CFP: Radical Orthodoxy: A Journal of Theology, Philosophy and Politics

"Radical Orthodoxy: A Journal of Theology, Philosophy and Politics" is a new international peer reviewed journal dedicated to exploring academic and policy debates that interface between theology, philosophy, and the social sciences. The editors describe the journals policy as "radically non-partisan" and welcome submissions from scholars and intellectuals "with interesting and relevant things to say about the nature and trajectory of the times in which we live".

They explain that the journal will normally be published four times a year – each volume comprising of standard, special, review, and current affairs issues. The journal will also attempt to pursue an innovative editorial policy by publishing pieces both longer and shorter than those typically published in mainstream academic journals (along with those of standard length).

The first issue of the journal will appear online in autumn 2011: a double special issue on the theology, philosophy, and politics of life. This issue will explore the wider intellectual ramifications of so-called new vitalist philosophical discourses as well as the growing importance of controversies about the nature and significance of life to contemporary theological and social-scientific debates. In particular, submissions are invited on the following subjects: Life and creativity; Everyday life; Life and the gift; Grace and nature; Thomism and vitalism; Life and phenomenology; Michel Henry; The historical significance of 'Deleuzianism'; Nihilism and eliminative materialism; Bio-politics; The philosophy of biology; The theology, philosophy, politics of the neurosciences; Life and cybernetics.

Deadline for submissions for the special issue: 31 August 2011

All paper submissions (for the special issue and later regular issues) should be sent to Neil Turnbull (Editor) or Eric Austin Lee (Managing Editor): papersubmissions@radicalorthodoxy.org

Book: The Theological-Political Origins of the Modern State

Just published: Bernard Bourdin, "The Theological-Political Origins of the Modern State: The Controversy between James I of England and Cardinal Bellarmine" (trans. Susan Pickford; Catholic University of America Press, November 2010):

http://cuapress.cua.edu/books/viewbook.cfm?Book=BOTP

Publisher's description: "Contemporary understanding of the modern state is so bound up with the development of liberal democracy that it may appear anachronistic to identify the origins of the modern state in a theological-political configuration of events. Yet in European history, the sovereignty of the people arose from the divine delegation of royal sovereignty to the temporal and spiritual orders – a theory that the Holy See could not countenance. The controversy that erupted between James I of England and Cardinal Bellarmine following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 is a striking illustration of this political and ecclesiological dispute over who ultimately holds absolute sovereignty by divine right – the king or the pope? In this work, Bernard Bourdin clearly sets forth the political thought and theology of James I as an early intellectual foundation for the modern state. He offers a comprehensive examination of James's intense dispute with Bellarmine, a controversy that sent shock waves throughout Europe and had a lasting impact on the rise of the modern state."

Bernard Bourdin is Professor of Theology at the University of Metz, France.

CFP: Shakespeare's Imagined Orient

International Conference "Shakespeare's Imagined Orient", at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon, 4-6 May 2011

www.aub.edu.lb/conferences/shake_orient/

Description: "Shakespeare studies has recently experienced a noticeable and dramatic geographical shift. As the textual landscape of Shakespeare's drama changes, it takes on new forms and now points to new horizons, namely the East and the Orient, and more particularly the Levant. From the blasted heaths of England, Shakespeare moves to the most arid and yet fertile soils of the Levant. The aim of the conference, in this emergent field, is to reconsider Shakespeare's diffusion from both Pre and Postcolonial Middle Eastern perspectives and to examine Shakespeare's critical relevance to understanding religion and politics on both a local scale (in the Middle East/the Orient) and globally. Reaching across disciplinary boundaries, Shakespeare's Imagined Orient aims to prove how the critical and artistic reception of Shakespeare in the Orient is paramount to apprehending and reinventing Shakespeare as a cultural and social bridge uniting the 'East' and the 'West' in the landscape of global culture.

