst Czechoslovakia.He was so angryat the West's geopolitical miscalculationthathe contemplatedjoining the Nazis as Germantroops
entered Vienna. He described himself as taking several hours to calm down
before deciding his best option was to flee.47
It is very peculiarthatVoegelin would even contemplatejoining the Nazis
even in a stateof "fury,"as he describedit. He wrotemanyanti-Nazibooks and
articles, and clearly expressed his opposition to narrowideologies, especially
vulgarones thatused brutalityas othersmight play sports.48Even in fury there
must be some rationalefor action. Voegelin's fatherwas a Nazi sympathizer
and an admirerof Hitler and would perhapspreventhis arrestfor a shorttime.
All that can be discernedis that by becoming a Nazi, Voegelin would survive
in the shortterm and avoid the fate of many other victims. However, it was a
state of mind that evaporatedwithin a few hours and he plannedhis escape.
When the Nazis occupied AustriaVoegelin, along with many others,was
immediatelyfired from the University of Vienna and the Volkshochschulebecause of his open anti-Nazism. The Austrian governmentoffices were not
takenover immediatelyby Nazis, so Voegelin preparedfor a legal exit visa to
Switzerlandwith the help of well-placed relatives,and fromtherehe would go
to Harvardfor a term to tutor in political science. Before leaving, Voegelin
went to see his father,smashed a portraitof Hitler on the floor, then left; he
never saw his fatheragain.By the time his paperswere in orderandhe boarded
a trainfor Switzerland,the Gestapowas literallyon the way to arresthim.49
46

EricVoegelin, "SomeProblemsof GermanHegemony,"TheJournalof Politics, 3 (1941),

164.
47 AutobiographicalReflections,42-43.

48 Voegelin had publishedmany articlesin both Viennese and Germannewspaperscriticizthe

intellectualpretensionsof National Socialism.
ing
49 Cooper,Eric Voegelin, 16-18.

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Once Voegelin arrivedin Switzerland,his tripwas held up by the American vice-consul. The official theorizedthatif Voegelin was not Jewish, Catholic, or a Socialist, his only reason for fleeing the Nazis was because he was a
criminal.50
Arriving in America, Voegelin discovered many other Europeanemigres
from Hitler's Europecenteredin New England.These emigres were often bitter abouttheirflight anddidnot like theirnew Americansurroundings.Voegelin
always liked America but found the cosmopolitan academic circles of New
England to be provincial. So he moved to the University of Alabama in Birmingham, then to Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, where he remained until 1958.51
Once in the United States Voegelin wrote several articles and papersrestating his fundamentalunderstandingof events. In 1940 he tried to describe
National Socialism's success as in partdue to the medieval substratumof preChristianpaganismthat ran throughoutGermany.52He furtheredhis work on
the historyof ideas fromthe "supposedconstitutionalismof PlatoandAristotle,
throughthe dubious constitutionalismof the Middle Ages, into the splendid
constitutionalismof the modem period.""53
But this model was not entirely satPolitical Religionsonly adequately
that
realized
isfying. Furthermore,Voegelin
describedNazism,butit failedto penetrateto the essenceof ideologiesin general.
Voegelin observed that the Nazis were emotionally tribal because
"[t]ribalismis the answerto immaturitybecause it permitsman to remainimmaturewith the sanctionof his group."54But therewere consequences for immaturity:
good Germanswho got emotionally drunk on the haranguesof the
savior...andwho shrankback in horrorwhen the program... was translated into political action.55
Abandoninghis earlier conjectureabout the natureof "pre-Christianpaganism," Voegelin refined his views, describingNazi symbolism as a mix of immanentpagantribalismwithin the symbols of Christianity.56
Voegelin's analysis evolved in the late 1940s, when he realized that this
explanationdid not adequatelyilluminatethe ideological motivationsof Communismor Positivism. Accordingto Voegelin, the latteralso exhibitedan ideological limiting of philosophy and science to temporal reality-in this case
quantifiablelaws describinghumanity.
50AutobiographicalReflections,44.
5 Ibid., 57-58; and, Cooper,Eric Voegelin,21.
52
"Some Problemsof GermanHegemony," 164
53AutobiographicalReflections,63.
54Voegelin, FromEnlightenmentto Revolution,97.
55Ibid., 145.
56Ibid., 97.

