The year 2009 has seen a number of books by John Milbank published. "The Radical Orthodoxy Reader" (Routledge), co-edited with Simon Oliver, includes a chapter, written by Milbank himself, titled "Political Theology and the New Science of Politics":
www.routledge.com/books/The-Radical-Orthodoxy-Reader-isbn9780415425131
From the publisher's description: "The Radical Orthodoxy Reader presents a selection of key readings in the field of [Anglican] Radical Orthodoxy, the most influential theological movement in contemporary academic theology. Radical Orthodoxy draws on pre-Enlightenment theology and philosophy to engage critically with the assumption and priorities of secularism, modernity, postmodernity, and associated theologies."
Already in January 2009, Milbank's "The Future of Love: Essays in Political Theology" (Cascade Books) was published:
www.wipfandstock.com/store/The_Future_of_Love_Essays_in_Political_Theology
Described thus: "With a newly written preface relating his theology to the current global situation, The Future of Love contains revised versions of eighteen of John Milbank's essays on theology, politics, religion, and culture – ranging from the onset of neoliberalism to its current crisis, and from the British to the global context. [...] Taken together, the collection amounts to a 'political theology' arrived at from diverse angles."
Michael Northcott (University of Edinburgh) writes: "These essays, published over thirty years and gathered in this important new book, demonstrate the consistent acuity and imaginative power of John Milbank's politico-theological vision. Milbank bestrides the Anglosaxon theological world with a project that is uniquely embedded in the romantic, anglocatholic, and socialist critiques of modernity from Coleridge to Ruskin. In this book we see the gradual repristination of these critiques against atheism, humanism, and neoliberalism, and the unfolding of a political theology after the secular in the form of a biblical and realist metaphysic and the neoplatonist sublime. The Future of Love is a powerful rendering of a truer and more virtuous life world than that delivered by the last thirty years of godforsaken market capitalism."
30 December 2009
Book: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century
Tripp York wrote a book on religious anarchism: "Living on Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century" (Wipf and Stock, 2009).
http://wipfandstock.com/store/Living_on_Hope_While_Living_in_Babylon_The_Christian_Anarchists_of_the_20th_Century
Publisher's description: "Though Christendom has come to an end, it appears that old habits die hard. Jesus promised his followers neither safety nor affluence, but rather that those who come after him should expect persecution. Christian discipleship and tribal nationalism, however, despite the legal separation of church and state, continue to be co-opted into the nation-state project of prosperity and security. This co-option has made it difficult for the church to recognize her task to be a prophetic witness both for and against the state. That only a small pocket of Christians bear witness against such an accommodation of Christian practice is disconcerting; and yet, it breeds hope.
"In Living on Hope While Living in Babylon, Tripp York examines a few twentieth century Christians who lived such a witness, including the Berrigan brothers, Dorothy Day, and Eberhard Arnold. These witnesses can be viewed as anarchical in the sense that their loyalty to Christ undermines the pseudo-soteriological myth employed by the state. While these Christians have been labeled pilgrims, revolutionaries, nomads, subversives, agitators, and now, anarchists, they are more importantly seekers of the peace of the city whose chief desire is for those belonging to the temporal cities to be able to participate in the eternal city – the city of God. By examining their ideas and their actions, this book will attempt to understand how the politics of the church – an apocalyptic politic – is necessary for the church to understand her mission as bearer of the gospel."
Endorsed by D. Stephen Long (Marquette University) thus: "This work offers one of the most constructive political theologies I have read for some time. Refusing any merely reactive logic, York develops a theological an-archy that neither seeks relevance to nor reaction against a specific construal of state sovereignty. The 'arche' is the Risen Lamb who was slain, who calls into question the disorder created by materialism, racism, and militarism. [...] This is lively, enjoyable, and convicting reading."
http://wipfandstock.com/store/Living_on_Hope_While_Living_in_Babylon_The_Christian_Anarchists_of_the_20th_Century
Publisher's description: "Though Christendom has come to an end, it appears that old habits die hard. Jesus promised his followers neither safety nor affluence, but rather that those who come after him should expect persecution. Christian discipleship and tribal nationalism, however, despite the legal separation of church and state, continue to be co-opted into the nation-state project of prosperity and security. This co-option has made it difficult for the church to recognize her task to be a prophetic witness both for and against the state. That only a small pocket of Christians bear witness against such an accommodation of Christian practice is disconcerting; and yet, it breeds hope.
"In Living on Hope While Living in Babylon, Tripp York examines a few twentieth century Christians who lived such a witness, including the Berrigan brothers, Dorothy Day, and Eberhard Arnold. These witnesses can be viewed as anarchical in the sense that their loyalty to Christ undermines the pseudo-soteriological myth employed by the state. While these Christians have been labeled pilgrims, revolutionaries, nomads, subversives, agitators, and now, anarchists, they are more importantly seekers of the peace of the city whose chief desire is for those belonging to the temporal cities to be able to participate in the eternal city – the city of God. By examining their ideas and their actions, this book will attempt to understand how the politics of the church – an apocalyptic politic – is necessary for the church to understand her mission as bearer of the gospel."
Endorsed by D. Stephen Long (Marquette University) thus: "This work offers one of the most constructive political theologies I have read for some time. Refusing any merely reactive logic, York develops a theological an-archy that neither seeks relevance to nor reaction against a specific construal of state sovereignty. The 'arche' is the Risen Lamb who was slain, who calls into question the disorder created by materialism, racism, and militarism. [...] This is lively, enjoyable, and convicting reading."
29 December 2009
CONF: Early Modern/Postmodern: Inventing the Political Subject
8th Annual West Coast Conference on Law and Literature "Early Modern/Postmodern: Inventing the Political Subject", at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, University Park Campus, Musick Law Building, Faculty Lounge, Room 433,
13 January 2010, 2-6 pm
http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/event/871394
The West Coast Conference on Law and Literature explores how the early modern period invented the political subjecthood we inhabit to this day.
How do contemporary studies in political theory, ranging from Hannah Arendt to Carl Schmitt to Michel Foucault, transform our understanding of these debates, and how are the postmodern thinkers in turn inflected (or is it infected?) by those of the earlier period? Are we modern, pre-modern, postmodern, or somehow residing in all three moments at once?
The organizers' goal is not only to return to central questions of the relationship between the individual and the political and turn them a little onto their heads, but to draw anew the connections between law, literature, and the social.
Speakers for the conference include: Julia Reinhard Lupton (English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine), "Arendt in Italy: Or, The Taming of the Shrew"; Victoria Kahn (English and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley) who will also turn to Arendt, this time in the context of Spinoza, Old Testament law, political theology, and literature; Bernadette Meyler (Law, Cornell University), connecting law and literature, in her case drawing on Schmitt, Foucault, and Hobbes.
The conference will be followed by a reception.
Organizers: Center for Law, History and Culture, in collaboration with the Early Modern Studies Institute at USC.
RSVP: clhcserv@law.usc.edu
13 January 2010, 2-6 pm
http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/event/871394
The West Coast Conference on Law and Literature explores how the early modern period invented the political subjecthood we inhabit to this day.
How do contemporary studies in political theory, ranging from Hannah Arendt to Carl Schmitt to Michel Foucault, transform our understanding of these debates, and how are the postmodern thinkers in turn inflected (or is it infected?) by those of the earlier period? Are we modern, pre-modern, postmodern, or somehow residing in all three moments at once?
The organizers' goal is not only to return to central questions of the relationship between the individual and the political and turn them a little onto their heads, but to draw anew the connections between law, literature, and the social.
Speakers for the conference include: Julia Reinhard Lupton (English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine), "Arendt in Italy: Or, The Taming of the Shrew"; Victoria Kahn (English and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley) who will also turn to Arendt, this time in the context of Spinoza, Old Testament law, political theology, and literature; Bernadette Meyler (Law, Cornell University), connecting law and literature, in her case drawing on Schmitt, Foucault, and Hobbes.
The conference will be followed by a reception.
Organizers: Center for Law, History and Culture, in collaboration with the Early Modern Studies Institute at USC.
RSVP: clhcserv@law.usc.edu
28 December 2009
Book: Jacob Taubes' "Occidental Eschatology"
These days, Stanford University Press is publishing two new books with texts by Jacob Taubes (author of "The Political Theology of Paul"). First up is the English translation of Taubes' 1947 doctoral dissertation, "Occidental Eschatology" (Abendländische Eschatologie; translated from German with a preface by David Ratmoko):
www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=16921
Publisher's description: Taubes' "Occidental Eschatology", "the one book he published in his lifetime, seeks to renegotiate the historical synthesis and spiritual legacy of the West through the study of apocalypticism. Covering the origins of apocalypticism from Hebrew prophecy through antiquity and early Christianity to its medieval revival in Joachim of Fiore, Taubes reveals its later secularized forms in Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard. His aim is to show the lasting influence of revolutionary, messianic teleology on Western philosophy, history, and politics.
"Combining painstaking scholarship with an unmatched scope of reference, Taubes takes a comprehensive approach to the twin focuses of political theology and philosophy of history. He argues that acceptance of the idea that time will one day come to an end has profound implications for political thought. If natural time is experienced as an eternal cycle of events, 'history' is the realm of time in which human actions can make decisions to alter the progression of events. This philosophy asks that individuals take responsibility for their own actions and resist authority that claims to act on their behalf. Whereas universal history is written by the victors, the messianic or apocalyptic event enters history and gives a voice to the oppressed."
Stanford University Press is also releasing "From Cult to Culture: Fragments Toward a Critique of Historical Reason" (edited by Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert and Amir Engel, with a preface by Aleida and Jan Assmann): "The essays presented here represent the fruit of conversations, conferences, and workshops that [Taubes] organized over the course of his career."
www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=16921
Publisher's description: Taubes' "Occidental Eschatology", "the one book he published in his lifetime, seeks to renegotiate the historical synthesis and spiritual legacy of the West through the study of apocalypticism. Covering the origins of apocalypticism from Hebrew prophecy through antiquity and early Christianity to its medieval revival in Joachim of Fiore, Taubes reveals its later secularized forms in Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard. His aim is to show the lasting influence of revolutionary, messianic teleology on Western philosophy, history, and politics.
"Combining painstaking scholarship with an unmatched scope of reference, Taubes takes a comprehensive approach to the twin focuses of political theology and philosophy of history. He argues that acceptance of the idea that time will one day come to an end has profound implications for political thought. If natural time is experienced as an eternal cycle of events, 'history' is the realm of time in which human actions can make decisions to alter the progression of events. This philosophy asks that individuals take responsibility for their own actions and resist authority that claims to act on their behalf. Whereas universal history is written by the victors, the messianic or apocalyptic event enters history and gives a voice to the oppressed."
Stanford University Press is also releasing "From Cult to Culture: Fragments Toward a Critique of Historical Reason" (edited by Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert and Amir Engel, with a preface by Aleida and Jan Assmann): "The essays presented here represent the fruit of conversations, conferences, and workshops that [Taubes] organized over the course of his career."
27 December 2009
Book: Christianity and Contemporary Politics
The new book by Luke Bretherton (King's College London) is titled "Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness" (Wiley-Blackwell, January 2010):
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405199695.html
According to the publisher's description, this book "[e]xplores the relationship between Christianity and contemporary politics through case studies of faith-based organizations, Christian political activism and welfare provision in the West; these case studies assess initiatives including community organizing, fair trade, and the sanctuary movement; [o]ffers an insightful, informative account of how Christians can engage politically in a multi-faith, liberal democracy; [i]ntegrates debates in political theology with inter-disciplinary analysis of policy and practice regarding religious social, political and economic engagement in the USA, UK, and continental Europe; [r]eveals how Christians can help prevent the subversion of the church – and even of politics itself – by legal, bureaucratic, and market mechanisms, rather than advocating withdrawal or assimilation; [e]ngages with the intricacies of contemporary politics whilst integrating systematic and historical theological reflection on political and economic life".
Endorsed elsewhere thus: "Sophisticated, erudite, deeply insightful, and written with a passion born out of political engagement. Bretherton pushes the field of political theology into fresh pastures ... This book will serve many, not just political theorists and theologians." (Gaving D'Costa, University of Bristol)
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405199695.html
According to the publisher's description, this book "[e]xplores the relationship between Christianity and contemporary politics through case studies of faith-based organizations, Christian political activism and welfare provision in the West; these case studies assess initiatives including community organizing, fair trade, and the sanctuary movement; [o]ffers an insightful, informative account of how Christians can engage politically in a multi-faith, liberal democracy; [i]ntegrates debates in political theology with inter-disciplinary analysis of policy and practice regarding religious social, political and economic engagement in the USA, UK, and continental Europe; [r]eveals how Christians can help prevent the subversion of the church – and even of politics itself – by legal, bureaucratic, and market mechanisms, rather than advocating withdrawal or assimilation; [e]ngages with the intricacies of contemporary politics whilst integrating systematic and historical theological reflection on political and economic life".
Endorsed elsewhere thus: "Sophisticated, erudite, deeply insightful, and written with a passion born out of political engagement. Bretherton pushes the field of political theology into fresh pastures ... This book will serve many, not just political theorists and theologians." (Gaving D'Costa, University of Bristol)
26 December 2009
Book: The Politics of Discipleship: Becoming Postmaterial Citizens
Graham Ward (University of Manchester) recently had his new book published, "The Politics of Discipleship: Becoming Postmaterial Citizens" (Baker Academic, September 2009):
www.bakeracademic.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=C5E01AF419374641BEA3063DB0415D7D
Endorsements: "In this book, Graham Ward boldly offers a fresh description of the consumer economy and the processes of globalization, examining the illusions they generate, the states of amnesia they call us into, and the slavery they impose. In the process, he constructs a counter-narrative of a Christian discipleship in the service of postmaterial values that is founded on an eschatological humanism and ecclesiology. The result is a new political theology, powerfully presented, rooted in Scripture and tradition, and fully engaged in reading the postsecular signs of the times." (Peter Manley Scott, University of Manchester)
"For some time now, Graham Ward has blended orthodox theology, biblical study, and cultural theory with an independent originality. Now he has added politics to this mix. The result is simultaneously a greater edge to his own theology and an imbuing of contemporary political theology with more realistic depth and practical prescience than it usually exhibits. An extremely significant volume in the present time." (John Milbank, University of Nottingham)
"With erudition, insight, and sheer imaginative power, Graham Ward examines the complexities and tasks of Christian discipleship in a globalized world. There is no surer guide than Ward to the enticements and dangers of postmodern, postmaterial life – where values themselves have become virtual, adopted for a day – or to the hope of finding the true meaning of our still-present materiality in the practices of church and in the ecclesiality of the body of Christ. Yet Ward's encyclopedic grasp of political theory; his detailed, often dazzling readings of Scripture; and his profound inhabitation of theology are deployed with a humor and lightness of touch that renders this book both challenging and immensely readable. It is political theology but also a page-turner: impressive, provocative, and impossible to put down." (Gerard Loughlin, Durham University)
The author of the book is part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement.
www.bakeracademic.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=C5E01AF419374641BEA3063DB0415D7D
Endorsements: "In this book, Graham Ward boldly offers a fresh description of the consumer economy and the processes of globalization, examining the illusions they generate, the states of amnesia they call us into, and the slavery they impose. In the process, he constructs a counter-narrative of a Christian discipleship in the service of postmaterial values that is founded on an eschatological humanism and ecclesiology. The result is a new political theology, powerfully presented, rooted in Scripture and tradition, and fully engaged in reading the postsecular signs of the times." (Peter Manley Scott, University of Manchester)
"For some time now, Graham Ward has blended orthodox theology, biblical study, and cultural theory with an independent originality. Now he has added politics to this mix. The result is simultaneously a greater edge to his own theology and an imbuing of contemporary political theology with more realistic depth and practical prescience than it usually exhibits. An extremely significant volume in the present time." (John Milbank, University of Nottingham)
"With erudition, insight, and sheer imaginative power, Graham Ward examines the complexities and tasks of Christian discipleship in a globalized world. There is no surer guide than Ward to the enticements and dangers of postmodern, postmaterial life – where values themselves have become virtual, adopted for a day – or to the hope of finding the true meaning of our still-present materiality in the practices of church and in the ecclesiality of the body of Christ. Yet Ward's encyclopedic grasp of political theory; his detailed, often dazzling readings of Scripture; and his profound inhabitation of theology are deployed with a humor and lightness of touch that renders this book both challenging and immensely readable. It is political theology but also a page-turner: impressive, provocative, and impossible to put down." (Gerard Loughlin, Durham University)
The author of the book is part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement.
23 December 2009
Book: The Political Theology of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh
Paul Eidelberg (former Professor of Political Science, Bar-Ilan University) has written a book seeking to compare Jewish political theology and the political theology of the American Founding Fathers: "Toward a Renaissance of Israel and America: The Political Theology of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh" (Lightcatcher Books, November 2009).
www.lightcatcherbooks.com/products_books_Renaissance.shtml
From the publisher's description: "The American people know hardly anything about the political theology of their Declaration of Independence, and are therefore ignorant of the political philosophy that inspired the Framers of the American Constitution. Similarly, most people in Israel are ignorant of the liberality and magnanimity of the Torah's constitution of government. Both nations are in dire need of Rabbi Benamozegh's teachings. Benamozegh's erudition, his knowledge of the wisdom of 'Jerusalem and Athens,' the cities that fructified Western civilization, can help us overcome the enemy of civilization, totalitarian Islam."