"The organisers of the conference hope to offer a critical insight into Shakespeare and Early Modern political theology that would help refashion, remap broader issues that engage the status of cultural and religious identity, nation, and individuality in the landscape of global culture. With such issues in mind, we invite submissions concerning the following range of topics: Representations of the Orient in Shakespeare's Work; Christian/Muslim Representation/Interaction on Shakespeare's/the Early Modern stage; Local/Global Shakespeare (from a Middle Eastern perspective); Shakespeare's Women and The Orient; Desire, Phantasm, and the Orient; Identity and Nationhood; Material Culture and the Imagined Orient on Shakespeare's Stage."

Both paper abstracts (300 words) and session proposals are invited. Proposals should be sent as a Word file and include your name, institution, city and state or country, e-mail address, and phone number. Please attach a brief CV. E-mail your abstracts/session proposals to the conference chair, Prof François-Xavier Gleyzon (AUB), to whom you may also address questions: Shakespeare&theOrient@gmail.com

Deadline: 21 January 2011

Notifications will be sent by 15 February 2011.

Please note that each presentation is limited to 25 minutes (including questions).

Keynote speakers: Jonathan Burton (West Virginia University), Gerald MacLean (University of Exeter), Margaret Litvin (Boston University), and Daniel Vitkus (Florida State University).

The conference is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the British Council, the Anis K. Makdisi Program in Literature, the Office of the Provost, the Center for American Studies and Research, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AUB.

Public lecture: Žižek on "emancipatory political theology"

New York Public Library (NYPL), Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York City, USA, 9 November 2010, 7.00 pm

Public lecture by Slavoj Žižek: "God Without the Sacred: The Book of Job, The First Critique of Ideology"

www.nypl.org/events/programs/2010/11/09/salvoj-zizek?nref=56896

Description: "The three religions of the Book each help us to differentiate the divine from the sacred. This liberating concept culminates in Paul's claim, from Ephesians, that 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against leaders, against authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual wickedness in the heavens.' Can religious fundamentalism be overcome only with the help of an emancipatory political theology? Philosopher Slavoj Zizek debates this and other incendiary questions [...]."

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, and International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London.

$25 general admission, $15 Friends of the NYPL, seniors and students with valid ID. Tickets can be bought from the website above.

CFP: New Chaucer Society 2012 call for session proposals

The 18th Biennial Congress of the New Chaucer Society (NCS) will take place in Portland, Oregon, USA, in 2012 (the exact date has not yet been set, it seems).

Call for session proposals

The congress will be comprised equally of sessions tied to a particular thematic thread and open sessions. The thread "Neighbor" invites proposals for sessions on political theology.

Description: "The neighbor is uniquely situated between friend and enemy, and long linked to the golden rule – the imperative to love the neighbor as the self. This thread welcomes sessions considering aspects of neighbors, neighborhoods, or neighborliness, including but not limited to the following: the vicissitudes of community, the ethics of charity, recent theoretical work on the political theology of neighbor love, borders between human and divine, unusual neighborhoods of people or texts; relations of proximity between peoples, cultures, authors, languages, or literatures. This thread will conclude with a session on 'Neighbor/Oceans,' bringing together different ways of thinking about propinquity and community."

Sessions may be proposed in any of the following formats: Paper Panels (either three papers at 20 minutes each or four papers at 15 minutes each); Roundtables (discussions between 5-7 speakers on a topic of common interest; speakers do not deliver papers, though they may speak from notes); Seminars (limited to ten participants; convened to consider works in progress by participants, or some text of common interest); Working Groups (extended seminars that convene virtually in advance of the congress, with a culminating session in Portland).

Proposals for sessions should be sent to the thread convenor (and programme co-chair), Patricia Ingham (Indiana University): pingham@indiana.edu

Deadline: 22 November 2010

After the sessions and session organizers have been determined by the programme committee, a call for papers will be announced in early February 2011. Session organizers are expected to select session participants from among proposals submitted in response to the February CFP.