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... The climax of this is the magic dreamof creatingthe Superman,the
man-madeBeing thatwill succeed the sorrycreatureof God's making.
This is the great dreamthat first appearedimaginativelyin the works
of Condorcet,Comte, Marx, Nietzsche and later pragmaticallyin the
Communistand National Socialist movements.57

He also realizedthathis own quest to discover the meaningof historythrough

a study of ideas presumedto limit humanexperiencestrictlyto the movement
of ideas. But, history is, in part,unknowablefor many reasons,not the least of
which is thatmuch of humanexperiencelies before us. Also, ideas are symbols
of experience;they are not independentobjects. As symbols, ideas represent
experiencespeople have had throughouthistory."8
Voegelin discovered how to tie togetherhis observationsand analysis of
National Socialism while studyingGnosticismin ancient,medieval, and modem forms. As the search for certainty,Gnosticism became for Voegelin the
model for diagnosing modem, mass, ideological movements. Ideologies are
modem Gnostic speculationsof the meaningof existence. All ideologists claim
to providedefinitiveandabsoluteunderstandingandknowledge-i.e., gnosisof the meaning of existence. Gnostic speculations are not new. Throughout
humanhistorypeople have attemptedto breakfromthe fundamentaluncertainties of existence to find salvation from that uncertainty.Furthermoremodern
Gnostic ideologists seek this salvationthroughthe state as a substitutefor divine reality; the state comes to representall of humanreality and throughits
perfectionthe Gnostic ideologists achieve salvation-in otherwords, the foundationsfor totalitarianismare laid. The drive for certainty,however, requiresa
limitedunderstandingof humanexperienceand leads to an alienationfromthe
fullness of both Divine and temporalreality.This alienationrequiresmore explanation.
It was obvious to Voegelin thatmany ideologies paralleledreligiousmovements. A religious quest for answers, however, is inadequateto explain all
ideologicalmovements;forexample,Marxviewed any religiousor metaphysical
In TheNew Science of
speculationor feelings as merebourgeoisabstractions.59
Politics (1952) and later Voegelin no longer describedideologies as religious
quests;rather,he argues that ideologists sought certaintyto escape the uncertainty of human existence. According to Voegelin, the Christianresponse to
uncertainty was the symbol of faith elaborated by St. Paul in Heb. 11:1: "Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."60
57Ibid., 301-3
58 VoegelinianRevolution, 109.
5 See, e.g., KarlMarx,"Economicand PhilosophicManuscriptsof 1844,"Engels Reader,
ed. RobertC. Tucker(New York, 1978'), 92.
60 Eric Voegelin, TheNew Science of Politics (Chicago, 1952), 122.

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Faith, however, does not definitively solve or end uncertainty.According

to Voegelin, Marxrejectedfaith and insteadfound certaintythroughhis scientific discovery of the process of history;the Nazis, by contrast,found it in the
scientific explanationof Race. Voegelin thus concludes that
Gnosticism as a counterexistentialdreamworld can perhapsbe made
intelligible as the extreme expression of an experience which is universally human,that is, of a horrorof existence and a desire to escape
from it.61

Voegelin furtherconcludedthatthe attemptto breakaway fromthe fundamental fact of uncertaintyrequiresa limiting of the sphereof humanexperienceto
merely temporalexperience.In short,God does not offer a salvationfrom uncertainty,most painfullymanifestedby death.On the otherhand,Gnostic ideologists limit the horizonof all reality-particularly of humanconsciousnessso that certaintycan be discovered.
Developing a position he elaborateddecades earlier,Voegelin arguedthat
limiting humanexperienceto temporalrealityleads to a limited understanding
of human consciousness and prevents the recognition of reality. Ideological
explanationsof reality are therefore deformationsof reality when they seek
certaintyexclusively withinthe temporalsphereof existence. ThusHeidegger's
and Marx's assertion that existence precedes essence may give a definitive
explanationof the development of consciousness, but it was at the price of
ignoringthe spiritualand unknownpartof reality. Such a deformationof reality has seriousconsequences.Thus, Socrateswas rightto proclaimthathe knew
thathe knew nothingandtherebypreservedopennessto philosophicquestions.
The Gnostic urge is a consistent occurrence throughouthuman history.
Voegelin had read about many movements in ancient and medieval eras that
were describedas Gnostic by currentscholars, and he realized the connection
with modem Gnosticismwhile readingHans Urs von Balthasar'sPrometheus
(1937). Another influence was, FerdinandChristianBaur's 1835 work, Die
christlicheGnosis;oder die christlicheReligionsphilosophiein ihrergeschichtlichen Entwicklung.It describedcommon forms of Gnosticism in history, including strandsof Gnosticism in Hegel and Schelling.62 Still, a theory of the
movementof ideas fails to explain any connectionor influence fromone Gnostic movement to anotherover the span of millennia. For example, it did not
make sense that Marx and Hitler were directly influenced by reading about
ancient Gnosticism. He came to believe that the answer to understandingthe
appealof Gnosticismlies in humanconsciousness. Thus, Voegelin was able to
61

Ibid., 167.
AutobiographicalReflections,66. Gilles Quispel consideredit "obvious"thatJungwas a
gnostic.
62

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understandwhy ideologies only sometimesappearsimilarto religionsandwhy