US-born Israeli Paul Eidelberg received his doctoral degree at the University of Chicago, where he studied under Leo Strauss. He is the founder and president of the Jerusalem-based Foundation for Constitutional Democracy.
www.lightcatcherbooks.com/products_books_Renaissance.shtml
From the publisher's description: "The American people know hardly anything about the political theology of their Declaration of Independence, and are therefore ignorant of the political philosophy that inspired the Framers of the American Constitution. Similarly, most people in Israel are ignorant of the liberality and magnanimity of the Torah's constitution of government. Both nations are in dire need of Rabbi Benamozegh's teachings. Benamozegh's erudition, his knowledge of the wisdom of 'Jerusalem and Athens,' the cities that fructified Western civilization, can help us overcome the enemy of civilization, totalitarian Islam."
US-born Israeli Paul Eidelberg received his doctoral degree at the University of Chicago, where he studied under Leo Strauss. He is the founder and president of the Jerusalem-based Foundation for Constitutional Democracy.
21 December 2009
Phillip Blond's "ResPublica" think tank and Radical Orthodoxy
Check over at my personal blog for an assessment of the latest development in UK political theology: Phillip Blond, a former Senior Lecturer in theology and philosophy at the University of Cumbria, has been able to raise 1.5 million pounds to launch his own think tank, called "ResPublica":
www.erichkofmel.com/2009/12/phillip-blonds-respublica-think-tank.html
Blond has shot to the attention of the UK media only this year and has been hailed as Tory leader (and possible prime minister come May 2010) David Cameron's "philosopher king". ResPublica was launched on 26 November in the presence of Cameron, but the financial backers behind it remain anonymous. It stands to reason, though, that they are in support of the ideas associated with what Blond calls "Red Toryism".
Phillip Blond is a part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement. Radical Orthodoxy set out, hardly ten years ago, from Cambridge's Peterhouse College to renew the Church of England. Already the current Archbishop of Canterbury, and head of the Anglican community, Rowan Williams, is said to be an adherent of Radical Orthodoxy. And now the movement has gained influence over Tory policy and the likely next prime minister. Radical-orthodox political theology has a chance to become for the UK what black liberation theology arguably has become under Barack Obama in the US.
www.erichkofmel.com/2009/12/phillip-blonds-respublica-think-tank.html
Blond has shot to the attention of the UK media only this year and has been hailed as Tory leader (and possible prime minister come May 2010) David Cameron's "philosopher king". ResPublica was launched on 26 November in the presence of Cameron, but the financial backers behind it remain anonymous. It stands to reason, though, that they are in support of the ideas associated with what Blond calls "Red Toryism".
Phillip Blond is a part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement. Radical Orthodoxy set out, hardly ten years ago, from Cambridge's Peterhouse College to renew the Church of England. Already the current Archbishop of Canterbury, and head of the Anglican community, Rowan Williams, is said to be an adherent of Radical Orthodoxy. And now the movement has gained influence over Tory policy and the likely next prime minister. Radical-orthodox political theology has a chance to become for the UK what black liberation theology arguably has become under Barack Obama in the US.
18 December 2009
Benedict XVI and the political theology of John of Salisbury
When has the pope become a proponent of political theology?
He must be aware of the concept, after having served with Johann Baptist Metz on the theological faculty of the University of Münster in the 1960s. However, he always was more notorious for opposing political theologies, such as Latin American liberation theology.
That he does not commonly use the term "political theology" in his speeches and writings makes it only the more noteworthy that he did so this week, when referring to the medieval theologian John of Salisbury:
www.zenit.org/article-27863?l=english
Pope Benedict XVI particularly recommends John of Salisbury's book "Policraticus" (The Man of Government) – a "treatise on philosophy and political theology".
I double checked: the Italian original indeed also has "teologia politica".
He must be aware of the concept, after having served with Johann Baptist Metz on the theological faculty of the University of Münster in the 1960s. However, he always was more notorious for opposing political theologies, such as Latin American liberation theology.
That he does not commonly use the term "political theology" in his speeches and writings makes it only the more noteworthy that he did so this week, when referring to the medieval theologian John of Salisbury:
www.zenit.org/article-27863?l=english
Pope Benedict XVI particularly recommends John of Salisbury's book "Policraticus" (The Man of Government) – a "treatise on philosophy and political theology".
I double checked: the Italian original indeed also has "teologia politica".
Journal "Direction": Toward Anabaptist Political Theology
The Spring 2009 issue of the journal "Direction: A Mennonite Brethren Forum" was themed "Toward Anabaptist Political Theology".
Six months after publication of the printed journal, the full-text articles have now become available to read online free of charge:
www.directionjournal.org/toc/?38-1
Articles include "An Anabaptist-Mennonite Political Theology: Theological Presuppositions" (A. James Reimer, formerly Conrad Grebel University College); "Exousiology and Torah: A Suggestion for Mennonite Political Theology with Reference to the Reimer-Yoder Divide" (Jodie Boyer Hatlem, University of Toronto, and Douglas Johnson Hatlem, pastor); "Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop" (Travis P. [sic] Kroeker, McMaster University); "A Response to P. Travis Kroeker's 'Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop'" (John H. Redekop, Trinity Western University/Wilfrid Laurier University).
The journal's self-description: "Direction journal was begun in 1972 as a partnership among four Mennonite Brethren educational institutions in Canada and the US. Eventually two additional schools joined the group, and the US and Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conferences also provide support. [...] Neither a purely academic journal nor a denominational magazine, Direction highlights the interdependence of Christian reflection and mission."
Six months after publication of the printed journal, the full-text articles have now become available to read online free of charge:
www.directionjournal.org/toc/?38-1
Articles include "An Anabaptist-Mennonite Political Theology: Theological Presuppositions" (A. James Reimer, formerly Conrad Grebel University College); "Exousiology and Torah: A Suggestion for Mennonite Political Theology with Reference to the Reimer-Yoder Divide" (Jodie Boyer Hatlem, University of Toronto, and Douglas Johnson Hatlem, pastor); "Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop" (Travis P. [sic] Kroeker, McMaster University); "A Response to P. Travis Kroeker's 'Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop'" (John H. Redekop, Trinity Western University/Wilfrid Laurier University).
The journal's self-description: "Direction journal was begun in 1972 as a partnership among four Mennonite Brethren educational institutions in Canada and the US. Eventually two additional schools joined the group, and the US and Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conferences also provide support. [...] Neither a purely academic journal nor a denominational magazine, Direction highlights the interdependence of Christian reflection and mission."
CFP: Sainthood in Fragile States
A seminar of the Danish Research School of Regional Studies and the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies of the University of Copenhagen, taking place at the Danish Institute in Damascus, Syria,
12-15 April 2010
http://regionalestudier.hum.ku.dk/konferencer/sainthood/
Call for papers: "Sainthood in Fragile States"
This seminar discusses the creation, adaptation, or denunciations of claims to sainthood in local, regional, and national discourses in the Middle East, including political theologies.
Within recent decades the question of sainthood, in various meanings of the term, has emerged as a powerful theme in negotiating identities. The legitimacy of sainthood is increasingly contested, yet often nation states make use of claims to holiness as consolidating figures, while simultaneously maintaining an ambivalent position toward the legitimacy of individual claims to sainthood. From Christians performing miracles, to Islamic denunciation of saint pilgrimages, to insistence on venerating local saints, to national discourse rooted in venerated figures, sainthood "matters" in that it is not clearly discernable to all parties what makes the specific saint exceptional or to what degree sainthood is embodied.
Recognition of sainthood relies on a complex negotiation of the relationship between the visible, the forces of the unseen, authority, and creation of alternative realities. The qualities of sainthood can thus best be conceptualized as both pertaining to existential and structural dimensions, as fragile states, where mixed motivations emphasize the possibilities and dangers in the life of the individual as well as the nation.
This seminar aims at discussing how such relationships and claims are accepted, contested, or existing in parallel, and thereby has a bearing on social and political life in the Middle East.
The organizers hereby aim to challenge the way both politics and theologies are being conceptualized for contemporary Middle East, in that modernity and religious awakening both make way for disenchantment and re-enchantment. These can be seen as coterminous or opening zones of indeterminacy in which many aspects take place at the same time, with varying social outcome.
Questions that could be addressed: What makes a saint, or what qualities of sainthood apply across social, political, and religious contexts? How is "sainthood" used in negotiating identities at various levels of society? How is evidence of efficacy negotiated? What evidence is applied to substantiate relationships between the seen and the unseen, or revelation and concealment? How is the relationship between politics and theology, the "political theologies", negotiated around figures of sainthood or sanctity?
Abstracts (approx. 300 words) are to be submitted to Andreas Bandak (University of Copenhagen): bandak@hum.ku.dk
Deadline: 12 January 2010
Participants will arrange for their own transportation. The seminar will pay for visa, accommodation, and food, from the evening of the 12th to the evening of the 15th.
Form: The seminar will bring together senior and upcoming Danish and international scholars for a joint investigation of issues of sainthood in contemporary Middle East. Perspectives from all disciplines are encouraged. Keynote speakers will give 45-minute presentations, and PhD students are invited to give 30-minute presentations. All papers are followed by joint discussion. The organizers' aim is to publish the proceedings from the seminar.
Keynotes: Lisa Wedeen (Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Chicago) and Glenn Bowman (Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of Kent)
Organizers: Andreas Bandak (PhD Fellow, Centre for Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen) and Mikkel Bille (Assistant Professor, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen)
See also suggested readings at the above web link.
12-15 April 2010
http://regionalestudier.hum.ku.dk/konferencer/sainthood/
Call for papers: "Sainthood in Fragile States"
This seminar discusses the creation, adaptation, or denunciations of claims to sainthood in local, regional, and national discourses in the Middle East, including political theologies.
Within recent decades the question of sainthood, in various meanings of the term, has emerged as a powerful theme in negotiating identities. The legitimacy of sainthood is increasingly contested, yet often nation states make use of claims to holiness as consolidating figures, while simultaneously maintaining an ambivalent position toward the legitimacy of individual claims to sainthood. From Christians performing miracles, to Islamic denunciation of saint pilgrimages, to insistence on venerating local saints, to national discourse rooted in venerated figures, sainthood "matters" in that it is not clearly discernable to all parties what makes the specific saint exceptional or to what degree sainthood is embodied.
Recognition of sainthood relies on a complex negotiation of the relationship between the visible, the forces of the unseen, authority, and creation of alternative realities. The qualities of sainthood can thus best be conceptualized as both pertaining to existential and structural dimensions, as fragile states, where mixed motivations emphasize the possibilities and dangers in the life of the individual as well as the nation.
This seminar aims at discussing how such relationships and claims are accepted, contested, or existing in parallel, and thereby has a bearing on social and political life in the Middle East.
The organizers hereby aim to challenge the way both politics and theologies are being conceptualized for contemporary Middle East, in that modernity and religious awakening both make way for disenchantment and re-enchantment. These can be seen as coterminous or opening zones of indeterminacy in which many aspects take place at the same time, with varying social outcome.
Questions that could be addressed: What makes a saint, or what qualities of sainthood apply across social, political, and religious contexts? How is "sainthood" used in negotiating identities at various levels of society? How is evidence of efficacy negotiated? What evidence is applied to substantiate relationships between the seen and the unseen, or revelation and concealment? How is the relationship between politics and theology, the "political theologies", negotiated around figures of sainthood or sanctity?
Abstracts (approx. 300 words) are to be submitted to Andreas Bandak (University of Copenhagen): bandak@hum.ku.dk
Deadline: 12 January 2010
Participants will arrange for their own transportation. The seminar will pay for visa, accommodation, and food, from the evening of the 12th to the evening of the 15th.
Form: The seminar will bring together senior and upcoming Danish and international scholars for a joint investigation of issues of sainthood in contemporary Middle East. Perspectives from all disciplines are encouraged. Keynote speakers will give 45-minute presentations, and PhD students are invited to give 30-minute presentations. All papers are followed by joint discussion. The organizers' aim is to publish the proceedings from the seminar.
Keynotes: Lisa Wedeen (Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Chicago) and Glenn Bowman (Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of Kent)
Organizers: Andreas Bandak (PhD Fellow, Centre for Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen) and Mikkel Bille (Assistant Professor, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen)
See also suggested readings at the above web link.
09 December 2009
Laestadian-ism: Political theology and civil religion in secularizing Finland
The Academy of Finland's Research Council for Culture and Society has decided to fund a research project on political Laestadianism, "Laestadian-ism: Political Theology and Civil Religion in Secularizing Finland", led by Mika Luoma-aho (Assistant Professor of International Relations, University of Lapland), to the tune of 375,000 Euro over the period 1 January 2010 through 31 December 2012.
Project description: "Laestadianism is the largest revivalist movement within the Finnish Lutheran Church. Our project aims to provide current, empirically oriented and theoretically innovative analysis of the political aspects of laestadianism. Laestadianism is a form of 'fundamentalism' that poses no challenge to other Christian denominations or religions, just as it does not in any way aim to subvert the establishment. Quite the contrary: Laestadians have long practiced their religion within the confines of the national Lutheran Church; they have traditionally taken an active role in civil society; and they continue to organize themselves politically through the Finnish parliamentary system. What we see in laestadianism is Finland's Christian Right: it embodies and represents much of what goes under Christian reaction in this country.
"Laestadianism is not a political movement in the conventional sense of the term: it does not have its own party or a political platform. Our project will make the political aspects of laestadianism discernible by approaching it from two conceptual angles. We will (I) politicize the history of Laestadian theology and (II) make explicit the politics of practicing the Laestadian religion today. This we will do (i) by approaching laestadianism as a tradition of political theology; and (ii) by framing laestadianism as a form of civil religion. Our hypothesis is that among the varieties and intensities of civil religion we may identify in Finnish politics today, laestadianism embodies its purest theological expression and most explicit political articulation.
"Laestadianism is important, because there are regions in this country, parties in its political system, where the role of the movement is noteworthy. It is also an interesting movement in itself, because while secular political life sees religion often in personal terms, there is a politically active and outspoken movement in this secular age that believes otherwise. The Laestadians believe that the state has a very specific theological meaning: it is government established by God and in its proper functioning his rule and reign are in stake [sic]. There is a sharp contrast between the world-views of laestadianism and that of the secular majority of 'Finns'.
"There is a desperate need for political research on the Laestadian movement. Our project will provide up-to-date information on its political history, religiously structured view of social life, and political significance in Finland today. This information is needed to overcome prejudice in society. Furthermore: we will use this information ourselves in contributing to current debates on the relationship between organized religion and the institution of the secular, national state."
The project already has a blog, "Laestadian-ism":
http://laestadian-ism.blogspot.com/
According to it, Laestadianism is "based on the heritage of a Sami botanist and preacher Lars Levi Laestadius" (1800-1861). "In our research we combine current theoretical literatures on political theology and civil religion with an empirically oriented approach to the movement in Finnish society. This weblog will be updated with current information on project events and public relations, commentary and analysis on issues touching the laestadian movement in Finland and elsewhere, as well as debates on political theology and civil religion in general".
Project contact: mika@luoma-aho.fi
Project description: "Laestadianism is the largest revivalist movement within the Finnish Lutheran Church. Our project aims to provide current, empirically oriented and theoretically innovative analysis of the political aspects of laestadianism. Laestadianism is a form of 'fundamentalism' that poses no challenge to other Christian denominations or religions, just as it does not in any way aim to subvert the establishment. Quite the contrary: Laestadians have long practiced their religion within the confines of the national Lutheran Church; they have traditionally taken an active role in civil society; and they continue to organize themselves politically through the Finnish parliamentary system. What we see in laestadianism is Finland's Christian Right: it embodies and represents much of what goes under Christian reaction in this country.
"Laestadianism is not a political movement in the conventional sense of the term: it does not have its own party or a political platform. Our project will make the political aspects of laestadianism discernible by approaching it from two conceptual angles. We will (I) politicize the history of Laestadian theology and (II) make explicit the politics of practicing the Laestadian religion today. This we will do (i) by approaching laestadianism as a tradition of political theology; and (ii) by framing laestadianism as a form of civil religion. Our hypothesis is that among the varieties and intensities of civil religion we may identify in Finnish politics today, laestadianism embodies its purest theological expression and most explicit political articulation.
"Laestadianism is important, because there are regions in this country, parties in its political system, where the role of the movement is noteworthy. It is also an interesting movement in itself, because while secular political life sees religion often in personal terms, there is a politically active and outspoken movement in this secular age that believes otherwise. The Laestadians believe that the state has a very specific theological meaning: it is government established by God and in its proper functioning his rule and reign are in stake [sic]. There is a sharp contrast between the world-views of laestadianism and that of the secular majority of 'Finns'.
"There is a desperate need for political research on the Laestadian movement. Our project will provide up-to-date information on its political history, religiously structured view of social life, and political significance in Finland today. This information is needed to overcome prejudice in society. Furthermore: we will use this information ourselves in contributing to current debates on the relationship between organized religion and the institution of the secular, national state."
The project already has a blog, "Laestadian-ism":
http://laestadian-ism.blogspot.com/
According to it, Laestadianism is "based on the heritage of a Sami botanist and preacher Lars Levi Laestadius" (1800-1861). "In our research we combine current theoretical literatures on political theology and civil religion with an empirically oriented approach to the movement in Finnish society. This weblog will be updated with current information on project events and public relations, commentary and analysis on issues touching the laestadian movement in Finland and elsewhere, as well as debates on political theology and civil religion in general".
Project contact: mika@luoma-aho.fi
04 December 2009
CONF: American Comparative Literature Association annual meeting
Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 1-4 April 2010 (Thursday evening through Sunday noon)
www.acla.org/acla2010/
Three seminars taking place at this conference may be of particular interest to those engaged in the study of political theology.
