CONF: 2010 meeting of the American Academy of Religion

Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 30 October-1 November 2010

The increase in panels and papers accepted concerned with political theology that was to be observed at last year's AAR meeting continues this year.

First, the multi-year "Theology and the Political Consultation" will resume with a panel titled "Political Theology, Jewish, and Democratic: A Discussion of Bonnie Honig's Emergency Politics (Princeton University Press, 2009)" (A30-336, 30 October, 4.00-6.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/Marquis Ballroom C).

Description: "If Carl Schmitt offers an account of Christian political theology, what would a Jewish political theology look like? Instead of focusing on the exceptional moment, it would see every moment as exceptional. Instead of focusing on a single, transcendent sovereign, it would focus on sovereignty shared by a people and its leaders. Instead of opposing administrative discretion to juridical determinism, it would see discretion in law and determinism in administrative actions. Carl Schmitt is displaced by Franz Rosenzweig. In short, Jewish political theology is the political theology of democratic theory. These are among the claims of Bonnie Honig's Emergency Politics: Paradox, Law, Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2009). This panel will feature a critical dialogue about Honig's text. Some panelists will engage the text from a Jewish studies perspective, examining its extensive use of Rosenzweig and other Jewish sources; other panelists will engage the text as an intervention in conversations about religion and democratic theory, examining the provocative claims it makes about, for example, the political significance of miracles."

Participants: Gregory Kaplan (Rice University), presiding; Jeffrey Stout (Princeton); Nancy Levene (Indiana University); Martin Kavka (Florida State University); George Shulman (New York University); and Bonnie Honig (Northwestern University), responding

Second, the "Study of Judaism Section" and the "Critical Theory and Discourses on Religion Group" have organized a panel on "Antisemitism and Its Afterlives: Christian Studies of Judaism and the Construction of Modernity" (A31-309, 31 October, 5.00-6.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/M105).

Description: "Recent reevaluations of the secular order, for example that of Gil Anidjar, have pointed to the continuity of that order with the self-definition of Christian tradition against Judaism. Secular modernity borrowed certain of its narratives – notably, universalism and supersessionism – from Paul's definition of the Gospel as a universal dispensation of 'grace' that transcended the particularities of Jewish 'law.' Philosophers such as Jacob Taubes, Giorgio Agamben, and Alain Badiou have rediscovered the relevance of such theological categories for an understanding of the political theology of modernity. However, much historical work remains to be done to show how these categories were appropriated, altered, and sometimes inverted in the course of the self-transformation of European Christian civilization into an ostensibly secular modernity. Each of the papers on this panel contributes to filling in this genealogy, by retracing a part of the complex web of connections that connects modernity to earlier forms of Christian anti-Judaism. From Deists and their opponents in 17th-century England, to the Enlightenment philosophy of Immanuel Kant, to the 20th-century sociological project of Talcott Parsons, Judaism played a key role as the primary 'Other,' stubborn residue, and chief stumbling-block against which modernity defined itself."

Participants: Jerome Copulsky (Goucher College); Robert Yelle (University of Memphis), "Antisemitism at the Roots of Modern Ecumenicalism: The Deist Construction of 'Natural Religion' against Jewish Ritual and Revelation"; Bruce Rosenstock (University of Illinois), "Judaism and the Dialectical History of Religion: The Afterlife of Bishop Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses"; Leah Hochman (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion), "Who's the (Ugly) Stick-in-the-Mud?: Kant, Judaism, and (Beauty's) Freedom"; and Jonathan Judaken (University of Memphis), "Talcott Parsons, Ambivalent Liberalism, and the Sociology of Modern Anti-Semitism"

Third, the "Explorations in Theology and the Apocalyptic" working group offers a panel on "Aspects of the Political Theology of Johann Baptist Metz" (M31-401, 31 October, 6.30-9.00 pm, Marriott Marquis/L403).

Description: "This is the second of two sessions exploring apocalyptic themes in contemporary Christian theology."