Gnosticism is a consistentphenomenonthroughouthistory.
Gnosticism has often penetratedinto Christiansymbolism because Christianity expandedboth spirituallyandpolitically, and many Christianswere not
satisfied with the tenuousbond of Faith.Ancient Gnosticismis commonly understood to be an early form of Christianheresy of the second century AD.63
Voegelin, however, separatedancient Gnostic forms from Christiansymbolism to reveal Gnosticism's essence as a search for absolute knowledge about
existence and appliedit to the modem era to show thatideologies were secular
Gnostic speculations.
Gnostic speculationdoes not requireChristiansymbolism, but throughout
most of EuropeanhistoryChristianand Gnostic symbols were mixed together.
For example,an importantmedieval formof ChristianGnosticismis evident in
the thought of the twelfth century monk Joachimof Flora. In Political Religions Voegelin theorizedthat Joachimbegan the trend in the history of ideas
that the temporalcommunity had divine qualities. By the time he wrote The
New Science of Politics, Voegelin understoodJoachim'sphilosophyas a manifestation of early Gnosticism.Joachimtheorizedthat God's will was revealed
in the course of history in three Realms representingthe Trinity.Joachimexemplifies Gnosticism in that his linear, triadic view of history attemptedto
show how God's will is revealed on Earth;certainknowledge is attainedand
uncertaintyis avoided.64
The symbolismof threeRealms of historyis an often repeatedconceptthat
is evident in Hitler's Third Reich, Hegel, the Enlightenmentencyclopedists,
Condorcet,Marx, and even in TsaristMoscow's claim to be the ThirdRome.
Voegelin's earliererrorwas to thinkthatthis idea had a directconnectionfrom
Joachimthroughthe Enlightenmentto Marx and Nazism. Voegelin's realization was that the various symbols of three realms-the past, the present, and
the realizationof an ideological goal in the future-are similar because they
conveniently help to explain the alleged progress of history. The progress of
history, then, replaces the reliance on faith and revelation and becomes the
means of revealing meaning in humanexistence.65
The formof Gnosticismin any given age is dependenton the symbolismof
the era. Gnosticismduringthe Reformationis clearly representedby some extremeEnglishPuritans.Using the contemporaryanalysisby RichardHookerin
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (written 1593-1600), Voegelin demonstratedin detail how the Puritans'vision of divine orderwas in fact an earthly
one in which the membersof the chosen elite actively served to enforce their
vision on the rest of society. In fact they arrogatedto themselves the functionof
For example a brief discussion of the heresy is includedin FrederickJ. Copleston,S.J.,A
History of Philosophy (Westminster,Md., 1950), II, 20-25.
64TheNew Science of Politics, 123.
65 AutobiographicalReflections,62-64.
63

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enforcingGod's will because salvationwould occurwithin an earthlycommunity.66"The only righteouscourse will be the one that results in 'suppressing
the enemies of godliness for ever."67Thatmost Puritansdid not respondto the
logical rationalefor violence is testimonyto the power of traditionalChristian
moralityand restraintson violence which preventedmany Puritansfrom fully
developing the Gnostic rationale.Also, pragmatically,the realityof the political strengthof the Puritans' opponents prevented the more radical Puritans
from trying fully to implement their visions of Earthly salvation; they may
have been Gnostic, but they were not suicidal.68
Modem Gnostic ideologies share much of the essential characteristicsof
the Puritans,seeking certaintywithin the communityor state but not necessarily within Christianor otherreligious symbolism. The secularstate or community comes to representthe modem Gnostics' interpretationof existence. All
societies have claimed to representthe reality of existence. For example, in
ancientempiresunderstandingof the cosmos came from observingthe rational
andpredictablemovementof the stars-these Voegelin refersto as cosmological symbols of existential representation.In ancient Athens philosophy, revealed to man throughreason, supplantedthe cosmos, and Socratesand Plato
introducedanthropologicalrepresentation,which is the second mode. Finally,
with the advent of Christianity,the purposeof man's existence is conceptualized as salvation.ChristianEuropedevelops, in St. Augustine's Cityof God, a
soteriological69representationfor society-the purposeof society is to maintain stability,peace, andorderso thatChristianscan pursuethe meaningof life,
salvation.Modem Gnosticmovementsarea deformedvariantof the thirdmode
of representation.In Voegelin's phrase they "immanentizethe eschaton"by
believing that the state or communityis the conduit for salvation from uncertainty.70
Voegelin's centralcontentionis that modem Gnostic ideologists perceive
society in soteriological terms. It is just that they use secular categories and
seek a secularsalvation.In Political ReligionsVoegelin explainedthatthe community in Europeanhistoryhad evolved to symbolize divine powers of salvation; the theory of modem Gnosticism goes beyond religious symbolism to
reveal that ideologists believe the state is the means to achieve certainty in
terms of creatinga perfectcommunity(e.g., Comte's or Saint Simon's utopian
communities)or the end of history (e.g., Hegel's rationalexistence). The German Volkgave meaning to the National Socialists and the Communistorder
proposed to end alienation and allow the proletariatto develop to its fullest
66

TheNew Science of Politics, 145.

