CONF: American Political Science Association annual meeting 2010

106th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Washington, DC, USA, 2-5 September 2010

http://apsanet.org/content_65547.cfm?navID=193

The programme of this year's APSA meeting features a panel on "God and Political Representation: Is a Democratic Political Theology Possible?", organized by APSA's "Foundations of Political Theory" and "Religion and Politics" sections (2 September, 2.00 pm).

Speakers: James R. Martel (San Francisco State University), "Benjamin and Derrida on the Theology of Immanence"; Miguel E. Vatter (Universidad Diego Portales), "Political Theology without Sovereignty: Some 20th Century Examples (Voegelin, Maritain, Badiou)"; Kathleen Roberts Skerrett (Grinnell College), "Sovereign Power and Theological Themes of Plenitude and Plurality"; Eric Gregory (Princeton), "Augustine, Augustinianism, and Democracy"

Also: The panel "Crossing Boundaries: Religious and Political Voices", organized by the "Religion and Politics" section, includes a paper by Melissa Marie Matthes (Yale Divinity School), "Mourning JFK and the Hard Times of 1963: The Political Theology of the Sermons of the Crisis" (2 September, 8.00 am), and "Poster Session 9: Related Fields" includes a poster by Jenna Silber Storey (University of Chicago), "Schmitt's Nationalism and its Relation to his Political Theology" (4 September, 2.00 pm).

Further information and the full programme are to be found on APSA's website.

Book: Political Theology: Schmitt – Derrida – Metz (in German)

Michaela Rissing and Thilo Rissing are the authors of the monograph "Politische Theologie: Schmitt – Derrida – Metz: Eine Einführung"
(Political Theology: Schmitt – Derrida – Metz: An Introduction; my translation), published by the German Wilhelm Fink Verlag in August 2009:

www.fink.de/katalog/titel/978-3-7705-4871-2.html

From the publisher's description: "'Political theology' – a term as suggestive as controversial. Depending on whether one views it from a political, philosophical or theological perspective, it reveals different guiding principles that traverse its conceptual field in diverging directions, cross each other or even converge. Starting from the political theology of Carl Schmitt, [...] the authors continue with an exposition of the thinking of Jacques Derrida [... and] the model of the new political theology of Johann Baptist Metz. The question is asked as to whether theology is political and, conversely, politics remains bound to theological figures of thought even under secular conditions." (my rough translation)

I can find no reliable biographical information about the authors who have, between them, published a number of books before this.

CONF: Rethinking the Theological-Political Complex: Derrida's Spinoza

Half-day symposium "Rethinking the Theological-Political Complex: Derrida's Spinoza" of the Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI), co-sponsored by the Centre for Jewish Studies, the Centre for Comparative Literature, the Department of Philosophy, and the Department of French at the University of Toronto, Jackman Humanities Building, Room 100, 170 St. George Street, Toronto, Canada, (Sunday!) 7 March 2010, 2.00-6.00 pm

www.humanities.utoronto.ca/event_details/id=198

Speakers: Warren Montag (English and Comparative Literature, Occidental College): "Immanence, Transcendence and the Trace: Derrida Between Levinas and Spinoza"; Gerard Bensussan (Philosophy, University of Strasbourg): "L'effroi de Spinoza: Derrida lecteure du Traité théologico-politique"; Willi Goetschel (German, University of Toronto): "Rethinking the Theological-Political: Derrida's Spinoza"; followed by a round table.

The location is wheelchair-accessible. If you are a person with a disability and require accommodation, please contact Kim Yates by
1 March 2010 to make appropriate arrangements: jhi.associate@utoronto.ca

You may want to contact them upfront to see whether persons from outside the University of Toronto can participate.