Participants: Benjamin Myers (Charles Sturt University), presiding; Matthew Eggemeier (College of the Holy Cross), "Christianity or Nihilism?: The Apocalyptic Discourses of Johann Baptist Metz and Friedrich Nietzsche"; Jason McKinney (University of Toronto), "The Sins of the Father: Suffering, Guilt, and Redemption in Benjamin and Metz"; Christopher Craig Brittain (University of Aberdeen), "Positivity and Negativity in Political Theology: Metz and Adorno on the Nature of Apocalyptic Hope"; and Kyle Gingerich Hiebert (University of Manchester), "The Architectonics of Hope: On the Tragic Configuration of Johann Baptist Metz's New Political Theology"

Fourth, the "Theology of Martin Luther King Jr. Consultation" has put together a panel on "The Promised Land: Political Theology and Contemporary Social Movements" (A30-236, 30 October, 1.00-3.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/Marquis Ballroom B).

Participants: Hak Joon Lee (New Brunswick Theological Seminary), presiding; Lane Van Ham (University of Arizona), "Undocumented Immigration and the 'World House': Spirituality in the Immigrant Advocacy Movement"; Rosemary P. Carbine (Whittier College), "Transforming Spaces for Social Change: Prophetic Praxis in the United States Civil Rights and New Sanctuary Movements"; Karen V. Guth (University of Virginia), "Beyond Nonviolence: The Feminist/Womanist Political Theology of Martin Luther King Jr."; Frederick L. Ware (Howard University), "'Prophesy the Common Good!': The Promise and Problem of Moral Realism in the Political Theology of Martin Luther King Jr."; Rosetta E. Ross (Spelman College), responding

Fifth, "The Word Made Fresh", an annual lectureship held in conjunction with the Society of Evangelical Scholars (M29-411, 29 October, 7.00-9.00 pm, Marriott Marquis/International 6).

Description: "The Word Made Fresh [...] seeks to stimulate creative dialogue among scholars on themes reflective of evangelical Christianity".

Participants: Thomas Oord (Northwest Nazarene University), presiding; Amos Yong (Regent University), "In the Days of Caesar: Pentecostalism and Political Theology"; J. Kameron Carter (Duke University), responding; Serene Jones (Union Theological Seminary), responding; Graham Ward (University of Manchester), responding

Sixth, the "Søren Kierkegaard Society" panel on "Selfhood, Church, and Society" (M30-124, 30 October, 9.00 am-12.00 pm, Marriott Marquis/International 3) includes a paper by Robert L. Perkins (Stetson University), "Kierkegaard's Political Theology".

Seventh, the "Religion and Politics Section" panel on "Religion and Politics in Theory and Practice" (A31-105, 31 October, 9.00-11.30 am, Marriott Marquis/A706) includes a paper by John Senior (Emory University), "Tradition Reconsidered: Political Theology, Narrative, and the Formation of Political Identities".

Eight, the "Reformed Theology and History Group" panel on "Reformed Churches and Historically Marginalized People" (A30-325, 30 October, 4.00-6.30 pm, Marriott Marquis/A706) includes a paper by Matthew J. Tuininga (Emory University), "Reformulating the Two Kingdoms Paradigm: A Political Theological Approach to Racism".

The AAR annual meeting online programme (including abstracts of the papers, if provided) is available and searchable at:

http://meeting.aarweb.org/

Further information and registration:

www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/default.asp

Book: A Clash of Ideologies: Marxism, Liberation Theology, and Apocalypticism in New Testament Studies

Just published: Randall W. Reed, "A Clash of Ideologies: Marxism, Liberation Theology, and Apocalypticism in New Testament Studies"
(Pickwick Publications, April 2010):

http://wipfandstock.com/store/A_Clash_of_Ideologies_Marxism_Liberation_Theology_and_Apocalypticism_in_New_Testament_Studies/

Publisher's description: "Marxism is one of the revolutionary social-scientific theories that has come to have a prominent place in New Testament studies in the United States. It is often combined with liberation theology and applied to apocalyptic texts. This book argues that the basic presuppositions of these three ideological systems are ultimately at odds with one another. The study then traces the kinds of moves scholars in New Testament studies have made to overcome this problem."

Endorsements: "Reed has uncovered the unexamined assumption of biblical scholarship, namely that the Bible holds the answers to the social issues confronting us in the twenty-first century. He does this by exposing the faulty logics of several major hermeneutical traditions of New Testament scholarship that he calls 'ideologies.' This also serves as a brilliant announcement of an historic change in the reasons for the long-standing investment in biblical studies. The Bible can no longer serve as the theological foundation for ideological argumentation. It has now to be seen as the Christian myth with its own problematic social ideology." (Burton Mack, Claremont Graduate University)

"By highlighting the fundamental and irresolvable incompatibility between Marxist materialism and its distinctive view of religion, and any emancipatory projects rooted in religion – whether ancient apocalypticism or modern liberation theology – Reed's important, timely, and persuasive book establishes the continued and even enhanced salience of Marxist insights into and critiques of biblical texts. An outstanding indictment of the too-common tendency in our field to advocate radical social transformation while maintaining the transcendent authority of privileged biblical texts." (William Arnal, University of Regina)

Randall W. Reed is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State University.

