Book: "Twenty Theses on Politics"

A new book by the liberation theologian Enrique Dussel (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana) has been published: "Twenty Theses on Politics" (Duke University Press 2008)

Translated by George Ciccariello-Maher (University of California at Berkeley), with an introduction to the English-language edition by Eduardo Mendieta (Stony Brook University).

www.dukeupress.edu/cgibin/forwardsql/search.cgi?template0=nomatch.htm&template2=books/book_detail_page.htm&user_id=6403&Bmain.item_option=1&Bmain.item=18809

Note: The ad text mentions philosophy of liberation, but not theology; Walter Mignolo has recently been attempting to link political theology and de-colonial studies, though:

“Twenty Theses on Politics is a groundbreaking manifesto charting new terrain toward de-colonial political philosophy and political theory. It is based on the experience and interpretation of current events in Latin America. There is nothing comparable.” – Walter D. Mignolo, author of “The Idea of Latin America”

“Enrique Dussel is one of the giants of emancipatory thought and liberation philosophy. This grand text is a concise expression of his subtle analysis and courageous vision!” – Cornel West, Princeton University

“Twenty Theses on Politics” is a major statement on political philosophy from Enrique Dussel, one of Latin America’s – and the world’s – most important philosophers and a founder of the philosophy of liberation. Synthesizing a half-century of his pioneering work in moral and political philosophy, Dussel presents a succinct rationale for the development of political alternatives to the exclusionary, exploitative institutions of neoliberal globalization. In twenty short, provocative theses he lays out the foundational elements for a politics of just and sustainable co-existence. Dussel first constructs a theory of political power and its institutionalization. He insists that political projects must criticize or reject as unsustainable all political systems, actions, and institutions whose negative effects are suffered by oppressed or excluded victims. Turning to the deconstruction or transformation of political power, he explains the political principles of liberation and addresses matters such as reform and revolution.

"Twenty Theses on Politics" is inspired by recent political transformations in Latin America. Throughout the twenty theses Dussel engages with Latin American thinkers and activists and with radical political projects such as the World Social Forum. He is also in dialogue with theorists including Marx, Hegel, Habermas, Rawls, and Negri, offering insights into the applications and limits of their thinking in light of recent Latin American political thought and practice.

Roundtable discussion on “Theology and the Political”

Those interested in philosophical theology as it relates to the political may wish to have a look at the most recent issue of the journal “Political Theology” (no. 1, 2009):

www.politicaltheology.com/ojs/index.php/PT/issue/view/653

Some four years after publication of the book, the journal offers a roundtable discussion of “Theology and the Political: The New Debate” (eds. Creston Davis, John Milbank, and Slavoj Žižek, Duke University Press 2005).

Note of caution: Creston Davis, one of the book's editors, is now a review editor at the journal. One of the contributors to the roundtable discussion is also a contributor to the volume, and other roundtable participants are closely linked to book contributors. Still, those interested particularly in the (self-styled) “new debate” and/or Radical Orthodoxy will find this of interest.

CONF: Insistence of the Theologico-Political

Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, 11-13 June 2009

Symposium: "Insistence of the Theologico-Political: Why and how did modern political philosophy and theory become engaged with the theological?"

www.helsinki.fi/collegium/events/theologico_political.htm

Today it seems that Max Weber’s thesis of the "disenchantment of the world" was too premature. Far from being in decline in the modern world, religion is experiencing a resurgence. Today the human desire for transcendence seems to be as vital as it ever was. Yet this resurgence has not only meant an increasing role of religion in public life. It has also meant a revival of the theological in political philosophy and theory. The Bible, God, Messiah, Day of Judgment, the sacred, grace, and angels have become legitimate subject matters and notions in philosophical and theoretical discourses. What is the meaning of this revival? Is it a consequence of the general resurgence of religion? Are philosophers, not being satisfied with the Enlightenment Reason, giving up themselves again to the mystical?

Or are we witnessing something else – in as much as we know that agnostic and sometimes even openly atheist philosophers also appeal to the theological discourse? Are philosophers perhaps realizing that the theological has always been there: at the heart of modern political thought, as Carl Schmitt once claimed? Does then philosophy’s turn to the theological mean philosophy’s attempt to understand better late modern society and thereby itself? It is indeed claimed that in order to understand late modern society and its political deadlocks, we must address again the question of the relationship between the theological and the political. But is this claim justified? In sum: why and how did modern political philosophy and theory become engaged with the theological?

