Hijacking the hijacking thesis: the conceptualization of christianity in the New Right journal Sezession

Abstract Active for the past 20 years, Sezession is one of the most important journals of the German New Right intellectual milieu. Despite its longevity, and the importance of its contributors, Sezession has not garnered great attention in the study of the German New Right and its use of religious, namely Christian rhetoric. This article takes Sezession and its employment of religious references as a starting point to question the predominant scholarly thesis that the New Right, and the far right at large, instrumentalize Christianity. This study works through the method of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) that considers both a quantitative data analysis of the number of references throughout the timeframe (2011–2018) and a qualitative analysis engaging with the portrayals of Islam and Christianity in the context of the texts. It is concluded that the conceptualization of Christianity allows its writers to present themselves as right-wing liberative Christians seeking to resist their victimization at the hands of the Church and socio-political leitkultur. Arguing that the New Right merely instrumentalize Christianity for a political purpose strengthens their theological self-portrait: being perceived as an illegitimate, inauthentic, and ousted minority—be that in the public sphere or the Church—is part of the infrastructure of their Christian and political character.