CONF: Canadian Theological Society annual meeting

Annual Meeting of the Canadian Theological Society (CTS), at Concordia University, Molson School of Business, 1450 Rue Guy, Montréal, Canada, 31 May-2 June 2010

http://cts-stc.ca/previous-conferences/2010_annual_program/

Two one-hour slots in the parallel sessions at this small conference are reserved for papers on political theology:

Andrew Atkinson (Wilfred Laurier University), "Carl Schmitt and the Political Theology of HBO: John Adams and Rome as Sites of Discourse on De-differentiated Secularism and the Relationship between Violence and Law" (1 June, 9.15-10.10 am, MB 3-430)

From the abstract: "Since Six Feet Under began airing in 2001, HBO has consistently marketed programming that integrates left wing ideals with various religious traditions. [...] The star-studded miniseries, John Adams, and the raucous reinvention of the sword and sandal genre, Rome, are both productions that complicate HBO's ideological stance and aesthetic. These two shows delve head-long into theo-political concepts that are usually monopolized by conservatives, such as the friend-enemy distinction, the small and powerful state, and the exceptions permitted to the sovereign. These concepts find a common focus in the writings of Carl Schmitt [...]. Interest in Schmitt's concepts on TV has clearly been influenced by what Simon Critchley calls the 'Crypto-Schmittianism' of the Bush-Cheney years [...]. However, while Critchley uses this term derisively there are a great number on the left who actively endorse Schmitt's concepts even though they are grounded in his right-wing Catholic Christology [...]. This paper will seek to argue that the left-right commonality on violence and law is intimately associated with theological understandings the political [sic] [...]."

Kornel Zathureczky (University of Sudbury), "Critical Political Theology in an Apocalyptic Key: A Reception of the Work of Jacob Taubes"
(1 June, 1.45-2.40 pm, MB 3-435)

Abstract: "Jacob Taubes' last lecture on 'The Political Theology of Paul' offered a significant opening to help to reconsider – as a phenomenon imbued with the tensions that exists before a an [sic] ultimate separation – the central figure of Christian history from the perspective of the tradition of Jewish messianism. Taubes' other recently translated works, 'Occidental Eschatology' and 'From Cult to Culture,' generated an added impetus to revisit this hidden core of Christianity. Essential in this enterprise is a reconsideration of the enduring significance of comic [sic] Gnostic dualism for a better understanding of what is at stake with the, often suppressed and marginalised, apocalyptic dimension of Christianity and how by [sic] retrieving this dimension may serve to construe a critical political theology in what many, including Taubes, consider as a post-Christian stage in history, an epoch that corresponds to Joachim of Fiore's 'ecclesia spiritualis.' The paper's purpose is thus two-fold: First, it offers a critical reception of the thought of Taubes, one that evaluates his contribution to the genealogy of political theologies. Second, it proposes to draw up the outlines of a contemporary political theology in an apocalyptic key. Here, the recent work of Žižek and Milbank on the apocalyptic substrate of God's kenosis in Christ serves as a vital conversation partner to further the development of a new political theology in a post-political global bio-polis."

Also of interest: Timothy Harvie (St. Mary's University College), "Public Hope in Dialogue: The Debate Between Moltmann and Ratzinger as a Means to Public Theology" (1 June, 10.15-11.10 am, MB 3-435)

From the abstract: "In 2008, eminent theologian of hope, Jürgen Moltmann, published a critical response to Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Spe salvi. This paper will analyze the main contours of Moltmann's argument in light of a summary of the theological contents of the relevant papal encyclical and highlight the ongoing debate between Moltmann's public theology and Joseph Ratzinger. [...] By outlining Moltmann's eshcatological [sic] and ethical theology of hope this paper will analyze the ad hoc engagement with Catholic theologians which Moltmann employs throughout his writings. The paper will call several of these readings into question utilizing encyclicals from the Catholic social tradition and documents from the Second Vatican Council complimented by the doctrine of hope outlined by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae (IIaIIae.17-22). This intersection between Moltmann and the Roman Catholic Church on the ethical relevance of theological doctrines raises pertinent issues regarding the potential for an eschatologically informed public theology to be a potential avenue of viable theological dialogue between traditions through a coherent and ecclesiologically informed public ethic."