More information on the NCS is to be found here:

http://artsci.wustl.edu/~chaucer/

CFP: Religion and Liberation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Conference "Religion and Liberation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives" of Durham University's Department of Theology, Faith and Globalization Programme, and Centre for Catholic Studies, at St Cuthbert's Catholic Church (University Chaplaincy), Durham, UK, 17 December 2010,
9.00 am-6.30 pm

http://religionandliberation.wordpress.com

Call for papers

Description: "Current debates about religion and politics tend towards two positions: 1) concern over the danger of religious extremism; 2) criticism of religious traditions' conservative positions on social issues. While these debates are important, their dominance often eclipses the significant history of religiously rooted liberation movements. This conference aims to address this often-overlooked connection through the investigation of three themes: 1) historical analysis of religiously rooted liberation movements; 2) theoretical analysis of the connection between religious ideas and theories of liberation; and 3) critical analysis of religion's role in contemporary philosophy and critical theory. Through this investigation, we seek to show how the theoretical and historical elements within these traditions may provide a complementary critical resource which enables communities to work on solutions to the crises confronting contemporary society."

The organizers welcome submission on these or other related topics: Religious responses to the political and economic effects of globalization, including the responses of indigenous religious traditions; Theoretic, sociological, or historical perspectives on the role of religious traditions in struggles for human rights; Theoretical, sociological, or historical perspectives on Islamic or Christian liberation theology; Religion and the financial crisis; Religion and environmental activism; Connections between theological traditions and the critique of political economy; Religion and forms of social organization; Religion, politics of identity and contemporary social movements; Influence of theological traditions on political or economic structures; Regional assessments of the current status of liberation theology.

Keynote speakers: Philip Goodchild (University of Nottingham), "The Future of Liberation", and Roland Boer (University of Newcastle, Australia), "Kairos and Akairós"

To propose a paper, please send a title and a 400-word abstract to: t.j.lynch@durham.ac.uk

Deadline: 19 November 2010

Participants will be informed by 26 November.

Registration fee: £5

Book: Dalit Theology in the Twenty-First Century

"Dalit Theology in the Twenty-First Century: Discordant Voices, Discerning Pathways", edited by Sathianathan Clarke, Deenabandhu Manchala, and Philip Vinod Peacock (Oxford University Press, March 2010):

www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Theology/?view=usa&ci=9780198066910

Publisher's description: "This work marks the beginning of a new Dalit self-understanding and a new appreciation for the changed landscape of the twenty-first century where the agency of Dalits in the area of theology has exploded the monopoly of caste interpretations in a significant manner. This volume addresses how despite its proud entry into the post-colonial, politically democratic twenty-first century world, India continues to straddle the structural inequalities and functional hierarchies based on its age-old caste system. It also looks at various Dalit, women, tribal, and other subaltern movements that struggle against insidious forms of caste-, class-, ethnicity- and religion-based violence and violation. A unique combination of Dalit theology with Dalit feminism and feminist theology, this book brings together the key directions and interests that Dalit Theology has taken in the new century."

Sathianathan Clarke is Professor of Theology, Culture and Mission and Bishop Sundo Kim Chair in World Christianity at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, USA.

Deenabandhu Manchala is Programme Executive for Just and Inclusive Communities in the Unity, Mission, Evangelism and Spirituality programme at the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland.

Philip Vinod Peacock is Associate Professor at Bishop's College, Calcutta, India.

