A Case of Failed Christian Nationalism: Early Twentieth-Century Sweden

This article examines Christian nationalism in Sweden in the early twentieth century and argues that it constitutes a largely unsuccessful project of religious and political mobilization. At the center of the analysis is the Young Church Movement, which sought to remake the Swedish state church into a nationalist “folk church” and to mobilize clergy and laity in defense of monarchy, national unity, and a strong military. By sacralizing the nation through historically anchored religious narratives, captured in slogans such as “Sweden’s people – a people of God”, the movement attempted to position the Swedish Church as the nationalistic guardian against demands of rapid democratization and expanding civil society outside the Swedish Church. The article situates this mobilization against the background of Sweden’s long tradition of a territorially defined state church but shows that the Young Church Movement was abruptly curtailed by the wider diffusion of democratic norms and the democratic breakthrough after World War I. These norms, cultivated through social movements around the 1900 – as the free church movement – constrained the authoritarian politics that often accompany Christian nationalism and weakened the social foundations for a church-centered nationalist movement. Turning to current politics, the article shows that while the Sweden Democrats occasionally invoke Christian nationalistic rhetoric, neither the Swedish Church nor the free churches function as strong carriers of Christian nationalism. The Swedish case thus highlights how a once-ambitious Christian nationalist mobilization can lose political traction and become a historical residue rather than a durable force.