A seminar on "Rethinking Secularism" will be organized by Elizabeth S. Anker and Bernadette A. Meyler (both Cornell University):
Debates about secularism have increasingly provided a focal point for theorizing the legal and political institutions, practices, and beliefs that regulate collective existence, or the individual's inscription within the community. The many issues raised by the status of the secular assume different aspects with reference to the nation state, democratic systems of governance, religious cultures, and/or the cosmopolitan order more generally. This seminar will focus on the nexus between the legal and cultural dimensions of secularism and, in doing so, will explore the limits of discourses on the secular.
More concretely, questions may include: What relationships do indigenous epistemologies and worldviews have to secular humanism? Is nationalism better explained through the rubric of secularism or instead that of political theology? Are the conceptions of time and history that gird ostensibly secular political ideologies in fact informed by religious frameworks? How might one theorize post-secular ontologies or modalities of embodied and affective belonging otherwise discounted within liberal rationalism? Can reform occur through religions or religious dissent rather than by means of secularization and reasoned public deliberation? What role has the language of tolerance played in shaping the religious/secular divide? How do certain images, like that of the veil, become iconic representations of the conflict between religious and secular? Through what mechanisms do rhetoric, and even law, migrate from the religious to the secular and back again? Finally, what roles do literature and art perform in mapping the shifting terrain that demarcates the secular from the religious?
A seminar on "Theory and the Theological" will be organized by Peter Y. Paik (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee):
Theorists in recent years have looked to theology for conceptual models to address certain impasses inherent to postmodernity. Alain Badiou draws heavily from theological categories in setting forth his account of political commitment, while tropes drawn from mystical and heterodox sources are prominent in the writings of Giorgio Agamben when he evokes modes of being that go beyond the constraints of bare life. Theology plays a significant role in the theorization of radical politics in the work of Slavoj Žižek and Antonio Negri, while Judith Butler and Simon Critchley look to the work of Emmanuel Levinas to provide an ethical grounding for the political. Meanwhile, theologians such as Catherine Pickstock, John Milbank, and David Bentley Hart engage postmodernity from the standpoint of faith. Finally, these debates have been anticipated in the work of earlier thinkers such as Christopher Lasch, Philip Rieff, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Eric Voegelin, whose respective critiques of liberal modernity parallel and diverge in striking ways from the battle lines most familiar to the present.
The seminar will take up such questions as: What kinds of resources does theological reflection provide in imagining sociopolitical forms of life beyond the liberal capitalist status quo? How has the resurgence of religious belief and the politics of religious militancy affected literary and cultural production? Are theologically-informed critiques of neo-liberal capitalism more promising than those launched on secular grounds? Or are these critiques neutralized by liberal relativism, or by what Philip Rieff terms the "therapeutic ethos"?
A seminar on "Literature and Criticism after Secularism" will be organized by Thomas Dancer and Jack Dudley (both University of Wisconsin, Madison):
Much scholarship on modern and contemporary literature has taken it as an article of faith that writers either turned away from or actively rejected religion. While this "narrative of secularization", to use Pericles Lewis' terms, still holds sway in literary studies, the fields of critical theory, political science, and sociology have increasingly interrogated the categories "secular" and "religious", as in the work of Charles Taylor, Hent de Vries, William E. Connolly, Talal Asad, and Slavoj Žižek. Such work has generated the new category, "post-secular", which examines the anxieties and absences in secular imaginaries, philosophies, and politics. This work also challenges the "secular" as the unconscious norm of intellectual practice.
Our moment, then, sees criticism and intellectual discourse as facing a public sphere that can no longer be understood to privilege the values of secularism. Papers contributed to this seminar will engage this moment by exploring the long historical entanglement of secularism, religion, and the post-secular, while following recent developments that aim to recuperate or refashion "secularity" in a way more consistent with an open, pluralistic public space.
The ACLA's annual conferences have a unique structure in which most papers are grouped into 9-12 person seminars that meet two hours per day, for the three days of the conference, in order to foster discussion. Some 8-person seminars meet the first two days of the conference. The conference will also include plenary sessions, workshops, a business meeting, a banquet, and other events in downtown New Orleans and on the Tulane campus. Please check with the conference and/or seminar organizers whether people can participate in seminars who do not present a paper themselves. Contact: info@acla.org
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the ACLA's website. The schedule of events, including locations, should be up in early 2010.
www.acla.org/acla2010/
Three seminars taking place at this conference may be of particular interest to those engaged in the study of political theology.
A seminar on "Rethinking Secularism" will be organized by Elizabeth S. Anker and Bernadette A. Meyler (both Cornell University):
Debates about secularism have increasingly provided a focal point for theorizing the legal and political institutions, practices, and beliefs that regulate collective existence, or the individual's inscription within the community. The many issues raised by the status of the secular assume different aspects with reference to the nation state, democratic systems of governance, religious cultures, and/or the cosmopolitan order more generally. This seminar will focus on the nexus between the legal and cultural dimensions of secularism and, in doing so, will explore the limits of discourses on the secular.
More concretely, questions may include: What relationships do indigenous epistemologies and worldviews have to secular humanism? Is nationalism better explained through the rubric of secularism or instead that of political theology? Are the conceptions of time and history that gird ostensibly secular political ideologies in fact informed by religious frameworks? How might one theorize post-secular ontologies or modalities of embodied and affective belonging otherwise discounted within liberal rationalism? Can reform occur through religions or religious dissent rather than by means of secularization and reasoned public deliberation? What role has the language of tolerance played in shaping the religious/secular divide? How do certain images, like that of the veil, become iconic representations of the conflict between religious and secular? Through what mechanisms do rhetoric, and even law, migrate from the religious to the secular and back again? Finally, what roles do literature and art perform in mapping the shifting terrain that demarcates the secular from the religious?
A seminar on "Theory and the Theological" will be organized by Peter Y. Paik (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee):
Theorists in recent years have looked to theology for conceptual models to address certain impasses inherent to postmodernity. Alain Badiou draws heavily from theological categories in setting forth his account of political commitment, while tropes drawn from mystical and heterodox sources are prominent in the writings of Giorgio Agamben when he evokes modes of being that go beyond the constraints of bare life. Theology plays a significant role in the theorization of radical politics in the work of Slavoj Žižek and Antonio Negri, while Judith Butler and Simon Critchley look to the work of Emmanuel Levinas to provide an ethical grounding for the political. Meanwhile, theologians such as Catherine Pickstock, John Milbank, and David Bentley Hart engage postmodernity from the standpoint of faith. Finally, these debates have been anticipated in the work of earlier thinkers such as Christopher Lasch, Philip Rieff, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Eric Voegelin, whose respective critiques of liberal modernity parallel and diverge in striking ways from the battle lines most familiar to the present.
The seminar will take up such questions as: What kinds of resources does theological reflection provide in imagining sociopolitical forms of life beyond the liberal capitalist status quo? How has the resurgence of religious belief and the politics of religious militancy affected literary and cultural production? Are theologically-informed critiques of neo-liberal capitalism more promising than those launched on secular grounds? Or are these critiques neutralized by liberal relativism, or by what Philip Rieff terms the "therapeutic ethos"?
A seminar on "Literature and Criticism after Secularism" will be organized by Thomas Dancer and Jack Dudley (both University of Wisconsin, Madison):
Much scholarship on modern and contemporary literature has taken it as an article of faith that writers either turned away from or actively rejected religion. While this "narrative of secularization", to use Pericles Lewis' terms, still holds sway in literary studies, the fields of critical theory, political science, and sociology have increasingly interrogated the categories "secular" and "religious", as in the work of Charles Taylor, Hent de Vries, William E. Connolly, Talal Asad, and Slavoj Žižek. Such work has generated the new category, "post-secular", which examines the anxieties and absences in secular imaginaries, philosophies, and politics. This work also challenges the "secular" as the unconscious norm of intellectual practice.
Our moment, then, sees criticism and intellectual discourse as facing a public sphere that can no longer be understood to privilege the values of secularism. Papers contributed to this seminar will engage this moment by exploring the long historical entanglement of secularism, religion, and the post-secular, while following recent developments that aim to recuperate or refashion "secularity" in a way more consistent with an open, pluralistic public space.
The ACLA's annual conferences have a unique structure in which most papers are grouped into 9-12 person seminars that meet two hours per day, for the three days of the conference, in order to foster discussion. Some 8-person seminars meet the first two days of the conference. The conference will also include plenary sessions, workshops, a business meeting, a banquet, and other events in downtown New Orleans and on the Tulane campus. Please check with the conference and/or seminar organizers whether people can participate in seminars who do not present a paper themselves. Contact: info@acla.org
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the ACLA's website. The schedule of events, including locations, should be up in early 2010.
CONF: Renaissance Society of America annual meeting
56th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA), in Venice, Italy, 8-10 April 2010
www.rsa.org/meetings/annualmeeting.php
A number of papers on political theology will be given at this conference.
Foremost, a panel on "Early Modern and Contemporary Political Theologies", organized by Travis R. DeCook (Carleton University) and chaired by Paul Anthony Stevens (University of Toronto), will take place on 8 April, 9.00-10.30 am (Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 0E).
Abstracts of two papers in this panel: Travis R. DeCook, "Milton and the Post-Postmodern Turn to St. Paul": "Recently, the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou have emphasized the significance of St. Paul's formulation of universalism for our purportedly 'post-political' era. This paper considers the problematic status of Judaism and Jewish identity within this scheme by taking up the function of the Pauline spirit/letter distinction in the writings of John Milton. Specifically, it considers the role played by the notion of Christianity's supersession of the Jewish past in Milton's political writings and the poems Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. These late poems offer a suggestive analogy with Badiou and Zizek, since they reflect on the defeat of Milton's revolutionary hopes. The function of Jewish identity in these texts complicates prevailing understandings of Christian supersession; this paper uncovers how such complications play an important role in Milton's post-Restoration politics, and moreover illuminate and challenge how Pauline universalism gets appropriated in today's political thought."
Jennifer Rebecca Rust (Saint Louis University), "Political Theologies of the Corpus Mysticum: Schmitt, Kantorowicz and de Lubac": "The fate of the corpus mysticum in the work of Carl Schmitt and Ernst Kantorowicz measures the distance between these two theorists' 'political theologies.' Schmitt marginalizes the traditional notion of the collective 'mystical body' of the Church in order to foreground the 'concrete' person of the decisive sovereign, while Kantorowicz implicitly corrects Schmitt by emphasizing the transference of the corpus mysticum from an ecclesiastical to a political context in the premodern period. I identify a third way between these two alternatives in a major source for Kantorowicz's analysis of the corpus mysticum, the twentieth-century Catholic theologian Henri de Lubac. Kantorowicz faithfully reproduces much of de Lubac's argument, but he also subtly misreads de Lubac's claims about the dynamic relationship between Eucharistic and ecclesiastical bodies in the early Church. I consider how the corpus mysticum opens a space for dialogue between contemporary theories of political theology and twentieth-century Catholic resourcement theology."
In the panel "Sessions in Honor of Colin Eisler II: Trecento and Quattrocento Devotional Images" (8 April, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, Fondazione Cini – Sala del Piccolo Teatro), Suzanna B. Simor (City University of New York, Queen's College) will be presenting a paper on "The Credo in Siena: Art, Civic Religion and Politics in Sienese Images of the Christian Creeds".
Abstract: "In the span of a mere four decades in the first half of the fifteenth century, Siena produced an unparalleled concentration of ambitious visualizations of the texts of the Christian creeds, realized in commissions for the most powerful patrons of the city-state. The leading communal and ecclesiastical institutions all featured Creed cycles in prominent locations, embedded in coherent and richly symbolic programs. This essay will explore the imagery of these Sienese Creed cycles within their shared tradition and with attention to factors that likely contributed to their individual interpretations. It will demonstrate that within the prescriptive confines of its Creed's content, each of the Sienese renditions was addressed directly to its audience, conceived and employed for specific purposes, and deployed iconography that supported each patron's particular agenda. Reflecting Siena's characteristic blending of religion and politics, the diverse Sienese Credos partake of the political theology of the commune."
In the panel "Politics and Religion: Jesuit and Princely Cooperation in Counter-Reformation Strategies", sponsored by the Society for Early Modern Catholic Studies (9 April, 4.00-5.30 pm, Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 2B), Raffaella Santi (Università degli Studi di Urbino) will be presenting a paper on "The Function of Political Theology in Hobbes's Leviathan".
Abstract: "The English version of Leviathan, written by Thomas Hobbes in Paris during the English Civil War, appeared in London in 1651; while the somewhat revised Latin version was published in Amsterdam in 1668, as the third and final part of the collection of Hobbes's Opera philosophica, Quae latine scripsit, Omnia…(in 2 vols). The main change in both versions of Leviathan, with respect to his previous works on political philosophy – namely The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic and De cive – is the great importance attributed to religious and theological matters, and to political theology. For instance, Hobbes discusses the famous De summo pontifice by Cardinal Bellarmino, re-interpreting many biblical passages through his materialistic theology. Emphasizing the 'chiasmus' rhetorical structure of the four parts of Leviathan, I will argue that the Hobbesian analysis of the holy Scriptures is made in order to ensure a theoretical 'theological' foundation for sovereign power, that reinforces the 'scientific' foundation, based on human nature, carried out in the first two parts of Leviathan."
In the same panel, John H. Smith (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper, "Bellarmine, Kings, and The Church": "As the chief apologist and theologian of the post-Trentine Counter-[R]eformation, the Jesuit cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) systematized the arguments against Protestantism in his monumental Disputations on Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics (1586-89, 1596, 1608). Central to his discussion are the debates over the extent of the church's political power as well as over the religious authority of temporal leaders. Bellarmine strove to find a middle ground, what Hughes Oliphant Old calls a 'baroque synthesis' between Aquinas and Machiavelli, between the ambitions of the popes and the claims of kings and princes across Europe. On the one hand, his writings were at one point placed on the papal index (by Sixtus V) and, on the other, he delivered a powerful response to James I of England against the oath of allegiance. This paper explores Bellarmine's politico-theological arguments, comparing them to the Protestant thinkers he took so seriously. They have continued relevance today for disputations concerning religious vs. secular political authority."
In the panel "Weimar, Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Erich Auerbach and the Quest for European Internationalism", sponsored by the Renaissance Studies Certificate Program at CUNY's Graduate Center (10 April, 2.00-3.30 pm, Biblioteca Marciana), Jane O. Newman (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper on "Modernity, Habitus, Ethics: Worldliness in Auerbach's Dante and Boccaccio".
Abstract: "In his 1921 dissertation on the Renaissance novella, Auerbach maintains that 'this-worldliness' is the essence of the Romance tradition. While the exemplum and fabliau appear to offer anterior models, he claims that it was Dante and his focus in the Commedia on 'secular life' that were the origins of this most 'modern' of genres. My paper investigates the evolution of Auerbach's argument about the relation between Dante and Boccaccio between 1921 and 1946 in the context of the political-theological controversies in Germany during the early twentieth century. In the poetry of Auerbach's exceedingly Thomist Dante, the 'image of man' counterintuitively 'eclipses the image of God' and thus counters the 'spiritualizing' 'figural-Christian' logic associated with Protestant dialectical theology. And yet, it is not clear that the ensuing modern world of Boccaccio's Decameron is much better, ensnared as it is in a habitus of worldly desire with no 'constructive ethical force.'"
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the RSA's website.
www.rsa.org/meetings/annualmeeting.php
A number of papers on political theology will be given at this conference.
Foremost, a panel on "Early Modern and Contemporary Political Theologies", organized by Travis R. DeCook (Carleton University) and chaired by Paul Anthony Stevens (University of Toronto), will take place on 8 April, 9.00-10.30 am (Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 0E).
Abstracts of two papers in this panel: Travis R. DeCook, "Milton and the Post-Postmodern Turn to St. Paul": "Recently, the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou have emphasized the significance of St. Paul's formulation of universalism for our purportedly 'post-political' era. This paper considers the problematic status of Judaism and Jewish identity within this scheme by taking up the function of the Pauline spirit/letter distinction in the writings of John Milton. Specifically, it considers the role played by the notion of Christianity's supersession of the Jewish past in Milton's political writings and the poems Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. These late poems offer a suggestive analogy with Badiou and Zizek, since they reflect on the defeat of Milton's revolutionary hopes. The function of Jewish identity in these texts complicates prevailing understandings of Christian supersession; this paper uncovers how such complications play an important role in Milton's post-Restoration politics, and moreover illuminate and challenge how Pauline universalism gets appropriated in today's political thought."
Jennifer Rebecca Rust (Saint Louis University), "Political Theologies of the Corpus Mysticum: Schmitt, Kantorowicz and de Lubac": "The fate of the corpus mysticum in the work of Carl Schmitt and Ernst Kantorowicz measures the distance between these two theorists' 'political theologies.' Schmitt marginalizes the traditional notion of the collective 'mystical body' of the Church in order to foreground the 'concrete' person of the decisive sovereign, while Kantorowicz implicitly corrects Schmitt by emphasizing the transference of the corpus mysticum from an ecclesiastical to a political context in the premodern period. I identify a third way between these two alternatives in a major source for Kantorowicz's analysis of the corpus mysticum, the twentieth-century Catholic theologian Henri de Lubac. Kantorowicz faithfully reproduces much of de Lubac's argument, but he also subtly misreads de Lubac's claims about the dynamic relationship between Eucharistic and ecclesiastical bodies in the early Church. I consider how the corpus mysticum opens a space for dialogue between contemporary theories of political theology and twentieth-century Catholic resourcement theology."