Book: Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love

Grant N. Havers, "Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love" (University of Missouri Press, November 2009):

http://press.umsystem.edu/fall2009/havers.htm

From the publisher's description: "Abraham Lincoln extolled the merit of 'loving thy neighbor as thyself,' especially as a critique of the hypocrisy of slavery, but a discussion of Christian love is noticeably absent from today's debates about religion and democracy. In this provocative book, Grant Havers argues that charity is a central tenet of what Lincoln once called America's 'political religion.' He explores the implications of making Christian love the highest moral standard for American democracy, showing how Lincoln's legacy demands that a true democracy be charitable toward all – and that only a people who lived according to such ideals could succeed in building democracy as Lincoln understood it. [...] This carefully argued work defends Lincoln's understanding of charity as essential to democracy while emphasizing the difficulty of fusing this ethic with the desire to spread democracy to people who do not share America's Christian heritage. In considering the prospect of America's leaders rediscovering a moral foreign policy based on charity rather than the costly idolization of democracy, Lincoln and the Politics of Christian Love makes a timely contribution to the wider debate over both the meaning of religion in American politics and the mission of America in the world – and opens a new window on Lincoln's lasting legacy."

Excerpts: "Despite my discussion of political philosophy in the pages to follow, I am inclined to classify this work as political theology. Most secular academics tend to separate the two fields: political philosophy studies the human understanding of politics, while political theology reflects God's revelation. My contention is that, at least since Lincoln, this separation has never been successful in American political thought, although there have been many procrustean attempts to impose an artificial separation. The fact is that religion and politics have always been mutually dependent in American history [...]. Whereas [the founding fathers] Jay, Hamilton, and Madison are describing the meaning and process of government in profoundly secular terms (they rarely mention Christianity), Lincoln's speeches resonate with theological themes. Whereas The Federalist presents a new 'science of politics,' Lincoln offers a political theology. [...] Lincoln expected charity alone to be the primary foundation of a new political theology."

Grant N. Havers is Professor of Philosophy and Political Studies at Trinity Western University, Canada.

Book: Islam as Political Religion: The Future of an Imperial Faith

Just published: Shabbir Akhtar, "Islam as Political Religion: The Future of an Imperial Faith" (Routledge, October 2010):

www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415781473/

Publisher's description: "This comprehensive survey of contemporary Islam provides a philosophical and theological approach to the issues faced by Muslims and the question of global secularisation. Engaging with critics of modern Islam, Shabbir Akhtar sets out an agenda of what his religion is and could be as a political entity. Exploring the views and arguments of philosophical, religious and political thinkers, the author covers a raft of issues faced by Muslims in an increasingly secular society. Chapters are devoted to the Qur'an and Islamic literature; the history of Islam; Sharia law; political Islam; Islamic ethics; and political Islam's evolving relationship with the West. Recommending changes which enable Muslims to move from their imperial past to a modest role in the power structures of today's society, Akhtar offers a detailed assessment of the limitations and possibilities of Islam in the modern world. Providing a vision for an empowered yet rational Islam that distances itself from both Islamist factions and Western secularism, this book is an essential read for students and scholars of Islamic studies, religion, philosophy and politics."

Shabbir Akhtar is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Old Dominion University.

Book: Emergency Politics: Paradox, Law, Democracy

Bonnie Honig, "Emergency Politics: Paradox, Law, Democracy" (Princeton University Press, August 2009):

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9040.html

Publisher's description: "This book intervenes in contemporary debates about the threat posed to democratic life by political emergencies. Must emergency necessarily enhance and centralize top-down forms of sovereignty? Those who oppose executive branch enhancement often turn instead to law, insisting on the sovereignty of the rule of law or demanding that law rather than force be used to resolve conflicts with enemies. But are these the only options? Or are there more democratic ways to respond to invocations of emergency politics? Looking at how emergencies in the past and present have shaped the development of democracy, Bonnie Honig argues that democratic politics are always a struggle to weigh the value of necessities – food, security, and housing – against the achievement of a richer life across the full range of human aspirations. Emphasizing the connections between mere life and more life, emergence and emergency, Honig argues that emergencies call us to attend anew to a neglected paradox of democratic politics: that we need good citizens with aspirational ideals to make good politics while we need good politics to infuse citizens with idealism. Honig takes a broad approach to emergency, considering immigration politics, new rights claims, contemporary food politics and the infrastructure of consumption, and the limits of law during the Red Scare of the early twentieth century. Taking its bearings from Moses Mendelssohn, Franz Rosenzweig, and other Jewish thinkers, this is a major contribution to modern thought about the challenges and risks of democratic orientation and action in response to emergency."