Further information (including how to register) is to be found on the above website.

The CTS annual meeting is part of the 2010 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, an annual event in Canada that brings together thousands of scholars under the aegis of more than seventy associations from various disciplines.

Book: From Utopia to Apocalypse: Science Fiction and the Politics of Catastrophe

Just published: Peter Y. Paik, "From Utopia to Apocalypse: Science Fiction and the Politics of Catastrophe" (University of Minnesota Press, March 2010).

Publisher's description: "Revolutionary narratives in recent science fiction graphic novels and films compel audiences to reflect on the politics and societal ills of the day. Through character and story, science fiction brings theory to life, giving shape to the motivations behind the action as well as to the consequences they produce. In From Utopia to Apocalypse, Peter Y. Paik shows how science fiction generates intriguing and profound insights into politics. He reveals that the fantasy of putting annihilating omnipotence to beneficial effect underlies the revolutionary projects that have defined the collective upheavals of the modern age. Paik traces how this political theology is expressed, and indeed literalized, in popular superhero fiction, examining works including Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel Watchmen, the science fiction cinema of Jang Joon-Hwan, the manga of Hayao Miyazaki, Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, and the Matrix trilogy.

"Superhero fantasies are usually seen as compensations for individual feelings of weakness, victimization, and vulnerability. But Paik presents these fantasies as social constructions concerned with questions of political will and the disintegration of democracy rather than with the psychology of the personal. What is urgently at stake, Paik argues, is a critique of the limitations and deadlocks of the political imagination. The utopias dreamed of by totalitarianism, which must be imposed through torture, oppression, and mass imprisonment, nevertheless persist in liberal political systems. With this reality looming throughout, Paik demonstrates the uneasy juxtaposition of saintliness and cynically manipulative realpolitik, of torture and the assertion of human dignity, of cruelty and benevolence."

www.upress.umn.edu/Books/P/paik_utopia.html

Contents: Introduction: The God That Succeeded; 1. Utopia Achieved: The Case of Watchmen; 2. The Defense of Necessity: On Jang Joon-Hwan's Save the Green Planet; 3. The Saintly Politics of Catastrophe: Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind; 4. Between Trauma and Tragedy: From The Matrix to V for Vendetta

Endorsements: "I read Peter Y. Paik's lucid, graceful, ruthless book in one single astonished sitting. I scarred it all over with arrows and exclamation points, so I can read it again as soon as possible." (Bruce Sterling, novelist)

"Uncommonly powerful and original, From Utopia to Apocalypse both raises issues that are disturbing and disturbingly relevant, and casts a whole genre of cultural fictions in an entirely new light." (Steven Shaviro, Wayne State University)

Peter Y. Paik is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Book: Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision

A new book edited by Douglas Harink: "Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision: Critical Engagements with Agamben, Badiou, Zizek, and Others" (Wipf and Stock, February 2010):

http://wipfandstock.com/store/Paul_Philosophy_and_the_Theopolitical_Vision_Critical_Engagements_with_Agamben_Badiou_Zizek_and_Others

Publisher's description: "The apostle Paul was a man of many journeys. We are usually familiar with the geographical ones he made in his own time. This volume traces others – Paul's journeys in our time, as he is co-opted or invited to travel (sometimes as abused slave, sometimes as trusted guide) with modern and recent Continental philosophers and political theorists. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Benjamin; Taubes, Badiou, Zizek, and Agamben – Paul journeys here among the philosophers. In these essays you are invited to travel with them into the regions of philosophy, hermeneutics, political theory, and theology. You will certainly hear the philosophers speak. But Paul will not remain silent. Above the sounds of the journey his voice comes through, loud and clear."