In the panel "Sessions in Honor of Colin Eisler II: Trecento and Quattrocento Devotional Images" (8 April, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, Fondazione Cini – Sala del Piccolo Teatro), Suzanna B. Simor (City University of New York, Queen's College) will be presenting a paper on "The Credo in Siena: Art, Civic Religion and Politics in Sienese Images of the Christian Creeds".
Abstract: "In the span of a mere four decades in the first half of the fifteenth century, Siena produced an unparalleled concentration of ambitious visualizations of the texts of the Christian creeds, realized in commissions for the most powerful patrons of the city-state. The leading communal and ecclesiastical institutions all featured Creed cycles in prominent locations, embedded in coherent and richly symbolic programs. This essay will explore the imagery of these Sienese Creed cycles within their shared tradition and with attention to factors that likely contributed to their individual interpretations. It will demonstrate that within the prescriptive confines of its Creed's content, each of the Sienese renditions was addressed directly to its audience, conceived and employed for specific purposes, and deployed iconography that supported each patron's particular agenda. Reflecting Siena's characteristic blending of religion and politics, the diverse Sienese Credos partake of the political theology of the commune."
In the panel "Politics and Religion: Jesuit and Princely Cooperation in Counter-Reformation Strategies", sponsored by the Society for Early Modern Catholic Studies (9 April, 4.00-5.30 pm, Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 2B), Raffaella Santi (Università degli Studi di Urbino) will be presenting a paper on "The Function of Political Theology in Hobbes's Leviathan".
Abstract: "The English version of Leviathan, written by Thomas Hobbes in Paris during the English Civil War, appeared in London in 1651; while the somewhat revised Latin version was published in Amsterdam in 1668, as the third and final part of the collection of Hobbes's Opera philosophica, Quae latine scripsit, Omnia…(in 2 vols). The main change in both versions of Leviathan, with respect to his previous works on political philosophy – namely The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic and De cive – is the great importance attributed to religious and theological matters, and to political theology. For instance, Hobbes discusses the famous De summo pontifice by Cardinal Bellarmino, re-interpreting many biblical passages through his materialistic theology. Emphasizing the 'chiasmus' rhetorical structure of the four parts of Leviathan, I will argue that the Hobbesian analysis of the holy Scriptures is made in order to ensure a theoretical 'theological' foundation for sovereign power, that reinforces the 'scientific' foundation, based on human nature, carried out in the first two parts of Leviathan."
In the same panel, John H. Smith (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper, "Bellarmine, Kings, and The Church": "As the chief apologist and theologian of the post-Trentine Counter-[R]eformation, the Jesuit cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) systematized the arguments against Protestantism in his monumental Disputations on Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics (1586-89, 1596, 1608). Central to his discussion are the debates over the extent of the church's political power as well as over the religious authority of temporal leaders. Bellarmine strove to find a middle ground, what Hughes Oliphant Old calls a 'baroque synthesis' between Aquinas and Machiavelli, between the ambitions of the popes and the claims of kings and princes across Europe. On the one hand, his writings were at one point placed on the papal index (by Sixtus V) and, on the other, he delivered a powerful response to James I of England against the oath of allegiance. This paper explores Bellarmine's politico-theological arguments, comparing them to the Protestant thinkers he took so seriously. They have continued relevance today for disputations concerning religious vs. secular political authority."
In the panel "Weimar, Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Erich Auerbach and the Quest for European Internationalism", sponsored by the Renaissance Studies Certificate Program at CUNY's Graduate Center (10 April, 2.00-3.30 pm, Biblioteca Marciana), Jane O. Newman (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper on "Modernity, Habitus, Ethics: Worldliness in Auerbach's Dante and Boccaccio".
Abstract: "In his 1921 dissertation on the Renaissance novella, Auerbach maintains that 'this-worldliness' is the essence of the Romance tradition. While the exemplum and fabliau appear to offer anterior models, he claims that it was Dante and his focus in the Commedia on 'secular life' that were the origins of this most 'modern' of genres. My paper investigates the evolution of Auerbach's argument about the relation between Dante and Boccaccio between 1921 and 1946 in the context of the political-theological controversies in Germany during the early twentieth century. In the poetry of Auerbach's exceedingly Thomist Dante, the 'image of man' counterintuitively 'eclipses the image of God' and thus counters the 'spiritualizing' 'figural-Christian' logic associated with Protestant dialectical theology. And yet, it is not clear that the ensuing modern world of Boccaccio's Decameron is much better, ensnared as it is in a habitus of worldly desire with no 'constructive ethical force.'"
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the RSA's website.
CFP: No!: Subjectivity and Agency in Muslim Rights/Rites of Negation
7th Annual Duke-UNC Graduate Islamic Studies Conference, at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA, 27-28 February 2010
Call for papers: "No!: Subjectivity and Agency in Muslim Rights/Rites of Negation"
Graduate students in Islamic Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are now accepting papers for this conference, including such on Muslim political theologies.
Keynote speaker: Kecia Ali (Boston University)
"And when a limit is established, norms and interdictions are not far behind" – Jacques Derrida
The concept and practice of "No!" can establish barriers and break them down. As Georges Bataille explained, "No" can be passive negation or active rebellion. Who gets to refuse and how they do so involves subjectivity – ways in which individuals relate to themselves and the other. The act of negation enacts the affirmation of possible alternatives. Such acts range from Satan's refusal to bow before Adam to a wife's legal inability to refuse her husband's sexual overtures in Muslim jurisprudence. In ordinary life, individuals enunciate negation through multiple media, including expressions of tact and satire. In politics, the state expresses its agency by codifying certain political ideologies, while individuals actualize their agency by negating or affirming them. Practices of negation, refusal, and dissent both constitute and are constituted by subjectivity and society. This connection has often been overlooked in recent studies of Islam.
Therefore, the organizers of this conference welcome diverse approaches to examine negation, agency, and the subject in the study of classical, medieval, and contemporary Islamicate contexts. They are particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to this theme with regards to Muslim political theologies, Islamic textual canons, and Muslim minorities, including those of gender, sexuality, race, and class.
In addition to formal papers, they also welcome films related to theme of the conference.
Possible paper/film topics may include: Refusal or appropriation of normative categories of gender and sexuality; Approaches to difference in Muslim intellectual history; The construction of Sunni and Shi'a theology through mutual refusal; The role of dissent in contemporary Muslim politics; Rejection of Arabized Muslim identity; Negation as a hermeneutical tool in the construction of authority in jurisprudential methodology; Re-defining collective Muslim narratives and representations; Appropriation or negation of legal rulings through the utilization of objectives of Islamic law; Annihilating the self in Sufism; Muslim dissent as political threat; Asceticism and martyrdom as socio-political refusal in early Sufism; Disavowal of Muslim minorities; Refusing racial categories within Islam; Turns from Ash'arite theological hegemony in contemporary Sunnism; Appropriations and negations of the Muslim past in contemporary apologetic discourses.
The conference will proceed in an interactive workshop format. Those invited to present papers are asked to remain for the duration of the conference in order to engage the work of fellow participants.
To apply, please send a proposal of no more than 500 words (double spaced), the paper title, and your Curriculum Vitae to: dukeuncconf@gmail.com
Deadline for submissions: 15 December 2009
Organizers: Brandon Gorman (Department of Sociology, UNC-Chapel Hill), Matthew Hotham (Department of Religious Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill), Nadia Khan (Department of Religion, Duke University), Ali Altaf Mian (Department of Religion, Duke University), and Saadia Yacoob (Department of Religion, Duke University)
Call for papers: "No!: Subjectivity and Agency in Muslim Rights/Rites of Negation"
Graduate students in Islamic Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are now accepting papers for this conference, including such on Muslim political theologies.
Keynote speaker: Kecia Ali (Boston University)
"And when a limit is established, norms and interdictions are not far behind" – Jacques Derrida
The concept and practice of "No!" can establish barriers and break them down. As Georges Bataille explained, "No" can be passive negation or active rebellion. Who gets to refuse and how they do so involves subjectivity – ways in which individuals relate to themselves and the other. The act of negation enacts the affirmation of possible alternatives. Such acts range from Satan's refusal to bow before Adam to a wife's legal inability to refuse her husband's sexual overtures in Muslim jurisprudence. In ordinary life, individuals enunciate negation through multiple media, including expressions of tact and satire. In politics, the state expresses its agency by codifying certain political ideologies, while individuals actualize their agency by negating or affirming them. Practices of negation, refusal, and dissent both constitute and are constituted by subjectivity and society. This connection has often been overlooked in recent studies of Islam.
Therefore, the organizers of this conference welcome diverse approaches to examine negation, agency, and the subject in the study of classical, medieval, and contemporary Islamicate contexts. They are particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to this theme with regards to Muslim political theologies, Islamic textual canons, and Muslim minorities, including those of gender, sexuality, race, and class.
In addition to formal papers, they also welcome films related to theme of the conference.
Possible paper/film topics may include: Refusal or appropriation of normative categories of gender and sexuality; Approaches to difference in Muslim intellectual history; The construction of Sunni and Shi'a theology through mutual refusal; The role of dissent in contemporary Muslim politics; Rejection of Arabized Muslim identity; Negation as a hermeneutical tool in the construction of authority in jurisprudential methodology; Re-defining collective Muslim narratives and representations; Appropriation or negation of legal rulings through the utilization of objectives of Islamic law; Annihilating the self in Sufism; Muslim dissent as political threat; Asceticism and martyrdom as socio-political refusal in early Sufism; Disavowal of Muslim minorities; Refusing racial categories within Islam; Turns from Ash'arite theological hegemony in contemporary Sunnism; Appropriations and negations of the Muslim past in contemporary apologetic discourses.
The conference will proceed in an interactive workshop format. Those invited to present papers are asked to remain for the duration of the conference in order to engage the work of fellow participants.
To apply, please send a proposal of no more than 500 words (double spaced), the paper title, and your Curriculum Vitae to: dukeuncconf@gmail.com
Deadline for submissions: 15 December 2009
Organizers: Brandon Gorman (Department of Sociology, UNC-Chapel Hill), Matthew Hotham (Department of Religious Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill), Nadia Khan (Department of Religion, Duke University), Ali Altaf Mian (Department of Religion, Duke University), and Saadia Yacoob (Department of Religion, Duke University)
01 December 2009
CONF: Political Theology for the 21st Century? Trends and Tasks
International conference organized by the International Research Network on Religion and Democracy (IRNRD), at Corvinus University of Budapest, Institute of Political Science, Közraktár utca 4-6, Room 510, 1093 Budapest, Hungary, 14-15 December 2009
The manifold developments that characterize the contemporary cultural, political, and religious scenery have recently engendered intensive attention concerning political theology – taking this term in the widest possible sense. New trends and traditional ideas equally colour these movements for reinventing and redefining the tasks of political theology in the current era. The conference's main purpose is to give a rich, though not exhaustive, overview of some contemporary theoretical approaches related to this topic in philosophy, theology, and political theory.
The conference starts at 8.45 am on 14 December and ends with lunch on 15 December.
Presentations (in five panels) include: "The Secular Sphere in Western Theology – A Historical Reconsideration" (Matthias Riedl, Central European University); "Liberation Theology in Latin America and its Theological Legacies" (David Tombs, Trinity College Dublin); "Metzean Categories for a Politics of Peace" (Péter Losonczi, University of West Hungary); "The Political Theology of Navayana Buddhism" (Aakash Singh, LUISS University, Rome); "Laestadianism: Political Theology and Civil Religion in Secularizing Finland" (Mika Luoma-aho, University of Lapland); "Active and Non-violent Resistance and the Jesus of Nazareth" (András Csepregi, Evangelical Lutheran Theological University, Budapest); "The Interruption of Political Theology" (Lieven Boeve, Catholic University Leuven); "What is Radical Orthodoxy?" (Catherine Pickstock, Cambridge, read out in absentia); "Political Theology and its Discontents" (Michael Hoelzl, University of Manchester); "The Politics of Kant's Religion" (Tom Bailey, John Cabot University, Rome); "Separation Between State and Church and Unity Between Religion and Politics: A Contribution to the Current Debate from a Hegelian Perspective" (Peter Jonkers, Tilburg University); "Neutralizing and Politicizing of Religion: The Actuality of Carl Schmitt's Definition of the Problem" (Theo de Wit, Tilburg University); "Nature, Metaphysics, and Political Wisdom" (András Lánczi, Corvinus University); "Religion, Politics, and the Classroom Walls" (Domenico Melidoro, LUISS University); as well as a panel discussion on "Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Caritas in Veritate" with Lieven Boeve, Michael Hoelzl, and Peter Jonkers.
Contact: Péter Losonczi (University of West Hungary, Szombathely): lospeter@yahoo.com
The manifold developments that characterize the contemporary cultural, political, and religious scenery have recently engendered intensive attention concerning political theology – taking this term in the widest possible sense. New trends and traditional ideas equally colour these movements for reinventing and redefining the tasks of political theology in the current era. The conference's main purpose is to give a rich, though not exhaustive, overview of some contemporary theoretical approaches related to this topic in philosophy, theology, and political theory.
The conference starts at 8.45 am on 14 December and ends with lunch on 15 December.
Presentations (in five panels) include: "The Secular Sphere in Western Theology – A Historical Reconsideration" (Matthias Riedl, Central European University); "Liberation Theology in Latin America and its Theological Legacies" (David Tombs, Trinity College Dublin); "Metzean Categories for a Politics of Peace" (Péter Losonczi, University of West Hungary); "The Political Theology of Navayana Buddhism" (Aakash Singh, LUISS University, Rome); "Laestadianism: Political Theology and Civil Religion in Secularizing Finland" (Mika Luoma-aho, University of Lapland); "Active and Non-violent Resistance and the Jesus of Nazareth" (András Csepregi, Evangelical Lutheran Theological University, Budapest); "The Interruption of Political Theology" (Lieven Boeve, Catholic University Leuven); "What is Radical Orthodoxy?" (Catherine Pickstock, Cambridge, read out in absentia); "Political Theology and its Discontents" (Michael Hoelzl, University of Manchester); "The Politics of Kant's Religion" (Tom Bailey, John Cabot University, Rome); "Separation Between State and Church and Unity Between Religion and Politics: A Contribution to the Current Debate from a Hegelian Perspective" (Peter Jonkers, Tilburg University); "Neutralizing and Politicizing of Religion: The Actuality of Carl Schmitt's Definition of the Problem" (Theo de Wit, Tilburg University); "Nature, Metaphysics, and Political Wisdom" (András Lánczi, Corvinus University); "Religion, Politics, and the Classroom Walls" (Domenico Melidoro, LUISS University); as well as a panel discussion on "Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Caritas in Veritate" with Lieven Boeve, Michael Hoelzl, and Peter Jonkers.
Contact: Péter Losonczi (University of West Hungary, Szombathely): lospeter@yahoo.com
23 November 2009
Habermas on political theology (audio)
This autumn, renowned German philosopher Jürgen Habermas gave a doctoral seminar at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, "From Political Theology to the Political Philosophy of Religion".
In addition, on 22 October 2009 a symposium took place at New York University (NYU) titled "Rethinking Secularism: The Power of Religion in the Public Square", with presentations by Habermas, Judith Butler, Charles Taylor, and Cornel West. Habermas' paper bore the title: "'The Political' – The Rational Sense of a Questionable Inheritance of Political Theology".
The US Social Science Research Council (SSRC), a co-sponsor of the symposium, has now made the audio of all presentations at this conference (including Habermas' thoughts on political theology) available online:
http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2009/11/02/rethinking-secularism-audio/
Here's Habermas' course description for Stony Brook (a concise summary of his philosophical programme in this area): "This seminar will begin with a systematic comparison of two great German figures in first half of the last century, Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt. Both stand for polar positions, one putting Classical Antiquity against monotheism, the other defending a return to a pre-Hobbesian Catholicism. Then we will engage the work of two important theologians, each representing different version of political theology, from the theological camp: Gustavo Gutierrez and Johann Baptist Metz. These comparisons then will be juxtaposed to recent discussions in the United States about public role of religion, especially as it is taken up in the work of Wolterstorff. The seminar, thus, moves from political theology formulated from without theology, to political theology formulated from within, to then conclude with a political philosophical analysis of religion in the public sphere that is agnostic and abstemious about theological claims."
In addition, on 22 October 2009 a symposium took place at New York University (NYU) titled "Rethinking Secularism: The Power of Religion in the Public Square", with presentations by Habermas, Judith Butler, Charles Taylor, and Cornel West. Habermas' paper bore the title: "'The Political' – The Rational Sense of a Questionable Inheritance of Political Theology".
The US Social Science Research Council (SSRC), a co-sponsor of the symposium, has now made the audio of all presentations at this conference (including Habermas' thoughts on political theology) available online:
http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2009/11/02/rethinking-secularism-audio/
Here's Habermas' course description for Stony Brook (a concise summary of his philosophical programme in this area): "This seminar will begin with a systematic comparison of two great German figures in first half of the last century, Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt. Both stand for polar positions, one putting Classical Antiquity against monotheism, the other defending a return to a pre-Hobbesian Catholicism. Then we will engage the work of two important theologians, each representing different version of political theology, from the theological camp: Gustavo Gutierrez and Johann Baptist Metz. These comparisons then will be juxtaposed to recent discussions in the United States about public role of religion, especially as it is taken up in the work of Wolterstorff. The seminar, thus, moves from political theology formulated from without theology, to political theology formulated from within, to then conclude with a political philosophical analysis of religion in the public sphere that is agnostic and abstemious about theological claims."
