Thought From Engelsberg

Was Shiite Islam the first ideology when it emerged more than a thousand years ago, promising that justice could be achieved if only the right rulers were installed?

The Engelsberg conference takes place in an elegant manor house adjoining the largely shuttered steelworks which made the fortune of the manor's builders.

This year's seminar topic is ideology and politics, and the discussion opened Thursday afternoon with an attempt to define "ideology" and set the term in historical context.

One discussant proposed a very restrictive definition: ideology is an inherently revolutionary project, an attempt to overthrow everyday arrangements in favor of a new politics that will transform society and human beings. If so, that definition raised in my mind this question: Was Shiite Islam the first ideology when it emerged more than a thousand years ago, promising that justice could be achieved on this earth if only the right rulers were installed?