ABSTRACT
The history of religions or comparative study of religion has many of its roots in philology, ancient history, archeology and various forms of orientalism. The rise of modern nationalism has involved the romanticization of history and rationality at the very time when it was being claimed that scholarship and social action were being put on a scientific basis. Schools have been the means of creating a new work ethos, new values of efficiency and citizenship transcending those of clan and family which stand in the way of modernization. Moreover, modern wars are focused on national conflict. However, there is often a tension between the modernism inherent in the national idea and old-style religion, so it may be that the most potent use of older faith is by a modernizing restatement and reshaping of it. The potency of religious nationalism, lies in the way in which spiritual sources of meaning and identity help to give extra depth to political commitment.