22 November 2009
Islamic liberation theology author and "Radicals" amongst most influential Muslims
South African Farid Esack, author of "Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism: an Islamic perspective of interreligious solidarity against oppression" (Oneworld Publications, 1997), has been named one of the world's most influential Muslims.
"The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World" is a 2009 publication by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC) in Jordan and Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Washington, DC, USA. The book, which is available free of charge online, was edited by Prof John L. Esposito and Prof Ibrahim Kalin (both Georgetown):
www.rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf
Esack, recently a Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School and identified by the book's editors as "a professor at the University of Johannesburg" (although he appears not now to be listed on that university's website), has found mention in two categories: "Scholarly" and "Issues of the Day".
There is also a whole category of "Radicals" amongst the most influential Muslims, including all the usual suspects, who will subscribe to a form of fundamentalist Islamic political theology entirely different from Esack's.
"The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World" is a 2009 publication by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC) in Jordan and Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Washington, DC, USA. The book, which is available free of charge online, was edited by Prof John L. Esposito and Prof Ibrahim Kalin (both Georgetown):
www.rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf
Esack, recently a Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School and identified by the book's editors as "a professor at the University of Johannesburg" (although he appears not now to be listed on that university's website), has found mention in two categories: "Scholarly" and "Issues of the Day".
There is also a whole category of "Radicals" amongst the most influential Muslims, including all the usual suspects, who will subscribe to a form of fundamentalist Islamic political theology entirely different from Esack's.
20 November 2009
CONF: Political Theology, Pastoral Politics and Leadership
Bilingual Conference "Political Theology, Pastoral Politics and Leadership / La théologie politique, le pastoral politique et le leadership en Afrique" of the Christian organization African Operation (OPERAF), in Pretoria, South Africa, 1-15 October 2010
www.ao-operaf.com/conference2010.html
According to their website, OPERAF works "towards transforming leadership in Africa to equip and to mobilise leaders to improve the wellbeing of the citizens of their respective countries and also the wellbeing of all Africa". Unfortunately, I cannot find any other information about this organization.
They invite the following participants: "Pastors who have politicians and decision makers in their congregation [and/or are] spiritual counsellors of politicians (presidents of the countries, ministers and other decision makers[) and] want to influence the politicians; [l]eaders of the denominations ([b]ishops, general secretaries, moderators etc.); [t]he professors of theological institutions; [also pastors who have themselves] engagement in politics". The expected 100 participants from fifty African countries and the Diaspora will be discussing the question: "After 50 years of African independence, what have spiritual leaders done and what do they have to do in the next 10 years with regards to political leaders?"
"The conference is organized as an open discussion forum and provides scope for participants to explore the subject in [depth]. [After] presentations by acclaim[ed] experts in different field[s] of theology and politics during the first days of the conference, participants will be divided into groups to work out the core issues from the focus points of [the] conference.
"The conference will also provide various opportunities to engage participants in sharing experiences and articulating different perspectives of Christians in politics and transformation of Africa.
"It will [include] round table panel discussions and break-out sessions, interactive dialogue and workshops. The prophetic voices in Africa and other spiritual leaders in politics will share their experiences. It will be the time for [s]cholars, experts, strategists and practitioners [to] learn, strategise and make plan[s] together".
Visits to Soweto, the South African Presidency, ministries, and other places of interest are also planned.
For two weeks accommodation, food, transport in South Africa, conference materials and documents, they charge $1000. Travel to South Africa and visa fees "are the responsibility of the participant, their church or organisation".
I would like to trust that the bad English of the website and conference announcement is due to the fact that OPERAF mainly operates in French-speaking parts of Africa, but the French version appears to be just as faulty. They promise: "We have one year to prepare this great meeting", but you will want to proceed with caution.
If you are interested to participate, please complete and submit the enquiry form on their website.
www.ao-operaf.com/conference2010.html
According to their website, OPERAF works "towards transforming leadership in Africa to equip and to mobilise leaders to improve the wellbeing of the citizens of their respective countries and also the wellbeing of all Africa". Unfortunately, I cannot find any other information about this organization.
They invite the following participants: "Pastors who have politicians and decision makers in their congregation [and/or are] spiritual counsellors of politicians (presidents of the countries, ministers and other decision makers[) and] want to influence the politicians; [l]eaders of the denominations ([b]ishops, general secretaries, moderators etc.); [t]he professors of theological institutions; [also pastors who have themselves] engagement in politics". The expected 100 participants from fifty African countries and the Diaspora will be discussing the question: "After 50 years of African independence, what have spiritual leaders done and what do they have to do in the next 10 years with regards to political leaders?"
"The conference is organized as an open discussion forum and provides scope for participants to explore the subject in [depth]. [After] presentations by acclaim[ed] experts in different field[s] of theology and politics during the first days of the conference, participants will be divided into groups to work out the core issues from the focus points of [the] conference.
"The conference will also provide various opportunities to engage participants in sharing experiences and articulating different perspectives of Christians in politics and transformation of Africa.
"It will [include] round table panel discussions and break-out sessions, interactive dialogue and workshops. The prophetic voices in Africa and other spiritual leaders in politics will share their experiences. It will be the time for [s]cholars, experts, strategists and practitioners [to] learn, strategise and make plan[s] together".
Visits to Soweto, the South African Presidency, ministries, and other places of interest are also planned.
For two weeks accommodation, food, transport in South Africa, conference materials and documents, they charge $1000. Travel to South Africa and visa fees "are the responsibility of the participant, their church or organisation".
I would like to trust that the bad English of the website and conference announcement is due to the fact that OPERAF mainly operates in French-speaking parts of Africa, but the French version appears to be just as faulty. They promise: "We have one year to prepare this great meeting", but you will want to proceed with caution.
If you are interested to participate, please complete and submit the enquiry form on their website.
09 November 2009
Recent books on German "new political theology"
Volume 5 of the German "Jahrbuch Politische Theologie" (literally, "Yearbook" Political Theology, but only really published four times since 1995) was released in 2008 under the title "Politische Theologie – gegengelesen" (hard to translate, as "gegenlesen" can mean anything from proof-reading to cross-examination; the book's intention seems to lie in corrections, criticism, expansion, even a re-focusing).
The volume's co-editor – with Bernd Wacker –, Jürgen Manemann (Professor of Christian Weltanschauung, Religious and Cultural Theory at the University of Erfurt), is a former student of Johann Baptist Metz, who introduced the concept of "new political theology" in the 1960s (without obvious reference to Carl Schmitt's prior "old" political theology). Manemann and Wacker are also involved in the running of the "Ahauser Forum Politische Theologie", a series of events that have been organized sporadically in the German town of Ahaus since 1998.
This book has now become available for perusal on Google Book Search:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XCAxxyXHtOYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
There you will also find a list of contents and contributors.
On occasion of Metz' 80th birthday last year, the LIT Verlag (publishers of the "Jahrbuch" series) also released, in 2009, an edited collection, "Theologisch-politische Vergewisserungen: Ein Arbeitsbuch aus dem Schüler- und Freundeskreis von Johann Baptist Metz" (Theological-political [self-]re-assurances/verifications: a workbook from the circle of students and friends of Johann Baptist Metz), edited by Thomas Polednitschek, Michael J. Rainer, and José Antonio Zamora:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a4GcbbBQCbQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Like the "Jahrbuch", this collection seeks to re-assess and further develop Metz' concept of a political theology "after Auschwitz", influenced by Marxism, defined by the "dangerous memory" of the suffering of humans and Christ alike, confronting both the past and the future.
Two more monographs on political theology have already been announced by the LIT Verlag and will be published shortly: Thomas Polednitschek's "Der politische Sokrates: Erfahrungen eines Philosophischen Praktikers an der Grenze zu Psychotherapie und Politischer Theologie" (The political Socrates: Experiences of a philosophical practitioner on the border to psychotherapy and political theology); and Seok-Guy Lee's "'Leidenserinnerung' in der Politischen Theologie von J.B. Metz und 'Leiderfahrung' in der Minjung-Theologie Südkoreas" ("Memory of suffering" in the political theology of J.B. Metz and "experience of suffering" in the Minjung theology of South Korea).
The volume's co-editor – with Bernd Wacker –, Jürgen Manemann (Professor of Christian Weltanschauung, Religious and Cultural Theory at the University of Erfurt), is a former student of Johann Baptist Metz, who introduced the concept of "new political theology" in the 1960s (without obvious reference to Carl Schmitt's prior "old" political theology). Manemann and Wacker are also involved in the running of the "Ahauser Forum Politische Theologie", a series of events that have been organized sporadically in the German town of Ahaus since 1998.
This book has now become available for perusal on Google Book Search:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XCAxxyXHtOYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
There you will also find a list of contents and contributors.
On occasion of Metz' 80th birthday last year, the LIT Verlag (publishers of the "Jahrbuch" series) also released, in 2009, an edited collection, "Theologisch-politische Vergewisserungen: Ein Arbeitsbuch aus dem Schüler- und Freundeskreis von Johann Baptist Metz" (Theological-political [self-]re-assurances/verifications: a workbook from the circle of students and friends of Johann Baptist Metz), edited by Thomas Polednitschek, Michael J. Rainer, and José Antonio Zamora:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a4GcbbBQCbQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Like the "Jahrbuch", this collection seeks to re-assess and further develop Metz' concept of a political theology "after Auschwitz", influenced by Marxism, defined by the "dangerous memory" of the suffering of humans and Christ alike, confronting both the past and the future.
Two more monographs on political theology have already been announced by the LIT Verlag and will be published shortly: Thomas Polednitschek's "Der politische Sokrates: Erfahrungen eines Philosophischen Praktikers an der Grenze zu Psychotherapie und Politischer Theologie" (The political Socrates: Experiences of a philosophical practitioner on the border to psychotherapy and political theology); and Seok-Guy Lee's "'Leidenserinnerung' in der Politischen Theologie von J.B. Metz und 'Leiderfahrung' in der Minjung-Theologie Südkoreas" ("Memory of suffering" in the political theology of J.B. Metz and "experience of suffering" in the Minjung theology of South Korea).
08 November 2009
Public lecture: The Cosmopolitan Neighborhood
Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 296, Portland, Oregon, USA, 19 November 2009, 6.30 pm
Kenneth Reinhard (UCLA) will be speaking on "The Cosmopolitan Neighborhood: Political Theological Models for Living in an Open World".
www.publichumanities.pdx.edu/ResearchGroups/cosmo.html
What does the simultaneously political and theological imperative to "love thy neighbor" suggest to us in the challenging contemporary era of globalization? What philosophical and ethical trajectories can be drawn from the ancient injunction of the Book of Leviticus to the arena of the international community?
For Kenneth Reinhard, an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA, "neighbor love" is as a core element in what he understands to be the tradition of "political theology" in the West.
Reinhard is an expert in early modern English literature, Shakespeare, psychoanalysis, Jewish studies, and critical theory. He is the author, with Slavoj Žižek and Eric Santner, of "The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology" (University of Chicago Press, 2005). Currently, he is writing a book on the ethics of the neighbor in religion (Torah, Talmud, and Patristic writings), philosophy (Kant, Kierkegaard, Adorno, Rosenzweig, and Levinas), and psychoanalysis (Freud and Lacan) for Princeton University Press.
If you have any questions regarding this event, please feel free to contact the Portland Center for Public Humanities: publichumanities@pdx.edu
The event is free and open to the public.
Kenneth Reinhard (UCLA) will be speaking on "The Cosmopolitan Neighborhood: Political Theological Models for Living in an Open World".
www.publichumanities.pdx.edu/ResearchGroups/cosmo.html
What does the simultaneously political and theological imperative to "love thy neighbor" suggest to us in the challenging contemporary era of globalization? What philosophical and ethical trajectories can be drawn from the ancient injunction of the Book of Leviticus to the arena of the international community?
For Kenneth Reinhard, an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA, "neighbor love" is as a core element in what he understands to be the tradition of "political theology" in the West.
Reinhard is an expert in early modern English literature, Shakespeare, psychoanalysis, Jewish studies, and critical theory. He is the author, with Slavoj Žižek and Eric Santner, of "The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology" (University of Chicago Press, 2005). Currently, he is writing a book on the ethics of the neighbor in religion (Torah, Talmud, and Patristic writings), philosophy (Kant, Kierkegaard, Adorno, Rosenzweig, and Levinas), and psychoanalysis (Freud and Lacan) for Princeton University Press.
If you have any questions regarding this event, please feel free to contact the Portland Center for Public Humanities: publichumanities@pdx.edu
The event is free and open to the public.
07 November 2009
Journal "Letter & Spirit" on political theology
Volume Five of the "Letter & Spirit" journal – a publication of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology in Steubenville, Ohio, USA – is concerned with "Liturgy and Empire: Faith in Exile and Political Theology" (Emmaus Road Publishing, 5 November 2009):
www.salvationhistory.com/letter_and_spirit_archive/letter_spirit_volume_5_2009
Publisher's description: "This is the fifth annual volume of the remarkably popular journal of biblical theology edited by Scott Hahn [...]. This volume features important new works by Hahn, Brant Pitre, Matthew Levering, and Robert Barron, among others. The issue explores the biblical themes of Church and state; idolatry and power; religion and violence; worship and sacrifice; the Kingdom of God; and the Eucharist. Highlights include Hahn's new essay on the 'prophetic historiography' of 1 and 2 Chronicles; and Pitre's essay on 'Jesus, the Messianic Banquet, and the Kingdom of God.' The journal, which always seeks to reprint classic texts alongside groundbreaking new works, this time includes a new translation of St. Thomas Aquinas 'Lectures on 2 Thessalonians' – the first time this work has been translated into English. Also included are an influential work by Louis Bouyer on 'Satan and Christ in the New Testament and Early Tradition.' The volume concludes with a classic homily by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI on the 'morality of exile.'"
The journal's editor, Scott Hahn, is Founder, President, and Chairman of the Board of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, as well as Chair of Biblical Theology and Liturgical Proclamation at Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and Professor of Scripture and Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. According to the Center's website, he "is one of the world's most successful Catholic authors and teachers", with "more than one million books and tapes in print worldwide".
www.salvationhistory.com/letter_and_spirit_archive/letter_spirit_volume_5_2009
Publisher's description: "This is the fifth annual volume of the remarkably popular journal of biblical theology edited by Scott Hahn [...]. This volume features important new works by Hahn, Brant Pitre, Matthew Levering, and Robert Barron, among others. The issue explores the biblical themes of Church and state; idolatry and power; religion and violence; worship and sacrifice; the Kingdom of God; and the Eucharist. Highlights include Hahn's new essay on the 'prophetic historiography' of 1 and 2 Chronicles; and Pitre's essay on 'Jesus, the Messianic Banquet, and the Kingdom of God.' The journal, which always seeks to reprint classic texts alongside groundbreaking new works, this time includes a new translation of St. Thomas Aquinas 'Lectures on 2 Thessalonians' – the first time this work has been translated into English. Also included are an influential work by Louis Bouyer on 'Satan and Christ in the New Testament and Early Tradition.' The volume concludes with a classic homily by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI on the 'morality of exile.'"
The journal's editor, Scott Hahn, is Founder, President, and Chairman of the Board of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, as well as Chair of Biblical Theology and Liturgical Proclamation at Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and Professor of Scripture and Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. According to the Center's website, he "is one of the world's most successful Catholic authors and teachers", with "more than one million books and tapes in print worldwide".
Book: "Transforming Atonement: A Political Theology of the Cross"
In April 2009, Fortress Press published "Transforming Atonement: A Political Theology of the Cross" by Theodore W. Jennings, Jr. (Professor of Biblical and Constructive Theology, Chicago Theological Seminary):
www.augsburgfortress.org/store/item.jsp?clsid=196416&productgroupid=0&isbn=0800663500
Publisher's description: "Many books on the Christian doctrine of atonement have been published in recent years. Some point out the difficulties of traditional atonement theories; others attempt a revision of one of the classical three types; others attempt to combine aspects of these types.
"Jennings attempts something new: by approaching the question of the meaning of the cross through close attention to the biblical passages that serve as the basis of any reflection on the cross of Jesus and an engagement with patristic as well as contemporary discussion. The result is an alternative theology of the cross that grounds the message concerning the cross in the socio-political reality in which it was historically located and points to the way in which this message bears upon contemporary social and ecclesial reality.
"Jennings's truly fresh understanding for Christians of the meaning of Jesus' death specifically grounds the cross in the concrete political confrontation within which it occurred, relates the message about the cross to the practice of Jesus (thus keeping in relationship the gospels and the theology of Paul), and shows how the cross bears on overcoming of human division and sin, reconciliation to God, and new forms of social reality in the community of the crucified."
www.augsburgfortress.org/store/item.jsp?clsid=196416&productgroupid=0&isbn=0800663500
Publisher's description: "Many books on the Christian doctrine of atonement have been published in recent years. Some point out the difficulties of traditional atonement theories; others attempt a revision of one of the classical three types; others attempt to combine aspects of these types.
"Jennings attempts something new: by approaching the question of the meaning of the cross through close attention to the biblical passages that serve as the basis of any reflection on the cross of Jesus and an engagement with patristic as well as contemporary discussion. The result is an alternative theology of the cross that grounds the message concerning the cross in the socio-political reality in which it was historically located and points to the way in which this message bears upon contemporary social and ecclesial reality.
"Jennings's truly fresh understanding for Christians of the meaning of Jesus' death specifically grounds the cross in the concrete political confrontation within which it occurred, relates the message about the cross to the practice of Jesus (thus keeping in relationship the gospels and the theology of Paul), and shows how the cross bears on overcoming of human division and sin, reconciliation to God, and new forms of social reality in the community of the crucified."
