We have great pleasure in presenting a special issue on ‘Chosen Peoples’. This is a subject that has received growing attention amongst scholars of ethnicity and nationalism. It combines studies of religion, politics, history and society, to focus on the inner sources of ethnic survival and national renewal. Few societies have been without some myth of chosenness which has sustained their sense of identity and community in the vicissitudes of daily existence and natural and human tribulation. The need to strengthen social cohesion and morale and to explain the meaning of communal destiny finds repeated expression in many periods and across the continents in mythologies of ethnic election and national mission.

Central to assertions of national identity in the contemporary world is a sense of collective mission and destiny. This is clearly manifest in the recent spate of religious nationalisms, but it is also present as a component of secular nationalisms. In both cases, it is possible to trace the origins of the sense of collective destiny to much earlier beliefs in ethnic chosenness. In some cases a strict ‘covenantal’ form of the myth of ethnic election, such as was found in the Old Testament, has survived more or less intact into the modern era. In many other instances, a looser sense of ethnic election by the deity has continued to influence the outlook and purposes of secular nations. While there is no strict covariance between the earlier myths and modern national ideals, the ancient beliefs in divine election have given modern nationalisms a powerful impetus and model, particularly among peoples in the monotheistic traditions.

The primary focus of this article differs from the author's earlier argument about why it may be legitimate to apply the category of nationality to ancient Israel. The concern here is three-fold: an examination of the conceptions of Israel as the chosen people (both conditional and unconditional) in the Old Testament; the possible bearing of those conceptions on the historical imagination of the Occident; and what those conceptions might tell us about the constitution of nationality in general.

‘Special Peoples’ explores the causes and consequences of believing in a chosen people by considering, first, the Serbian case, as seen especially in Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. The mythology, history and genuine Byzantine traditions which have created this East European form of belief in ‘special chosenness’ is then compared with West European developments. While both make use of the Bible, the West (and also Ethiopia), it is suggested, depends more directly on the Old Testament, Israelite model, while the Eastern approach rests rather on the experience of the Christian empire of Constantine. The English, Spanish and French are considered briefly as examples of chosen peoples. The discussion ends with the words of Carl Goerdeler, meditating on the Nazism that was about to kill him, and challenging the whole nationalist notion of an ‘exclusively chosen’ people from Israel on, as inherently prone to genocide.

Perhaps the most important happening in South African history was the Great Trek, the massive movement of people, goods, wagons, north from the eastern Cape Colony into what became the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. These Voortrekkers migrated between 1834 and the end of the decade. On the way they developed distinctive beliefs concerning their destiny, their relation to God and their relation to the African groups with whom they had serious conflicts. A major battle between better-armed Afrikaner forces and Zulu warriors ended in triumph for the Afrikaners on 16 December 1838. This formed the basis of a national holiday for the Afrikaners, and for the nation of South Africa.

Various Afrikaner organisations conceived of a great celebration surrounding the centennial of this major battle in Natal when a great monument to the Voortrekkers would be constructed near Pretoria. The corner-stone laying was planned for 16 December 1938. In preparation for this celebration, Ox wagon caravans from many parts of the Cape Province made their way north, holding worship services, giving speeches and otherwise building enthusiasm in countless towns along the way. Some of the wagon caravans travelled for four months. The culmination near Pretoria resulted in perhaps as many as 200,000 Afrikaners camping there for the corner-stone laying on the appointed day.

Two major complaints had been voiced continually for decades. First, the Afrikaners wanted total freedom from the British Empire; second, they feared the increasing numbers and influence of African groups for jobs, commodities and land. Scholars and political leaders are convinced that this show of emotion for the Afrikaner cause went a long way to unifying Afrikaner people, resulting in victory for the ‘Purified’ Nationalist Party at the polls in 1948. This study shows how the reiteration of past historical events, in the context of emotional and sometimes tense situations, helped to produce a self-confidence among the disunited Afrikaner factions. From this there resulted a reinforcement of their ideology, or myth, which contributed to their success as a people at the middle of this century. They were confident that their highest nationalist dreams were the result of God's help in their struggles, and resulted also from their loyalty to their cause.

In this contribution I want to first examine some aspects of the influence of Orientalism and Christianity on the construction of a notion of Hinduism which could serve as the basis for nationalism. Second, I want to explore two influential claims about the uniqueness and superiority of the Hindu religion and its practitioners. The first claim is that Hinduism is the religion of a superior race, namely the Aryan race. The second claim is that Hinduism is a religion which is spiritually superior to other religions. These two claims are never completely separate from each other, but are differently emphasised by different Hindu movements.