Religion Flashcards
Case study: German speaking Jews
Late 18th century
Myhill 2006
Sacred/ancestral language-Hebrew (Yiddish). Spoken language-German
Jews did not associate with the primary German ethnic identity.
Conflict with German-speaking Christians as they believe that speaking German resulted in a German national identity- ‘Germannass‘.
No pre-modern National church group which meant a unwillingness to mix religions.
Jews spoke indistinguishably from Christians assimilated linguistically- ‘Germannass’
Christians wanted totally assimilation of the Jews but the Jews resulted to segregated Jewish subculture.
Late 19th century Germany developed national identity due to the political factors pushing for union whereas late 18th century identified peoples by the countries they lived in
WWII era -> ethnic identity identified people through religion, shown in the mass murder of Jews ->Jews potentially thought they might of been safe if they lived in Germany but showed that ethnic identity was greater than religious identity
In conclusion: Jews very ethnically diverse
Case study: Catholics Vs. Protestants in Uk and Ireland
Myhill 2006
The religious ties between England and Ireland have often collapsed causing many conflicts.
Long before any attempt at unification, the Protestants established the pre-modern national church-Anglican church.
English, Scots and Welsh backed Protestantism, Catholics did not approve. Irish population took Catholicism to their national identity.
Beginning of 17th century, three different groups of Scottish or English ancestry lived in Ireland: old Anglo-English ->assimilated with Irish socially but not linguistically, English colonists ->strong English, presbyterian of Scottish ancestry.
English government in Ireland concerned with minimising the danger of pan-Catholic action resulting in pushing the union between Britain and Ireland
Case study: Albania - Muslims and Christians
Myhill 2006
In the late 1800s there were still no Albanian language schools, even when they began to write their own language, national unity was conflicted due to the decision to use Arabic, Cyrillic or Latin alphabets.
There is a history of no independence in Albania, constantly under the control of another power.
As the Ottoman empire declined, Albanian leaders stressed cultural and linguistic unity rather than religious unity.
Albania nationalism developed very late: Albania successfully worked out a religious coexistence of Muslims and Christians, general pattern of Albanian speakers of different religions getting on well but conflict did occur over time.
Albania never fully committed themselves to either religious group e.g. common that one family branch being Muslim another Christian and going to each other’s holidays, going to the mosque on Friday and church on a Sunday.
Even in times where conflicts existed between Muslims and Christians, Albania is more concerned with protecting their own strong national identity
Case study: Arabic-speaking Muslims
Myhill 2006
Muslims are the clearly demographic and politically dominant religious group among Arabic speakers but the most prominent supporters of Arab nationalism have been Greek Orthodox, catholic and even some Protestant suggesting there was no limitation to just Arabic speakers with a Islamic identity.
Another example of Muslims and Christians coexisting: 2002 Muslim radicals pursued by Israeli army to refuse in a Christian church the 38 days and the Christian community did not protest.
The Melkites who were formed of both Muslim and Christian peoples did not feel that any national boundaries separated them from Arabic-speaking Muslims when the idea of language-based nationalism developed
