The notion of being God’s chosen people is as dangerous an idea as any other in human history. It provides theological legitimation for ideologies such as Eurocentrism, white supremacy, British imperialism, Nazi supremacy, apartheid racism, the MAGA-ideology, and Zionism in multiple forms. Nevertheless, the intention of the term is arguably inclusive and affirming: It affirms the identity of those who are excluded and rejected, oppressed and marginalised, including migrants, refugees and the victims of xenophobia. Its focus is on the particular for the sake of the universal. This yields the intriguing question: where and how does a logic of inclusivity become as exclusivist as the exclusivism that it seeks to counter? This is primarily a philosophical question but one that is open to debate in historical studies, politics, economics, sociology, religion and theology alike. This project entails a case study of ideological distortion as part of a history of dangerous ideas. Its focus will be on South African theological and political discourse on divine election. On this basis it will explore, in widening circles, how the same distortive logic is found in debates around anthropocentrism amid the quest for a planetary ethics.
2026