Role of resilience in development of religious nationalism in Serbia

Abstract This paper deals with the current societal and religious situation in Serbia. Its main theme is that the rhetorics utilized in Serbia show significant marks of synthesis of religious and national elements, which have often been labeled as ethnotheology or religious nationalism. The topic will be divided into three parts: (i) to explain the roots of this mindset; (ii) to bring to the fore several examples from Serbian history and explain the context; (iii) to present several models and forms of relation between religion and nation. The paper will show that Serbian religious nationalism, at its core, is not exclusive, aggressive or nationalistic—but apologetic and defensive—developed as a form of resilience.