Book: "God and Government"
The Kirby Lang Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE) in Cambridge, UK, runs a two-year project on political theology in partnership with the London-based public theology think tank Theos, funded by two private trusts.
http://klice.co.uk/index.php/projects
The first phase of the project is the publication of a book on the theology of government written by specialists but aimed at political practitioners and anyone interested in a Christian perspective on British politics.
"God and Government", edited by Nick Spencer and Jonathan Chaplin, has been published by SPCK Publishing on 1 October 2009:
www.spck.org.uk/cat/show.php?9780281060719
Publisher's description: "What, according to Christian thought, is the proper function of government? That is the key question this lively volume aims to address. It does not tell readers what to do, still less who to vote for. Rather, it seeks to equip us to think through what we in our roles as 'political Christians' (that is, Christians employed, engaged or simply interested in politics) should be attempting to achieve."
Contributors to this book – "all highly respected theological thinkers", according to KLICE – include: Philip Booth (Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Cass Business School, City University London); Andrew Bradstock (Professor of Theology and Public Life, University of Otago); Jonathan Chaplin (Director of KLICE); David McIlroy (Visiting Lecturer in Law at SOAS); Clifford Longley (author, broadcaster, and journalist); Julian Rivers (Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Bristol); Nick Spencer (Director of Studies at Theos); Nicholas Townsend (Lecturer in Christian Ethics, South East Institute for Theological Education); Nigel G. Wright (Principal of Spurgeon's College); and Tom Wright (Bishop of Durham).
Although not mentioned on the publisher's website, Archbishop Rowan Williams was, according to KLICE, to write a Preface for the book. They also state that the second phase of their political theology project consists of the official launch of the book at a political event, followed by other seminars and discussions in various settings. A complimentary copy of the book is to be distributed to several hundred MPs and Peers known to have interest in Christian political thought.
http://klice.co.uk/index.php/projects
The first phase of the project is the publication of a book on the theology of government written by specialists but aimed at political practitioners and anyone interested in a Christian perspective on British politics.
"God and Government", edited by Nick Spencer and Jonathan Chaplin, has been published by SPCK Publishing on 1 October 2009:
www.spck.org.uk/cat/show.php?9780281060719
Publisher's description: "What, according to Christian thought, is the proper function of government? That is the key question this lively volume aims to address. It does not tell readers what to do, still less who to vote for. Rather, it seeks to equip us to think through what we in our roles as 'political Christians' (that is, Christians employed, engaged or simply interested in politics) should be attempting to achieve."
Contributors to this book – "all highly respected theological thinkers", according to KLICE – include: Philip Booth (Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Cass Business School, City University London); Andrew Bradstock (Professor of Theology and Public Life, University of Otago); Jonathan Chaplin (Director of KLICE); David McIlroy (Visiting Lecturer in Law at SOAS); Clifford Longley (author, broadcaster, and journalist); Julian Rivers (Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Bristol); Nick Spencer (Director of Studies at Theos); Nicholas Townsend (Lecturer in Christian Ethics, South East Institute for Theological Education); Nigel G. Wright (Principal of Spurgeon's College); and Tom Wright (Bishop of Durham).
Although not mentioned on the publisher's website, Archbishop Rowan Williams was, according to KLICE, to write a Preface for the book. They also state that the second phase of their political theology project consists of the official launch of the book at a political event, followed by other seminars and discussions in various settings. A complimentary copy of the book is to be distributed to several hundred MPs and Peers known to have interest in Christian political thought.
CONF: Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s)
Symposium "Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s)", at the University of Tennessee, Baker Center for Public Policy, Toyota Auditorium, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, 26-27 February 2010
Over a period of fifty years, John Rawls developed and gave voice to the most powerful and systematic moral theory of constitutional liberal democracy since John Stuart Mill's work a century earlier. The recent publication of Rawls' undergraduate thesis, "A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith", has encouraged a profitable re-reading of his political philosophy in the context and light of his personal and scholarly engagement with theological ethics and political theology in general and Christianity in particular.
Building on this development, "Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s)" aims to shed further light on Rawls' work by situating it within multiple disciplinary contexts. Symposium speakers will address the relationships between Rawls' thought and twentieth-century developments in economics and political economy, in analytic philosophy, in American pragmatist thought, in normative theorizing of American foreign policy and international relations, and in theological ethics and political theology.
Symposium speakers, each an expert on Rawls' work, include:
- Jerry Gaus (James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona)
- Richard Miller (Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University)
- David Reidy (Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Tennessee)
- Robert Talisse (Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Vanderbilt University)
- Paul Weithman (Professor of Philosophy, Notre Dame University)
Sessions are free and open to the public. Schedule details will be available late fall 2009. For further information, please contact David Reidy: dreidy@utk.edu
The Symposium is sponsored by the Office of Research, the School of Law, the Baker Center for Public Policy, the departments of Philosophy and Political Science, and the American Studies programme, all at the University of Tennessee.
Over a period of fifty years, John Rawls developed and gave voice to the most powerful and systematic moral theory of constitutional liberal democracy since John Stuart Mill's work a century earlier. The recent publication of Rawls' undergraduate thesis, "A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith", has encouraged a profitable re-reading of his political philosophy in the context and light of his personal and scholarly engagement with theological ethics and political theology in general and Christianity in particular.
Building on this development, "Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s)" aims to shed further light on Rawls' work by situating it within multiple disciplinary contexts. Symposium speakers will address the relationships between Rawls' thought and twentieth-century developments in economics and political economy, in analytic philosophy, in American pragmatist thought, in normative theorizing of American foreign policy and international relations, and in theological ethics and political theology.
Symposium speakers, each an expert on Rawls' work, include:
- Jerry Gaus (James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona)
- Richard Miller (Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University)
- David Reidy (Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Tennessee)
- Robert Talisse (Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Vanderbilt University)
- Paul Weithman (Professor of Philosophy, Notre Dame University)
Sessions are free and open to the public. Schedule details will be available late fall 2009. For further information, please contact David Reidy: dreidy@utk.edu
The Symposium is sponsored by the Office of Research, the School of Law, the Baker Center for Public Policy, the departments of Philosophy and Political Science, and the American Studies programme, all at the University of Tennessee.
CFP: Mysticism and Politics
56th annual convention of the College Theology Society (CTS), at the University of Portland, in Portland, Oregon, USA, 3-6 June 2010
www.collegetheology.org/index.php/annual-convention
A seminar section on "Mysticism and Politics" is to be organized for this conference.
Papers are invited that address any of the following questions, which relate to this year's conference theme, "Religion, Economics, and Culture in Conflict and Conversation": 1) What difference does mystical-political theology make to how Christian theologians interpret the enactment of economics, culture, and religion in a globalized world? For example, must we ask who suffers in a globalized economy and how their memory interrupts cultural amnesia? 2) How does mystical-political theology critique dominant forms of globalization? 3) How does mystical-political theology suggest that Christians respond to the concrete material conditions of suffering in a globalized world?
Priority will be given to those papers that not only utilize primary sources of political theology, but that construct a political theology that is responsive to North American reality. The section convenors' goal is to propose an edited collection for publication.
The call for papers for the entire conference additionally states that sections welcome all proposals, but papers that are devoted to the convention theme or that relate specifically to the direction set by a particular section may receive priority. Presentations that require computer availability or audio/visual aids should state this clearly in the proposal. The CTS looks forward to submissions from scholars of all dimensions of theological study.
Scholars who are invited to present their work at the annual convention of the CTS must hold membership in the Society when their work is presented. No person may submit more than one proposal for consideration nor may submissions to multiple sections be considered.
Paper proposals of approximately 250 words (and including all relevant contact information and institutional affiliation) should be sent simultaneously to both convenors of the section, Laurie Cassidy (Marywood University): lcassidy@marywood.edu
and Alex Mikulich (Loyola University, New Orleans): mikulich@loyno.edu
Please check with them whether they will also accept proposals for panels and/or other presentations.
Proposal deadline: 1 December 2009
By 31 December 2009, the convenors will notify each person who has submitted a proposal whether it is accepted. The programme for the annual meeting with housing and transportation information will be posted on the CTS website in early spring 2010.
FYI: Laurie Cassidy also serves as co-editor for the annual volume of the overall convention.
www.collegetheology.org/index.php/annual-convention
A seminar section on "Mysticism and Politics" is to be organized for this conference.
Papers are invited that address any of the following questions, which relate to this year's conference theme, "Religion, Economics, and Culture in Conflict and Conversation": 1) What difference does mystical-political theology make to how Christian theologians interpret the enactment of economics, culture, and religion in a globalized world? For example, must we ask who suffers in a globalized economy and how their memory interrupts cultural amnesia? 2) How does mystical-political theology critique dominant forms of globalization? 3) How does mystical-political theology suggest that Christians respond to the concrete material conditions of suffering in a globalized world?
Priority will be given to those papers that not only utilize primary sources of political theology, but that construct a political theology that is responsive to North American reality. The section convenors' goal is to propose an edited collection for publication.
The call for papers for the entire conference additionally states that sections welcome all proposals, but papers that are devoted to the convention theme or that relate specifically to the direction set by a particular section may receive priority. Presentations that require computer availability or audio/visual aids should state this clearly in the proposal. The CTS looks forward to submissions from scholars of all dimensions of theological study.
Scholars who are invited to present their work at the annual convention of the CTS must hold membership in the Society when their work is presented. No person may submit more than one proposal for consideration nor may submissions to multiple sections be considered.
Paper proposals of approximately 250 words (and including all relevant contact information and institutional affiliation) should be sent simultaneously to both convenors of the section, Laurie Cassidy (Marywood University): lcassidy@marywood.edu
and Alex Mikulich (Loyola University, New Orleans): mikulich@loyno.edu
Please check with them whether they will also accept proposals for panels and/or other presentations.
Proposal deadline: 1 December 2009
By 31 December 2009, the convenors will notify each person who has submitted a proposal whether it is accepted. The programme for the annual meeting with housing and transportation information will be posted on the CTS website in early spring 2010.
FYI: Laurie Cassidy also serves as co-editor for the annual volume of the overall convention.
06 November 2009
JOB: Assistant Professor of English, with political theology
Pomona College is looking for an
Assistant Professor of English: Early Modern Drama, including Shakespeare (tenure track)
Strong secondary field(s) desirable, including (but not limited to) considerations of race, sexuality, performance, geo-humoralism, and political theology.
PhD in hand or expected by September 2010.
Pomona College, the founding member of the Claremont Colleges, is a highly selective liberal arts college, located 35 miles east of Los Angeles and attracting a diverse, national student body. The College has a strong commitment to interdisciplinary study, as well as to intercollegiate cooperation, providing a stimulating environment for students and faculty alike. Department faculty teach two courses per semester, and are eligible for a one-year junior research leave, regular sabbatical leaves, and generous research support.
www.pomona.edu
Send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and 1-2 page dissertation abstract to Kevin J.H. Dettmar (Chair, Department of English): shakespeare@pomona.edu
Complete applications received by 6 November will receive full consideration.
Pomona College is committed to increasing its diversity and welcomes applications from women and members of under-represented groups.
Assistant Professor of English: Early Modern Drama, including Shakespeare (tenure track)
Strong secondary field(s) desirable, including (but not limited to) considerations of race, sexuality, performance, geo-humoralism, and political theology.
PhD in hand or expected by September 2010.
Pomona College, the founding member of the Claremont Colleges, is a highly selective liberal arts college, located 35 miles east of Los Angeles and attracting a diverse, national student body. The College has a strong commitment to interdisciplinary study, as well as to intercollegiate cooperation, providing a stimulating environment for students and faculty alike. Department faculty teach two courses per semester, and are eligible for a one-year junior research leave, regular sabbatical leaves, and generous research support.
www.pomona.edu
Send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and 1-2 page dissertation abstract to Kevin J.H. Dettmar (Chair, Department of English): shakespeare@pomona.edu
Complete applications received by 6 November will receive full consideration.
Pomona College is committed to increasing its diversity and welcomes applications from women and members of under-represented groups.
05 November 2009
CFP: Culture Wars in the United States
Conference of the Center for United States Studies, Raoul Dandurand Chair, University of Québec at Montreal, Canada, 14 October 2010
www.dandurand.uqam.ca
Call for papers: "Culture Wars in the United States: The Politics of Religious Conservatism in the Obama Era"
Theme: During the Republican Party's national convention in 1992, the ultraconservative politician Pat Buchanan claimed that a "culture war" was raging in the US. He saw it as a fight to define the American people's national identity – what America signifies as a society, what Americans were in the past, what they are today, and what they will become in future. In fact, the culture war has been the hobbyhorse of many US social and political actors, or culture warriors, since the 1970s. In their view, the secular, liberal elites have seized power in the US and are trying to destroy the spiritual foundations of American society. In response, the culture warriors are trying by all possible means to persuade Americans and their elected representatives to make the favourite issues of religious conservatives and the Christian Right the focal point of political debate.
There are several types of culture warriors, and they are waging a variety of "wars". Culture warriors can include the US President himself, as when George W. Bush proposed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. They also include judges who insist on having the Ten Commandments embroidered on their robes, pastors who encourage Christian pre-teens to reject homosexuality, bloggers who condemn nudity in video games, and media personalities like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck who try to discredit anti-war groups, feminists, hip-hop artists, and others.
The first few months of Barack Obama's presidency have shown that the culture wars continue unabated (a proposal to ban gay marriage in California was passed on the same day Obama was elected; in May 2009, a pro-life activist murdered a doctor who performed late-term abortions, etc.). Accordingly, the goal of this conference is to generate a deeper understanding of culture wars and their impact on US society and policies.
The organizers are promoting a multidisciplinary approach. They are therefore inviting scholars from a broad range of disciplines – political scientists, historians, specialists in political communication, linguists, sociologists, philosophers, religious studies experts, etc. – to participate.
Participants will be invited to contribute their papers for publication in a collection (book or special issue of a peer-reviewed journal) after the conference.
Research angles and themes (not exhaustive): Concepts and theories pertaining to culture wars, religious conservatism, and the Christian Right in the US; Linkages between religion, conservatism, and politics in the US; Case studies of actors in the culture wars; Analysis of culture warriors' discourses; Culture war issues (gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, control of firearms, death penalty, pornography, separation of church/religion and state/politics, etc.); History of culture wars, religious conservatism, and the Christian Right in the US (context of emergence, changes over time); Comparative studies on different types of religious conservatism (with reference to the US case); Political parties and culture wars in the US; Role of left-wing actors (feminist, pro-gay-marriage, pro-choice groups, etc.) in culture wars; Representations of culture wars in popular culture (movies, cartoons, video games, advertising, TV series, novels, etc.); Communication, political and legislative strategies of culture war actors; Analyses of public opinion polls on culture wars; Electoral impacts of culture wars; Local and regional aspects of culture wars; Media coverage of culture wars; International perceptions of culture wars, religious conservatism, and the Christian Right in the United States.
Proposals should be a maximum of 300 words long and should include the following: family name(s) and first name(s) of author(s)/collaborator(s); title(s), function(s), and home institution(s); contact information (mailing address, telephone number, e-mail); paper title, research question, and main arguments and outline of underlying analytical framework. Proposals (and the papers themselves) may be in English or French.
A scientific review committee will evaluate proposals and will announce the selected papers in mid-March 2010.
Please send your proposal by e-mail (in a Word attachment) to Catherine Goulet-Cloutier: goulet-cloutier.catherine@uqam.ca
Deadline for proposals (paper abstracts): 15 January 2010
For information about the conference, contact Prof Frédérick Gagnon: gagnon.frederick@uqam.ca
Note: After the conference, the organizers will ask participants to send them a text for publication in a collection.
www.dandurand.uqam.ca
Call for papers: "Culture Wars in the United States: The Politics of Religious Conservatism in the Obama Era"
Theme: During the Republican Party's national convention in 1992, the ultraconservative politician Pat Buchanan claimed that a "culture war" was raging in the US. He saw it as a fight to define the American people's national identity – what America signifies as a society, what Americans were in the past, what they are today, and what they will become in future. In fact, the culture war has been the hobbyhorse of many US social and political actors, or culture warriors, since the 1970s. In their view, the secular, liberal elites have seized power in the US and are trying to destroy the spiritual foundations of American society. In response, the culture warriors are trying by all possible means to persuade Americans and their elected representatives to make the favourite issues of religious conservatives and the Christian Right the focal point of political debate.
There are several types of culture warriors, and they are waging a variety of "wars". Culture warriors can include the US President himself, as when George W. Bush proposed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. They also include judges who insist on having the Ten Commandments embroidered on their robes, pastors who encourage Christian pre-teens to reject homosexuality, bloggers who condemn nudity in video games, and media personalities like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck who try to discredit anti-war groups, feminists, hip-hop artists, and others.
The first few months of Barack Obama's presidency have shown that the culture wars continue unabated (a proposal to ban gay marriage in California was passed on the same day Obama was elected; in May 2009, a pro-life activist murdered a doctor who performed late-term abortions, etc.). Accordingly, the goal of this conference is to generate a deeper understanding of culture wars and their impact on US society and policies.
The organizers are promoting a multidisciplinary approach. They are therefore inviting scholars from a broad range of disciplines – political scientists, historians, specialists in political communication, linguists, sociologists, philosophers, religious studies experts, etc. – to participate.
Participants will be invited to contribute their papers for publication in a collection (book or special issue of a peer-reviewed journal) after the conference.