Excerpts: "In chapter 4, where I analyze the idea of 'miracle,' Schmitt's metaphor for the state of exception, I ask whether these identifications are themselves remnants of earlier debates in political theology about the status of the extraordinary – god and miracle or divine agency – in the ordinary human world. [...] Schmitt and Agamben's 'state of exception,' I think it is fair to say, has captured the imagination of contemporary political theory. In this chapter, I seek to loosen its hold on our imagination by pluralizing the particular political theology on which Schmitt's account is based and from which it draws sustenance."

Endorsements: "What a compelling idea to take Franz Rosenzweig as an original political thinker and antagonist to Carl Schmitt. In this book, Bonnie Honig shows that political theory and Judaism can be read differently, not simply to deconstruct them but in order to reshape democratic theory beyond its paradox." (Adriana Cavarero, University of Verona)

"This is an exciting book. Its fresh and bold approach to such long-studied questions of politics as founding, membership, legitimation, rights, liberation, cosmopolitanism, exception, discretion, and law invites a fundamental shift in perspective that substantially advances political science." (Jill Frank, University of South Carolina)

Bonnie Honig is Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation in Chicago.

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: City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era

Just published: Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, "City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era" (Moody Publishers, October 2010):

www.moodypublishers.com/Publishers/default.asp?SectionID=86DE745783B8435ABFF5832DD9E4C78A&action=details&subid=204BCB5054FD40A6ABFC38298A8E6CE9

Publisher's description: "An era has ended. The political expression that most galvanized evangelicals during the past quarter-century, the Religious Right, is fading. What's ahead is unclear. Millions of faith-based voters still exist, and they continue to care deeply about hot-button issues like abortion and gay marriage, but the shape of their future political engagement remains to be formed. Into this uncertainty, former White House insiders Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner seek to call evangelicals toward a new kind of political engagement – a kind that is better both for the church and the country, a kind that cannot be co-opted by either political party, a kind that avoids the historic mistakes of both the Religious Left and the Religious Right. Incisive, bold, and marked equally by pragmatism and idealism, Gerson and Wehner's new book has the potential to chart a new political future not just for values voters, but for the nation as a whole."

From the foreword by Timothy J. Keller (Westminster Theological Seminary): "A very large number of young evangelicals believe that their churches have become as captured by the Right as mainline churches were captured by the Left. Michael and Pete recognize this and largely agree. But they counsel that political withdrawal is not the correct response, nor should alienated evangelicals go down the mainline path. Instead, they urge careful theological reflection, and the rest of this short volume serves as a guidebook to the issues that will have to be addressed, rather than as a finished manifesto of what this new political theology must be."

Review: "Figuring out the appropriate relationship between politics and religion for Christians is a daunting task. Yet Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner have succeeded brilliantly. In City of Man, they spell out a political theology for 21st century Christians that rejects the narrow thinking of the Religious Right and the creeping secularism of the Religious Left. City of Man is a two-fer. It's an enormously important book on politics and on religion." (Fred Barnes, "Weekly Standard")

Michael Gerson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center on Faith and International Affairs of the Institute for Global Engagement. Formerly, he served as policy advisor and chief speechwriter to US President George W. Bush.

Peter Wehner is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Under George W. Bush, he served as director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives.

Book: Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom

Just published: Peter J. Leithart, "Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom" (InterVarsity Press, September 2010):

www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=2722

Publisher's description: "We know that Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313; outlawed paganism and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire; manipulated the Council of Nicea in 325; exercised absolute authority over the church, co-opting it for the aims of empire[.] And if Constantine the emperor were not problem enough, we all know that Constantinianism has been very bad for the church. Or do we know these things? Peter Leithart weighs these claims and finds them wanting. And what's more, in focusing on these historical mirages we have failed to notice the true significance of Constantine and Rome baptized. For beneath the surface of this contested story there emerges a deeper narrative of the end of Roman sacrifice – a tectonic shift in the political theology of an empire – and with far-reaching implications. In this probing and informative book Peter Leithart examines the real Constantine, weighs the charges against Constantinianism, and sets the terms for a new conversation about this pivotal emperor and the Christendom that emerged."