These are the questions being addressed by this symposium – aiming at a better understanding of the insistence of the theological in political philosophy.

Keynote speakers:

- Hent de Vries (The Humanities Center, Johns Hopkins University)
- Philip Goodchild (Religious Studies, The University of Nottingham)

Contact: Mika Ojakangas, mika.ojakangas@helsinki.fi

CONF: Thinking with Spinoza: Politics, Philosophy and Religion

Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College at the University of London
7-8 May 2009, Room B35 Birkbeck Main Building

Does religious pluralism undermine political co-operation? Does religion differ from superstition? What is the scope of philosophical knowledge? Can it live alongside religious faith? How can states combine pluralism with solidarity? How deeply does political co-operation depend on imagined narratives? These and other themes of Spinoza’s seminal "Theologico-Political Treatise" will be discussed at the two-day conference "Thinking with Spinoza: Politics, Philosophy and Religion".

Speakers:

- Etienne Balibar (Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities), "Spinoza’s Three Gods and the Modes of Communication"
- Aaron Garrett, (Boston University), "Knowing the Essence of the State"
- Don Garrett (New York University), "Spinoza’s ‘Promising’ Ideas: Contract and Covenant in the Theologico-Political Treatise"
- Moira Gatens (University of Sydney), "Compelling Fictions: Spinoza and George Eliot on Belief and Faith"
- Susan James (Birkbeck College), "When does Truth Matter? The Politics of Spinoza’s Philosophy"
- Warren Montag (Occidental College), "Lucretius Hebraizant: Spinoza’s reading of Ecclesiastes"
- Pierre-Francois Moreau (Ecole Normale Supérieure des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Lyon), "From Scripture to Nations: Spinoza’s Theory of History in the Theologico-Political Treatise"

Further attraction:

Beth Lord (University of Dundee) will launch the Spinoza Research Network, a two-year project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Registration essential. Standard fee £45; Birkbeck staff and all students £20.

Booking forms are available at:

www.bbk.ac.uk/bih/news/spinoza

The Spinoza Research Network offers two travel bursaries for doctoral candidates (or academics on part-time/fixed-term contracts) to attend this conference and the Network meeting. The bursary reimburses travel from within Europe (max. £150), registration fee (£20) and accommodation (max. £100). You will need to explain how the conference is relevant to your research. Doctoral candidates should include contact details for their supervisor. To apply, please email Beth Lord: b.lord@dundee.ac.uk

Spinoza Research Network:

www.dundee.ac.uk/philosophy/spinoza/

This conference is co-sponsored by the European Journal of Philosophy and the Institute of Philosophy.

CFP: Law, Literature and Religion

First Annual Law and Literature Symposium "Law, Literature and Religion" at Villanova University, School of Law and Department of English, 1-3 October 2009.

Interested scholars are invited to submit abstracts of proposed papers.

Peter Goodrich (Professor of Law and Director of Law and Humanities, Cardozo School of Law), Steven Mailloux (Professor of English and Chancellor’s Professor of Rhetoric, Department of English, University of California at Irvine), and Robin West (Associate Dean, Research and Academic Programs, and Frederick J. Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy, Georgetown University Law Center) will be keynote speakers.

The conference theme for 2009, “Law, Literature and Religion”, is broadly conceived. Papers may include but are not limited to papers on any literary, rhetorical, narrative, or textual aspects of law and religion; the exegesis and hermeneutics of legal texts or topics; interpretation in law, literature, and religion; shared languages and histories of law and religion; discursive intersections of civil and canon law; ethics and justice explored in religious and secular literature; the comparative poetics or rhetoric of legality and religion; legal priesthoods; political theology; orthodoxies and/or heterodoxies; humanisms; Pauline studies; religious images in law; literary works about religion in/and/as law; and law as a civil religion. Papers will be 20-25 minutes long to permit time for discussion.

Abstracts of proposed papers should be sent to Professor Penelope Pether, to whom inquires may also be addressed: pether@law.villanova.edu

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words, and should arrive before 15 March 2009. Invitees will be notified by 30 April 2009 and will receive room and board at (but not transportation to and from) the symposium provided by Villanova University School of Law.