67Ibid., 150. Anotherexample of ReformationGnostic movements is the movement led by

ThomasM6ntzerdiscussed in NormanCohn, ThePursuitof the Millennium(New York, 19612).
68 Voegelin goes into great detail about the similaritiesof Puritanideologists with modem
forms, ibid., "GnosticRevolution-The PuritanCase," chapter5.
69 Fromthe Greek soterios (Owcrpto)L meaning salvation.
7oTheNew Science of Politics, 120.

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potentialof materialconsciousness. ForbothNazism andCommunism,as well

as for the radicalPuritans,it was the community that offered salvation from
meaningless existence. But simply and arbitrarilydeclaring that the Volkor
"history"offered salvation(eschaton)does not makethe declarationtrue.They
are hypostatizations.Believing in them is an act of faith which, in Voegelin's
language,createsa dreamworld.7"
Lastly, modem Gnostic ideologies are inherentlyviolent. In Political Religions Voegelin used Machiavelli's classic formulationthat "the end justifies
the means" to demonstratethat ideologies logically move toward violence.
Voegelin used the example of St. Ignatiusof Loyola's test for what means are
justifiableto spreadCatholicism,"... earthlymeansmay containnothingwhich
is inconsistent with the sacred purpose."72 The Jesuits were thereby limited
within Christianmoralteachings.But in modem Gnostic movementsthe community or state itself is the end. Therefore,the worldly community that replaces God can demandany means for the good of the ideology. Furthermore,
the actions of men can aid the progress of history towards its end by direct
Thus all of these
action- "an event that requireshis militaryco-operation."73
actions, from the propagandaof Rosenberg's "organictruth"to violence, are
viewed as moral means to achieve the end.74
Furthermore,as shown in Political Religions, the end communityhas natural enemies, such as the "anti-idea."The "anti-idea"parallels Satan in Christian symbolism. After World War II Voegelin went beyond this parallel to
explainhow the anti-ideabecomes a focus of violence. Because ideologies are
alienatedfromreality,any or anythingthatdemonstratesthe ideologies' alienation from reality is met with resistance;as the separationfrom reality grows
so does the resistance. Voegelin writes, "types of actions which in the real
world would be consideredas morallyinsane because of the real effects which
they have will be consideredmoral in the dreamworld because they intended
an entirely differenteffect."75
Examples of actions that are "morallyinsane"are the murderof the Jews
by the Nazis or collectivizationby Stalin. In the formerthe Jews representthe
anti-ideato the GermanVolk:they hinderedthe fullness of the Germannation
and therebydenied the very meaningof existence for the Volk.In the latterthe
Kulaks (wealthierpeasants) suffered from a bourgeois consciousness that resisted socialism and oppressedother peasants,therebypreventingthe realization of the people's consciousness in socialist production.In both cases violence was morallyjustified to preserveor enhancethe ideology.
71 Ibid.,

120.

Political Religions, 65.

73 TheNew Science of Politics, 145.
74 See, e.g., the analyses of millenarianismby Michael Walzer,Revolutionof the Saints:A
Studyin the Originsof Radical Politics (Cambridge,Mass., 1965); and NormanCohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium(New York, 1970).
75 Ibid., 169.
72

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Not everyonewho accepts the Gnostic ideology moves towardthe rational

conclusionthatviolence is necessary.ChristianGnosticismis still withinChristian symbols, includingthe principleof turningthe othercheek. Withinsecular
ideological movements, however, the dangerof violence is much closer. The
greatestrestraintis the sobering reality of the physical power of opposition.
Radical movements were often repressed, and Hitler's or Stalin's strategies
and tactics were calculatedwith clear recognitionof the forces arrayedagainst
them.Nevertheless,eventually,once in power,theirideologicalvision led them
towardviolent policies.
Gnosticism is not the only cause of violence. Violence was acceptablein
some of the culturalsymbolismof Europe,fromthe Crusadesto the "JustWar"
tradition.Both the apocalyptic tradition,revitalized by the Reformation,and
Nietzsche's "will to power" contributedfurtherto the Nazis' rationalizations
for violence. Nevertheless, Voegelin recognized that the root of ideological
extremismlay in human consciousness: the desire for certaintyand a release
from the uncertaintyof existence, coupled with the limiting of consciousness
and reality to temporalexistence, led to the desire to forcibly make a dream
world into reality.The consequenceswere, in the case of Hitler,the Holocaust,
and in the case of Stalin, the forced collectivizations and the GreatPurges.
Presidio of Monterey.

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