Endorsements: "This intelligent and sensitive treatment of one of the great military emperors of Rome is a trustworthy entrée into Roman history that loses none of the romance and rambunctiousness of the events of the era of the civil war, but which also explains why Constantine matters: why he was important to the ancient world, why he matters to the development of Christianity (a catalyst in its movement from small sect to world-embracing cultural force). It does not whitewash or damn on the basis of a preset ideology, but it certainly does explain why Constantine gained from the Christians the epithet 'The Great.' For setting the record straight, and for providing a sense of the complicated lay of the land, this book comes most highly recommended." (John A. McGuckin, Columbia University)

"An excellent writer with a flair for the dramatic, Peter Leithart is also one of the most incisive current thinkers on questions of theology and politics. In this book, Leithart helpfully complicates Christian history, and thereby helps theologians recover the riches of more than a millennium of Christian life too easily dismissed as 'Constantinian.' If the Holy Spirit did not simply go on holiday during that period, we must find ways to appreciate Christendom. Any worthwhile political theology today cannot fail to take Leithart's argument seriously." (William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University)

Peter J. Leithart is Senior Fellow of Theology at New Saint Andrews College and pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, both in Moscow, Idaho, USA.

CONF: Judaism and Political Theology

International conference "Traces of Judaism in Contemporary Thought" of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) of Krakow, Miodowa st. 24, Poland, 4-6 October 2010

www.jcckrakow.org/en/content/traces-judaism-contemporary-thought

This conference features a panel on "Judaism and Political Theology" (5 October, 9.30-11.30 am) with the following papers: Arthur Bradley (Lancaster University), "City of Cacos: The Savage and [the Sovereign] in Augustine's City of God XIX"; Michael Dillon (Lancaster University), "Cocking the Question: Disarming Answers"; and Petar Bojanić (University of Belgrade), "'Pazifistischer Zug': Franz Rosenzweig's 'Messianic Politics' and Ethics of War".

No abstracts provided by the organizers.

Further information (full programme, JCC contact details, etc.) is to be found on the above website.

Political theology articles, fifth installment

A fifth installment of recent articles on political theology:

Christopher Craig Brittain (University of Aberdeen), "Political Theology at a Standstill: Adorno and Agamben on the Messianic", Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology, 102 (1), August 2010: pp. 39-56.

Abstract: "This essay explores the use of the concept of the messianic by Giorgio Agamben and Theodor Adorno. Throughout his work, Agamben consistently presents his reading of the messianic as an alternative to what he considers to be the 'pessimistic' negative dialectics of Adorno, which he argues 'is an absolutely non-messianic form of thought'. For Agamben, the messianic brings dialectics to a 'standstill'. This essay analyzes this deployment of the 'messianic' in his thought, and contrasts it with the perspective of Adorno. Agamben's interpretation of Walter Benjamin is challenged with reference to a debate between Adorno and Benjamin over theology, dialectics, and politics."

Clare Monagle (Monash University), "A Sovereign Act of Negation: Schmitt's Political Theology and its Ideal Medievalism", Culture, Theory and Critique, 51 (2), July 2010: pp. 115-27.

Abstract: "This article argues that Carl Schmitt's political theology is premised on an idealised and totalising vision of the Middle Ages. That is, he casts modern political concepts as debased and corrupt in comparison to the proper politics of the Medieval Church, as he sees it. Drawing on a historically contextualised reading of the Fourth Lateran Council, which took place in 1215, the article's author argues that Schmitt's medieval comparison is much more complicated than he suggests. Schmitt's historical vision is, thus, a wilful projection of unity onto a diverse and distant past."

