I den nya religionen vilar fröet till en fredligare värld: Religion som hinder och som möjlighet för fred i Tidevarvet 1930–1936

Abstract

”In the new religion lies the seed of a more peaceful world”: Visions of peace in Tidevarvet, 1930–1936

This article analyses what the Swedish radical political magazine Tidevarvet had to say between 1930 and 1936 about religion’s part in promoting peace. In response to rising nationalism, militarism, and secularisation, the magazine’s writers argued that the greatest obstacle to peace was the political shift in which right-wing nationalist forces gained ground, leading to the emergence of a ”nationalistic religion”. They paid particular attention to Nazism’s ideological use of religion, referred to as ”blood theology”. They identified capitalism as another key obstacle to peace, discussed in relation to laissez-faire liberalism: private enterprise came to represent society’s increasingly materialistic values and egocentric individualism, a condition seen as severing humanity’s connection to spirituality, rendering the individual godless.

At the same time, Tidevarvet envisioned a ”new religion” rooted in spiritual renewal and pacifist practice. The inspiration was Mahatma Gandhi and the Quakers, whose emphasis on nonviolence, community, and inner light represented a hopeful alternative to contemporary moral and social decay. These values were viewed as essential for building a more peaceful future. The writers in Tidevarvet advocated a spiritual awakening as a necessary precondition for peace.

Utopia and dystopia are used here as analytical concepts to show how Tidevarvet combined a critique of modern civilisation with vision for change. I argue that Tidevarvet did not interpret religion solely as a feminist strategy, but rather as a broader religious renewal that unfolded alongside the rise of religious liberalism and scientific rationalism in early twentieth-century Sweden, and so I complement previous research which has focused primarily on individual women and their ties to religious liberalism and religion as a tool for emancipation. However, Tidevarvet articulated a distinct vision, drawing on Quaker ideals and emphasising spirituality, moral responsibility, and peaceful transformation through inner conviction and collective action. The article contributes to the fields of women’s history, religious history, and press studies by examining how interwar intellectuals in Tidevarvet discussed religion as a vision for peace, not solely as a political objective, but as a spiritual transformation of humanity, aimed at realising a vision of God’s kingdom on earth.