Endorsements: "To the surprise of many, the apostle Paul has brought new energy to continental philosophy. But to date, the 'Pauline turn' in contemporary theory has been rather isolated from scholars in biblical studies – where Paul is undergoing a different kind of reconsideration. Finally, this volume changes all of that, bringing together philosophers, biblical scholars, and theologians to assess and engage the 'postmodern Paul,' intimating a Pauline revolution that not even Zizek could have dreamed." (James K. A. Smith, Calvin College)

"[A] dialogue rich with insights flowing in both directions – from modern theory to new (or recovered) angles of illumination on Paul, and from the apostle's charged texts back to the presuppositions and conceits of modern theory. That the view of Paul often pressed is 'apocalyptic,' in the sense of drawing on the seminal work of J. Louis (Lou) Martyn, makes the analysis still richer. The result is a book that both educates and delights." (Douglas A. Campbell, Duke Divinity School)

"[The] secular despoilers of Paul are themselves despoiled here, and Christian theology has set before it a wealth of provocations to better faithfulness and understanding. [...] Philosophers and theologians alike are well reminded – indeed well warned – of the dynamite they take into their hands when, in quest of a better human politics, they turn to Paul." (Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen)

Douglas Harink is Professor of Theology at The King's University College, Edmonton, Canada.

CFP: Engagements with the Political Theology of Johannes Baptist Metz

Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 30 October-1 November 2010

In addition to the AAR calls for papers posted here last month, the "Explorations in Christian Theology and Apocalyptic" working group has released a call for individual paper proposals for an "additional meeting" on the following topic: "Engagements with the Political Theology of Johannes Baptist Metz".

http://theologyandapocalyptic.wordpress.com

They especially welcome proposals that engage the turn to apocalyptic within Metz's theology and the ideas particularly associated with this turn in his theology, such as: the 'eschatological reserve', 'dangerous memory', the Second Coming, discipleship, mysticism and prayer, the relation of the Kingdom of God to history, the nature and definition of 'the political' and political authority/sovereignty (particularly 'the authority of those who suffer'), and martyrdom/witness. They also encourage proposals that explore these themes by bringing Metz into critical conversation with other political and liberationist theologians (such as Jürgen Moltmann, Gustavo Gutierrez, and Jon Sobrino), political theorists (such as Walter Benjamin, Carl Schmitt, and Giorgio Agamben), and prominent political activists and theologians (such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, William Stringfellow, Jacques Ellul, and Will Campbell).

Paper presentations will be approx. 20 minutes in length and the panel will include an invited respondent.

Proposals should include your name, institutional affiliation, and the title(s) of the proposed paper(s), as well as a 250 word abstract for each proposed paper.

Please submit proposals via email to Nathan Kerr (Trevecca Nazarene University): nkerr@trevecca.edu
and/or Philip Ziegler (University of Aberdeen): p.ziegler@abdn.ac.uk

Deadline: 22 March 2010

For the earlier AAR calls for papers on political theology (with a deadline of 1 March 2010) and further information on the conference, see:

www.political-theology.com/2010/01/cfp-political-theology-at-aar-2010.html

Book: A Political History of Early Christianity

Allen Brent's monograph "A Political History of Early Christianity"
(T & T Clark, September 2009) contains a chapter on "The Political Theology of the Augustan Revolution: Cosmic Reconstruction":

www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=130547

Publisher's description: "Allen Brent examines early Christianity and its triumph in Roman Empire. Starting with the description of the apocalyptic movement of the earliest form of Roman [Markan] Christianity, Brent moves on to illustrate various aspects that have made Christianity so powerful. Explaining numerous ideas involved in the rising of the Christianity, such as metaphysical reality, church organisation, nascent Trinitarianism, Allen Brent also emphasizes the impact of emperor Constantine's position in the new Christian cosmic and political order: a Trinity of distinct coequal and co-eternal persons was to trump the claims of an imperial monarchy reflecting a cosmic one. Brent discusses the Christian history in the general context of political movements that seek initially to achieve a 'root and branch' transformation of present society."

Reviews: "Allen Brent's Political History of Early Christianity is breath-taking and ground-breaking. He argues that the Jesus Movement, from its earliest days until it blossomed into the officially sanctioned Christianity of the Roman Empire under Constantine at the start of the fourth century, was inextricably linked to and in tension with the political concerns of wider culture. However, Brent demonstrates that this does not reduce Jesus and the movement that evolved in his name to a group of mere social revolutionaries." (Paul Foster, University of Edinburgh)

"His aim in the present book is to examine the relation between metaphysical theories and their political contexts, with a broad remit in the interpretation of the terms 'metaphysical' and 'political'. [...] The writing is characteristically lucid, the scholarship impeccable, the argument brisk but incisive". (Mark Edwards, Oxford)

Allen Brent was formerly Professor in History at James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, and is now a member of the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge.

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."

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."