Research angles and themes (not exhaustive): Concepts and theories pertaining to culture wars, religious conservatism, and the Christian Right in the US; Linkages between religion, conservatism, and politics in the US; Case studies of actors in the culture wars; Analysis of culture warriors' discourses; Culture war issues (gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, control of firearms, death penalty, pornography, separation of church/religion and state/politics, etc.); History of culture wars, religious conservatism, and the Christian Right in the US (context of emergence, changes over time); Comparative studies on different types of religious conservatism (with reference to the US case); Political parties and culture wars in the US; Role of left-wing actors (feminist, pro-gay-marriage, pro-choice groups, etc.) in culture wars; Representations of culture wars in popular culture (movies, cartoons, video games, advertising, TV series, novels, etc.); Communication, political and legislative strategies of culture war actors; Analyses of public opinion polls on culture wars; Electoral impacts of culture wars; Local and regional aspects of culture wars; Media coverage of culture wars; International perceptions of culture wars, religious conservatism, and the Christian Right in the United States.
Proposals should be a maximum of 300 words long and should include the following: family name(s) and first name(s) of author(s)/collaborator(s); title(s), function(s), and home institution(s); contact information (mailing address, telephone number, e-mail); paper title, research question, and main arguments and outline of underlying analytical framework. Proposals (and the papers themselves) may be in English or French.
A scientific review committee will evaluate proposals and will announce the selected papers in mid-March 2010.
Please send your proposal by e-mail (in a Word attachment) to Catherine Goulet-Cloutier: goulet-cloutier.catherine@uqam.ca
Deadline for proposals (paper abstracts): 15 January 2010
For information about the conference, contact Prof Frédérick Gagnon: gagnon.frederick@uqam.ca
Note: After the conference, the organizers will ask participants to send them a text for publication in a collection.
CFP: International Journal of Public Theology
Theologians may find this of interest:
The "International Journal of Public Theology" invites submissions for future issues of IJPT. The IJPT is a peer-reviewed journal published four times a year by Brill and affiliated with the Global Network for Public Theology:
www.brill.nl/ijpt
Public theology is the result of the growing need for theology to interact with public issues of contemporary society. It seeks to engage in dialogue with different academic disciplines such as politics, economics, cultural studies, religious studies, as well as with spirituality, globalization, and society in general. The IJPT is a platform for original interdisciplinary research in the field of public theology.
All submissions must be prepared for blind review and in accordance with the house style (see "Instructions for Author(s)" on the website).
For further information contact Esther McIntosh (Assistant Editor): e.mcintosh@yorksj.ac.uk
The "International Journal of Public Theology" invites submissions for future issues of IJPT. The IJPT is a peer-reviewed journal published four times a year by Brill and affiliated with the Global Network for Public Theology:
www.brill.nl/ijpt
Public theology is the result of the growing need for theology to interact with public issues of contemporary society. It seeks to engage in dialogue with different academic disciplines such as politics, economics, cultural studies, religious studies, as well as with spirituality, globalization, and society in general. The IJPT is a platform for original interdisciplinary research in the field of public theology.
All submissions must be prepared for blind review and in accordance with the house style (see "Instructions for Author(s)" on the website).
For further information contact Esther McIntosh (Assistant Editor): e.mcintosh@yorksj.ac.uk
CFP: Forum on Religion at the London School of Economics
Present your research in the Forum on Religion seminar series at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE):
www.lse.ac.uk/religionforum
The LSE's Forum on Religion hosts a seminar series for work in progress on religion. Submissions are welcome from all disciplines and any geographical foci. Presentations on political theology have been accepted in the past.
Send an e-mail with your proposed presentation topic to: religionforum@lse.ac.uk
www.lse.ac.uk/religionforum
The LSE's Forum on Religion hosts a seminar series for work in progress on religion. Submissions are welcome from all disciplines and any geographical foci. Presentations on political theology have been accepted in the past.
Send an e-mail with your proposed presentation topic to: religionforum@lse.ac.uk
04 November 2009
"Political theology" equals terrorism?
Point of interest: We are all terrorists.
The keyword "political theology" now triggers the following paid-for Google Ad (at least on Google's UK site):
Report terrorism
Independent charity, not the police
Report terrorism anonymously
Should anyone reading this be engaged in terrorist actitivies (rather than search "political theology" on Google for religious or academic and research purposes), please denounce yourself.
Cheers,
Erich
(Update: As of 6 November, the above ad does not seem to show up on Google anymore.)
21 October 2009
Book: "Political Theologies in the Holy Land"
A number of books on political theology in Israel and Jewish political theology have been released recently or about to be released by authors and editors associated with the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and in particular with a former study group/research programme of the latter on political theology, which was discontinued about two years ago.
Among them, David Ohana (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) wrote a book on "Political Theologies in the Holy Land: Israeli Messianism and Its Critics" (Routledge, 15 October 2009):
www.routledge.com/books/Political-Theologies-in-the-Holy-Land-isbn9780415491686
Publisher's description: "This book examines the role of messianism in Zionist ideology, from the birth of the Zionist movement through to the present. Is shows how messianism is not just a religious or philosophical term but a very tangible political practice and theology which has shaped Israeli identity.
"The author explores key issues such as: the current presence of messianism in the Israeli public sphere and the debates with [J]ewish settlers in the occupied territories after the 1967 war; the difference between transcendental messianism and [P]romethean messianism; the disparity between the political ideology and political practice in the history of Israel; the evolution of the messianic idea in the actions of David Ben-Gurion; the debate between Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Isaiah Leibowitz, J.L. Talmon and other intellectual figures with Ben-Gurion; the implications of political theology and the presence of messianic ideas in Israeli politics.
"As the first book to examine the messianism in Israeli debate since the creation of the Israeli state, it will be particularly relevant for students and scholars of Political Science, modern intellectual history, Israel studies, Judaism and messianism."
Those able to read Hebrew may be equally interested in a recent book edited by Christoph Schmidt (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and co-edited by Eli Schonfeld (University of Tel Aviv and Hebrew University): "Ha-Elohim lo yealem dom: ha-moderna ha-yehudit ve-ha-teologia ha-politit" (God will not stand still: Jewish modernity and political theology; Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House, Tel Aviv, 2009).
www.vanleer.org.il/eng/content.asp?id=330
According to a review of this book in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, it appears to be on exactly the same subject matter as the book by Ohana, who is present with a chapter in Schmidt's collection.
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad also just published "State of exception and state of emergency" (translation), edited by Yehouda Shenhav, Christoph Schmidt and Shimshon Zelniker. Presumably this book too is on political theology. Unfortunately, I don't have the original Hebrew title.
Among them, David Ohana (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) wrote a book on "Political Theologies in the Holy Land: Israeli Messianism and Its Critics" (Routledge, 15 October 2009):
www.routledge.com/books/Political-Theologies-in-the-Holy-Land-isbn9780415491686
Publisher's description: "This book examines the role of messianism in Zionist ideology, from the birth of the Zionist movement through to the present. Is shows how messianism is not just a religious or philosophical term but a very tangible political practice and theology which has shaped Israeli identity.
"The author explores key issues such as: the current presence of messianism in the Israeli public sphere and the debates with [J]ewish settlers in the occupied territories after the 1967 war; the difference between transcendental messianism and [P]romethean messianism; the disparity between the political ideology and political practice in the history of Israel; the evolution of the messianic idea in the actions of David Ben-Gurion; the debate between Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Isaiah Leibowitz, J.L. Talmon and other intellectual figures with Ben-Gurion; the implications of political theology and the presence of messianic ideas in Israeli politics.
"As the first book to examine the messianism in Israeli debate since the creation of the Israeli state, it will be particularly relevant for students and scholars of Political Science, modern intellectual history, Israel studies, Judaism and messianism."
Those able to read Hebrew may be equally interested in a recent book edited by Christoph Schmidt (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and co-edited by Eli Schonfeld (University of Tel Aviv and Hebrew University): "Ha-Elohim lo yealem dom: ha-moderna ha-yehudit ve-ha-teologia ha-politit" (God will not stand still: Jewish modernity and political theology; Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House, Tel Aviv, 2009).
www.vanleer.org.il/eng/content.asp?id=330
According to a review of this book in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, it appears to be on exactly the same subject matter as the book by Ohana, who is present with a chapter in Schmidt's collection.
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad also just published "State of exception and state of emergency" (translation), edited by Yehouda Shenhav, Christoph Schmidt and Shimshon Zelniker. Presumably this book too is on political theology. Unfortunately, I don't have the original Hebrew title.
19 October 2009
CFP: Journal "Res Publica" invites contributions on political theology
The journal "Res Publica: Revista de Filosofía Política" – published by the Universidad de Murcia in Spain – invites contributions on political theology.
http://revistas.um.es/respublica/index
"Res Publica" is an open access journal, available free of charge on the Internet, dedicated to the study of political philosophy and history, and often a very methodological approach of conceptual history. At the same time, it gives special importance to the tradition of political ideals based on the republican spirit and always understood in their proper historical context.
The journal intends to create a digital section that will become recognized as "Res publica hispana", which will analyze the most important works of history of political thought and Hispanic political relations, as well as major new publications on this subject.
Another focus of the journal is offered by those authors who have challenged the possibilities of republicanism, whether from political theology, more traditional views of sovereignty, or from the most current versions of the impolitic. "Res Publica" is also interested in understanding the political thinkers of the Weimar Republic, and what their significance means for the work of Max Weber in the construction of democratic legitimacy in a society that falls squarely in the era of the masses.
Abstracts are available in Spanish and English. Articles are available in Spanish in PDF format. Please check with the editors whether articles have to be submitted in Spanish.
Editorial contacts: Prof José Luis Villacañas Berlanga and Prof Antonio Rivera García (both Universidad de Murcia): jlvilla@um.es, anrivera@um.es
http://revistas.um.es/respublica/index
"Res Publica" is an open access journal, available free of charge on the Internet, dedicated to the study of political philosophy and history, and often a very methodological approach of conceptual history. At the same time, it gives special importance to the tradition of political ideals based on the republican spirit and always understood in their proper historical context.
The journal intends to create a digital section that will become recognized as "Res publica hispana", which will analyze the most important works of history of political thought and Hispanic political relations, as well as major new publications on this subject.
Another focus of the journal is offered by those authors who have challenged the possibilities of republicanism, whether from political theology, more traditional views of sovereignty, or from the most current versions of the impolitic. "Res Publica" is also interested in understanding the political thinkers of the Weimar Republic, and what their significance means for the work of Max Weber in the construction of democratic legitimacy in a society that falls squarely in the era of the masses.
Abstracts are available in Spanish and English. Articles are available in Spanish in PDF format. Please check with the editors whether articles have to be submitted in Spanish.
Editorial contacts: Prof José Luis Villacañas Berlanga and Prof Antonio Rivera García (both Universidad de Murcia): jlvilla@um.es, anrivera@um.es
13 October 2009
CFP: The Politics of Peace
2010 biennial conference of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology (SCPT), Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania, USA,
16-17 April 2010
Call for papers: "The Politics of Peace"
Keynote speakers:
- Catherine Keller (Drew University)
- William T. Cavanaugh (University of St. Thomas)
SCPT's 2010 conference will focus on Peace. They invite papers that examine the many dimensions of peace from social, political, religious, scientific, theological, and philosophical points of view. They also seek papers dealing with complementary topics such as justice, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace-making, and that deal with the practical aspects of the above topics.
SCPT is an organization that seeks to promote inquiry at the intersection of philosophy and theology, through the study of phenomenology, deconstruction, feminism, Radical Orthodoxy, and other related fields:
www.scptonline.org
Only complete papers with a maximum of 3,000 words will be accepted. Papers should be prepared for blind review and sent to: peacestudies@messiah.edu
Deadline: 8 February 2010
16-17 April 2010
Call for papers: "The Politics of Peace"
Keynote speakers:
- Catherine Keller (Drew University)
- William T. Cavanaugh (University of St. Thomas)
SCPT's 2010 conference will focus on Peace. They invite papers that examine the many dimensions of peace from social, political, religious, scientific, theological, and philosophical points of view. They also seek papers dealing with complementary topics such as justice, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace-making, and that deal with the practical aspects of the above topics.
SCPT is an organization that seeks to promote inquiry at the intersection of philosophy and theology, through the study of phenomenology, deconstruction, feminism, Radical Orthodoxy, and other related fields:
www.scptonline.org
Only complete papers with a maximum of 3,000 words will be accepted. Papers should be prepared for blind review and sent to: peacestudies@messiah.edu
Deadline: 8 February 2010
Book: New Carl Schmitt biography in German
Reinhard Mehring (Humboldt University of Berlin) has written, in German, "the first truly comprehensive" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) biography about Carl Schmitt, titled "Carl Schmitt. Aufstieg und Fall" (Carl Schmitt: Rise and Fall; my translation; published by C.H. Beck, September 2009):
www.chbeck.de/productview.aspx?product=28142
According to the publisher's description, Carl Schmitt – along with Martin Heidegger and Max Weber one of the most influential German thinkers of the twentieth century – is a "Shakespearean figure at the centre of the German catastrophe". A "white raven", as Schmitt called himself, torn between his brilliancy and aspirations and a deep-seated resentment against the smugness of bourgeois existence.
His radical theories about political theology, friend and enemy, legality and legitimacy, and the concept of the political have been translated into all major languages and are read by Catholic conservatives and communist revolutionaries alike.
The new biography already ranks at no. 1 among Philosophy titles on the German Amazon site.
www.chbeck.de/productview.aspx?product=28142
According to the publisher's description, Carl Schmitt – along with Martin Heidegger and Max Weber one of the most influential German thinkers of the twentieth century – is a "Shakespearean figure at the centre of the German catastrophe". A "white raven", as Schmitt called himself, torn between his brilliancy and aspirations and a deep-seated resentment against the smugness of bourgeois existence.
His radical theories about political theology, friend and enemy, legality and legitimacy, and the concept of the political have been translated into all major languages and are read by Catholic conservatives and communist revolutionaries alike.
The new biography already ranks at no. 1 among Philosophy titles on the German Amazon site.
10 October 2009
CFP: "Tikvah Journal for Jewish Thought" on religion and reason
Call for papers for the "Tikvah Journal for Jewish Thought", the new graduate online journal of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto.
Proposals on (Jewish) political theology are explicitly welcome.
The first issue of the "Tikvah Journal for Jewish Thought" invites explorations on the theme: "Religion and Reason". Historically, the process of secularization brought about a debate among philosophers, politicians, and theologians concerning the role of religion in the public sphere and distinguishing secular reason from religious conviction. Yet questions pertaining to the nature of the relation between religion and reason are as old as theology and philosophy. The editors welcome papers addressing such questions, spanning the ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern eras, and drawing from a broad range of disciplinary fields.
Suggested topics include: the crisis of the Enlightenment: skepticism and naturalism; the "end" of metaphysics; faith, rational justification, and common sense; divine attributes and allegorical thought; translation: biblical terms and philosophical concepts or categories; the role of religion in the public sphere; the nature of justification in religious and secular laws; religious calendars and political bonds; political theology; modern alienation
Suggested interlocutors include: Aristotle; Philo of Alexandria; Plotinus; Al-Farabi; Al-Ghazali; Maimonides; Shmuel Ibn Tibbon; Hasdai Crescas; Abarbanel; Descartes; Spinoza; Leibniz; Kant; Fichte; Schelling; Hegel; Kierkegaard; Hermann Cohen; Martin Buber; Franz Rosenzweig; Walter Benjamin; Hans-Georg Gadamer; Emmanuel Lévinas; Paul Ricoeur
Submission details: Please send an abstract no longer than 500 words and prepared for "blind-review" (with the author's name and institutional affiliation appearing on a separate page) to the following e-mail address: tikvahjournal@gmail.com
Deadline: 15 November 2009
If accepted, you will be asked to submit a paper ranging in length between 5,000 and 7,000 words by 15 January 2010. Accepted papers will appear in Vol. 1 of the "Tikvah Journal for Jewish Thought" late in the spring of 2010.
Proposals on (Jewish) political theology are explicitly welcome.
The first issue of the "Tikvah Journal for Jewish Thought" invites explorations on the theme: "Religion and Reason". Historically, the process of secularization brought about a debate among philosophers, politicians, and theologians concerning the role of religion in the public sphere and distinguishing secular reason from religious conviction. Yet questions pertaining to the nature of the relation between religion and reason are as old as theology and philosophy. The editors welcome papers addressing such questions, spanning the ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern eras, and drawing from a broad range of disciplinary fields.
Suggested topics include: the crisis of the Enlightenment: skepticism and naturalism; the "end" of metaphysics; faith, rational justification, and common sense; divine attributes and allegorical thought; translation: biblical terms and philosophical concepts or categories; the role of religion in the public sphere; the nature of justification in religious and secular laws; religious calendars and political bonds; political theology; modern alienation
Suggested interlocutors include: Aristotle; Philo of Alexandria; Plotinus; Al-Farabi; Al-Ghazali; Maimonides; Shmuel Ibn Tibbon; Hasdai Crescas; Abarbanel; Descartes; Spinoza; Leibniz; Kant; Fichte; Schelling; Hegel; Kierkegaard; Hermann Cohen; Martin Buber; Franz Rosenzweig; Walter Benjamin; Hans-Georg Gadamer; Emmanuel Lévinas; Paul Ricoeur
Submission details: Please send an abstract no longer than 500 words and prepared for "blind-review" (with the author's name and institutional affiliation appearing on a separate page) to the following e-mail address: tikvahjournal@gmail.com
Deadline: 15 November 2009
If accepted, you will be asked to submit a paper ranging in length between 5,000 and 7,000 words by 15 January 2010. Accepted papers will appear in Vol. 1 of the "Tikvah Journal for Jewish Thought" late in the spring of 2010.
CFP: Deadline extended for "The Absent Center" graduate student conference on political theology
The deadline for this previously announced conference has been extended to 1 November 2009:
Call for papers: "The Absent Center: A Graduate Student Conference on Contemporary Issues in Political Theology"
University of Texas at Austin, Government Department,
19-20 February 2010
For details see the original post:
www.political-theology.com/2009/04/cfp-absent-center.html
Call for papers: "The Absent Center: A Graduate Student Conference on Contemporary Issues in Political Theology"
University of Texas at Austin, Government Department,
19-20 February 2010
For details see the original post:
www.political-theology.com/2009/04/cfp-absent-center.html
08 October 2009
Journal "Political Theology" increases frequency
In line with the increase in interest in political theology, Equinox, the publisher of the journal "Political Theology", has announced that the journal will in 2010 increase its pagination and frequency to 6 issues per volume (until now 4).
While other Equinox journals retain 2009 price levels in 2010, "Political Theology" will become accordingly dearer.
As of today, there is no information to be found on the journal's website. You can find submission guidelines, though:
www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/PT
Journal description: "Political Theology is a journal that investigates and examines religious and political issues. The journal is interdisciplinary, drawing on the disciplines of theology, religious studies, politics, philosophy, ethics, cultural studies, social theory and economics. As such, it aims to reflect the diversity of religious and theological engagements with public and political life. Articles are welcome from scholars, practioners and clergy that address religion and political life in all its variety. The journal has a review section which embraces reflections upon religion, theology, polit[i]cal [sic] theory, political biography, film and fiction."
While other Equinox journals retain 2009 price levels in 2010, "Political Theology" will become accordingly dearer.
As of today, there is no information to be found on the journal's website. You can find submission guidelines, though:
www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/PT
Journal description: "Political Theology is a journal that investigates and examines religious and political issues. The journal is interdisciplinary, drawing on the disciplines of theology, religious studies, politics, philosophy, ethics, cultural studies, social theory and economics. As such, it aims to reflect the diversity of religious and theological engagements with public and political life. Articles are welcome from scholars, practioners and clergy that address religion and political life in all its variety. The journal has a review section which embraces reflections upon religion, theology, polit[i]cal [sic] theory, political biography, film and fiction."
07 October 2009
Book: "Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives"
Alexandre J.M.E. Christoyannopoulos recently published an edited volume on "Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives" with Cambridge Scholars Publishing (August 2009):
www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Religious-Anarchism--New-Perspectives1-4438-1132-7.htm
On that site a link is provided to a sample PDF including table of contents. Already the first chapter, by Richard Fitch (Birkbeck), mentions political theology repeatedly.
Publisher's description: "Both religion and anarchism have been increasingly politically active of late. This edited volume presents twelve chapters of fresh scholarship on diverse facets of the area where they meet: religious anarchism.
"The book is structured along three themes: [1] early Christian anarchist 'pioneers', including Pelagius, Coppe, Hungarian Nazarenes, and Dutch Christian anarchists; [2] Christian anarchist reflections on specific topics such as Kierkegaardian indifference, Romans 13, Dalit religious practice, and resistance to race and nation; [3] religious anarchism in other traditions, ranging from Wu Nengzi's Daoism and Rexroth's Zen Buddhism to various currents of Islam, including an original Anarca-Islamic 'clinic'.
"This unique book therefore furthers scholarship on anarchism, on millenarian and revolutionary thinkers and movements, and on religion and politics. It is also of value to members of the wider public interested in radical politics and in the political implications of religion. And of course, it is relevant to those interested in any of the specific themes and thinkers focused on within individual chapters. In short, this book presents a range of innovative perspectives on a web of topics that, while held together by the common thread of religious anarchism, also speaks to numerous broader themes which have been increasingly prominent in the twenty-first century."
The editor, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos (University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University), last year contributed a chapter on Leo Tolstoy's Christian anarchism to my own book, "Anti-Democratic Thought" (Imprint Academic, 2008). His other publications include a chapter in the present volume as well as peer-reviewed articles in Anarchist Studies, The Heythrop Journal, and Politics and Religion.
"Bringing together the work of international writers, both new and established scholars and practitioners, this book fills an important gap in the existing literature. [...] Another important strength is that the authors work in variety of disciplinary fields and are thus able to bring insights from history, philosophy and political theory as well as anarchist studies, to bear on the subject. [...] [T]he authors examine a range of ethical questions about the legitimate boundaries of the state and the limits of authority, the duty of obedience and the primacy of conscience in political action." – Ruth Kinna (Loughborough University)
"[I]t presents a wide range of little known and unexpected sources, inspiring a fresh look at contemporary approaches to change. [...] Each article explores new issues in areas as diverse as Pelagian studies, Hungarian history and Islamic political theology." – Ronald Creagh (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier)
www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Religious-Anarchism--New-Perspectives1-4438-1132-7.htm
On that site a link is provided to a sample PDF including table of contents. Already the first chapter, by Richard Fitch (Birkbeck), mentions political theology repeatedly.
Publisher's description: "Both religion and anarchism have been increasingly politically active of late. This edited volume presents twelve chapters of fresh scholarship on diverse facets of the area where they meet: religious anarchism.
"The book is structured along three themes: [1] early Christian anarchist 'pioneers', including Pelagius, Coppe, Hungarian Nazarenes, and Dutch Christian anarchists; [2] Christian anarchist reflections on specific topics such as Kierkegaardian indifference, Romans 13, Dalit religious practice, and resistance to race and nation; [3] religious anarchism in other traditions, ranging from Wu Nengzi's Daoism and Rexroth's Zen Buddhism to various currents of Islam, including an original Anarca-Islamic 'clinic'.
"This unique book therefore furthers scholarship on anarchism, on millenarian and revolutionary thinkers and movements, and on religion and politics. It is also of value to members of the wider public interested in radical politics and in the political implications of religion. And of course, it is relevant to those interested in any of the specific themes and thinkers focused on within individual chapters. In short, this book presents a range of innovative perspectives on a web of topics that, while held together by the common thread of religious anarchism, also speaks to numerous broader themes which have been increasingly prominent in the twenty-first century."
The editor, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos (University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University), last year contributed a chapter on Leo Tolstoy's Christian anarchism to my own book, "Anti-Democratic Thought" (Imprint Academic, 2008). His other publications include a chapter in the present volume as well as peer-reviewed articles in Anarchist Studies, The Heythrop Journal, and Politics and Religion.
"Bringing together the work of international writers, both new and established scholars and practitioners, this book fills an important gap in the existing literature. [...] Another important strength is that the authors work in variety of disciplinary fields and are thus able to bring insights from history, philosophy and political theory as well as anarchist studies, to bear on the subject. [...] [T]he authors examine a range of ethical questions about the legitimate boundaries of the state and the limits of authority, the duty of obedience and the primacy of conscience in political action." – Ruth Kinna (Loughborough University)
"[I]t presents a wide range of little known and unexpected sources, inspiring a fresh look at contemporary approaches to change. [...] Each article explores new issues in areas as diverse as Pelagian studies, Hungarian history and Islamic political theology." – Ronald Creagh (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier)
29 September 2009
CONF: Association for Jewish Studies 2009 annual conference
41st Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS), Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, California, USA,
20-22 December 2009
This year's annual conference of the AJS features a multi-panel session on "Modern Jewish Thought and Theology" with a particular interest in political theology.
Scheduled panels include, firstly, "Jacob Taubes's Political Theology in Light of His Relationship to Carl Schmitt" (21 December, 2-4 pm, Room 3):
Abstract: The panel is devoted to Jacob Taubes, the Jewish thinker, historian of religion, gnosticism, and apocalyptic strains in Judaism and Christianity, who influenced generations of scholars during his academic career at the Hebrew University, Harvard, Columbia, the Free University at Berlin, and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, but whose work has elicited much wider attention of late. This is due, in part, to a general, renewed interest in the problem of political theology, due, as well, to the engagement with his work on the part of Giorgio Agamben and others, but chiefly to the recent translation of his powerful late lectures on "The Political Theology of Paul". Taubes's articles are about to be collected for the first time in an English-language edition, and more is to follow. Taubes was a prodigious letter writer, and the first correspondence to be published is the one between Taubes and the political theorist Carl Schmitt, 35 years his senior, with whose work Taubes was deeply engaged since the immediate postwar period while keeping a measured distance until the late 1970s, when the two men exchanged a series of letters and Taubes visited Schmitt in his remote refuge in Plettenberg.
The panel is led by Martin Treml's presentation on the letters exchanged between Taubes and Schmitt. Treml is currently finishing his edition of the Taubes-Schmitt correspondence at the Center for Literary and Cultural Research Berlin, which houses Taubes's literary estate. Nitzan Lebovic (Sussex) and Arnd Wedemeyer (Princeton), who both have conducted research at the Taubes Archive, will discuss the context of the correspondence and its implications for Taubes's conception of political theology. Lebovic will reconstruct Taubes's unique mobilization of apocalypticism for his antinomian conception of the law, devised, Lebovic argues, not only as an answer to Schmitt's theopolitical antiliberalism, but also to Martin Buber's own reaction against Schmitt. Wedemeyer will focus on one particular problem of Pauline theology, the so-called "curse of the law", in the context both of Taubes's relation to Schmitt, as well as to previous Jewish interpreters of Paul.
Second panel: "Political Theology and Judaism in Spinoza, Mendelssohn and Fackenheim" (22 December, 8.30-10.30 am, Room 9):
Abstract: If "political theology" means a politics guided by theological considerations and/or a theology guided by political considerations, then if these considerations are in tension or incompatible, which should take priority? Our panel examines this question in three key modern Jewish thinkers. For each, "politics" means liberal democracy (or, for Mendelssohn, constitutional monarchy), and "theology" means biblical theology (or, for Spinoza and Mendelssohn, some "rationalist" equivalent).
Joshua Parens (Dallas) explores what Spinoza's "Ethics" indicates about his political theology in "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" (TTP). What does the congeniality between TTP and the "rationalist" theology of "Ethics", its introduction, teach about Spinoza's political theology: if the "Ethics" provides deeper insight into Spinoza's modified version of biblical theology in TTP than does TTP by itself, is the ground for that theology biblical or utilitarian, as TTP leads us to suspect?
Martin D. Yaffe (North Texas) asks how well Mendelssohn's rationalist theology serves to underwrite his practical-political argument for Christian-Jewish tolerance. Yaffe compares Mendelssohn's theologically-grounded argument with Lessing's, which Mendelssohn professes not to understand. Lessing's argument, Yaffe finds, is more "political" than "theological" – being designed not just to rubber-stamp its readers' Christian theology, but to expand that theology towards increased appreciation and tolerance for Judaism. Mendelssohn's rationalist political theology fails to come to grips with Lessing's politically (and philosophically) motivated irony.
Sharon Portnoff (Connecticut College) suggests that Fackenheim's political theology is located in his "quasi-historicism". She suggests that Fackenheim was well aware of the dangers of incorporating historicism into Jewish theology and explores the way in which Fackenheim navigated these dangers. She finds that Fackenheim's quasi-historicism both serves to defend Jews and Judaism politically and also, paradoxically, remains open to the political possibility that it evolve into its own obsolescence.
Kenneth Green (Toronto) considers the phrase "demonic evil" in Fackenheim's mature thought. He asks how much Fackenheim's related subterranean emphasis on the devil is a significant even if largely unrecognized factor in his theological response to the Holocaust and radical evil. Green raises a question with regard to Fackenheim's political theology: because rejection of the devil issues in concerted political action, is it as a direct consequence that he disallow as immoral any political neutrality on such political action?
Further panels of particular interest to political theology include "Monotheism and Its Discontents" (21 December, 8.30-10.30 am, Room 12); "Religion, Politics, Ethics" – including a paper "Determined to be Free: Spinoza's Political Theology of Freedom" by Steven H. Frankel (Xavier University) – (22 December, 10.45 am-12.45 pm, Room 9); and "Rosenzweig and Arendt" – including a paper "'The Light of the Public Obscures Everything': Arendt and the Public Threat of Political Theology" by Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft (Berkeley) – (20 December, 2-4 pm, Room 11).
The detailed conference programme can be browsed and searched here:
http://64.112.226.77/one/ajs/ajs09/index.php?cmd=ajs09&id=
General conference information (including a link to the registration page) is to be found at:
www.ajsnet.org/generalinfo.htm
20-22 December 2009
This year's annual conference of the AJS features a multi-panel session on "Modern Jewish Thought and Theology" with a particular interest in political theology.
Scheduled panels include, firstly, "Jacob Taubes's Political Theology in Light of His Relationship to Carl Schmitt" (21 December, 2-4 pm, Room 3):
Abstract: The panel is devoted to Jacob Taubes, the Jewish thinker, historian of religion, gnosticism, and apocalyptic strains in Judaism and Christianity, who influenced generations of scholars during his academic career at the Hebrew University, Harvard, Columbia, the Free University at Berlin, and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, but whose work has elicited much wider attention of late. This is due, in part, to a general, renewed interest in the problem of political theology, due, as well, to the engagement with his work on the part of Giorgio Agamben and others, but chiefly to the recent translation of his powerful late lectures on "The Political Theology of Paul". Taubes's articles are about to be collected for the first time in an English-language edition, and more is to follow. Taubes was a prodigious letter writer, and the first correspondence to be published is the one between Taubes and the political theorist Carl Schmitt, 35 years his senior, with whose work Taubes was deeply engaged since the immediate postwar period while keeping a measured distance until the late 1970s, when the two men exchanged a series of letters and Taubes visited Schmitt in his remote refuge in Plettenberg.
The panel is led by Martin Treml's presentation on the letters exchanged between Taubes and Schmitt. Treml is currently finishing his edition of the Taubes-Schmitt correspondence at the Center for Literary and Cultural Research Berlin, which houses Taubes's literary estate. Nitzan Lebovic (Sussex) and Arnd Wedemeyer (Princeton), who both have conducted research at the Taubes Archive, will discuss the context of the correspondence and its implications for Taubes's conception of political theology. Lebovic will reconstruct Taubes's unique mobilization of apocalypticism for his antinomian conception of the law, devised, Lebovic argues, not only as an answer to Schmitt's theopolitical antiliberalism, but also to Martin Buber's own reaction against Schmitt. Wedemeyer will focus on one particular problem of Pauline theology, the so-called "curse of the law", in the context both of Taubes's relation to Schmitt, as well as to previous Jewish interpreters of Paul.
Second panel: "Political Theology and Judaism in Spinoza, Mendelssohn and Fackenheim" (22 December, 8.30-10.30 am, Room 9):
Abstract: If "political theology" means a politics guided by theological considerations and/or a theology guided by political considerations, then if these considerations are in tension or incompatible, which should take priority? Our panel examines this question in three key modern Jewish thinkers. For each, "politics" means liberal democracy (or, for Mendelssohn, constitutional monarchy), and "theology" means biblical theology (or, for Spinoza and Mendelssohn, some "rationalist" equivalent).
Joshua Parens (Dallas) explores what Spinoza's "Ethics" indicates about his political theology in "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" (TTP). What does the congeniality between TTP and the "rationalist" theology of "Ethics", its introduction, teach about Spinoza's political theology: if the "Ethics" provides deeper insight into Spinoza's modified version of biblical theology in TTP than does TTP by itself, is the ground for that theology biblical or utilitarian, as TTP leads us to suspect?
Martin D. Yaffe (North Texas) asks how well Mendelssohn's rationalist theology serves to underwrite his practical-political argument for Christian-Jewish tolerance. Yaffe compares Mendelssohn's theologically-grounded argument with Lessing's, which Mendelssohn professes not to understand. Lessing's argument, Yaffe finds, is more "political" than "theological" – being designed not just to rubber-stamp its readers' Christian theology, but to expand that theology towards increased appreciation and tolerance for Judaism. Mendelssohn's rationalist political theology fails to come to grips with Lessing's politically (and philosophically) motivated irony.
Sharon Portnoff (Connecticut College) suggests that Fackenheim's political theology is located in his "quasi-historicism". She suggests that Fackenheim was well aware of the dangers of incorporating historicism into Jewish theology and explores the way in which Fackenheim navigated these dangers. She finds that Fackenheim's quasi-historicism both serves to defend Jews and Judaism politically and also, paradoxically, remains open to the political possibility that it evolve into its own obsolescence.
Kenneth Green (Toronto) considers the phrase "demonic evil" in Fackenheim's mature thought. He asks how much Fackenheim's related subterranean emphasis on the devil is a significant even if largely unrecognized factor in his theological response to the Holocaust and radical evil. Green raises a question with regard to Fackenheim's political theology: because rejection of the devil issues in concerted political action, is it as a direct consequence that he disallow as immoral any political neutrality on such political action?
Further panels of particular interest to political theology include "Monotheism and Its Discontents" (21 December, 8.30-10.30 am, Room 12); "Religion, Politics, Ethics" – including a paper "Determined to be Free: Spinoza's Political Theology of Freedom" by Steven H. Frankel (Xavier University) – (22 December, 10.45 am-12.45 pm, Room 9); and "Rosenzweig and Arendt" – including a paper "'The Light of the Public Obscures Everything': Arendt and the Public Threat of Political Theology" by Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft (Berkeley) – (20 December, 2-4 pm, Room 11).
The detailed conference programme can be browsed and searched here:
http://64.112.226.77/one/ajs/ajs09/index.php?cmd=ajs09&id=
General conference information (including a link to the registration page) is to be found at:
www.ajsnet.org/generalinfo.htm
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