Jürgen Fohrmann (University of Bonn) and Dimitris Vardoulakis (University of Western Sydney), "Enmity and Culture: The Rhetoric of Political Theology and the Exception in Carl Schmitt", Culture, Theory and Critique, 51 (2), July 2010: pp. 129-44.

Abstract: "This article compares Carl Schmitt's and Walter Benjamin's discussion of the figure of Hamlet. This comparison evaluates Schmitt's response in Hamlet or Hecuba to Benjamin's discussion of the 'exception' in Origins of the German Tragic Drama. 'Deciding upon the exception' is a defining characteristic of sovereignty, so that the comparison between Schmitt and Benjamin is also an evaluation of their respective theories of sovereignty. It will appear that the notion of the aesthetic is crucial in understanding this constellation of ideas."

Dimitris Vardoulakis (University of Western Sydney), "The Ends of Stasis: Spinoza as Reader of Agamben", Culture, Theory and Critique, 51 (2), July 2010: pp. 145-56.

Abstract: "Agamben contends that 'There is ... no such thing as a stasiology, a theory of stasis or civil war' in the western understanding of sovereignty. His own vision of a politics beyond biopolitics explicitly culminates in the end of stasis. How can we understand Agamben's political theology by investigating his use of stasis? Stasis is particularly suited to an inquiry into political theology. It is linked to politics, since its primary meaning is political change, revolution, or civil war, as well as to the theological, since it denotes immobility or immutability, which were attributes of God. Stasis, then, presents the simultaneous presence and absence that exemplifies the unassimilable relation of the sacred and the secular in political theology. The question is: Does Agamben remain true to this unassimilable relation? Or does he betray it the moment he calls for an end to biopolitics? Agamben's reading of Spinoza will provide useful clues in answering these questions."

Ben Quash (King's College London), "Radical Orthodoxy's Critique of Niebuhr", in "Reinhold Niebuhr and Contemporary Politics: God and Power", eds. Richard Harries and Stephen Platten (Oxford University Press, March 2010): pp. 58-71.

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199571833.do

Abstract: "Reinhold Niebuhr's 'Christian realism' was in significant part a rejection of the pacifism and optimism of the Social Gospel movement in the United States. Even though Niebuhr had initially been sympathetic to the movement, he came to dismiss its belief that the realization of the kingdom of God, proclaimed by Jesus, could be expected in the foreseeable future. He thought the movement's great confidence in human progress was naiïve [sic], and that its belief in education's power to foster a law of love (and thus to eradicate the sin of selfishness from individuals and institutions) lacked a proper understanding of original sin. Recognizing the force of Niebuhr's criticisms of the Social Gospel movement, this chapter sets out to ask whether Niebuhr's thought is as effective a riposte to another and much more recent strand of thought in Christian ethics: the ecclesially centered ethics of Radical Orthodoxy. Measuring Radical Orthodoxy's thought against Niebuhr's is given added interest by the fact that Radical Orthodox thinkers themselves – and especially John Milbank – have explicitly and critically engaged Niebuhr, and have described what they see as the 'poverty' of his idea of Christian realism for contemporary ethics."

Stephen Platten (Anglican Bishop of Wakefield), "Niebuhr, Liturgy, and Public Theology", in "Reinhold Niebuhr and Contemporary Politics: God and Power", eds. Richard Harries and Stephen Platten (Oxford University Press, March 2010): pp. 102-16.

Abstract: "This chapter argues that it is a mistake to understand liturgy as being enacted in a place of withdrawal from society. Liturgy is a public event with a relationship to public life. If this is understood it ought to be possible to have a much more integral relationship between the kind of political theology represented by Niebuhr and liturgy as performative and transformational for society as a whole."

Kevin Carnahan (Central Methodist University), "The Irony of American Evangelical Politics", in "Reinhold Niebuhr and Contemporary Politics: God and Power", eds. Richard Harries and Stephen Platten (Oxford University Press, March 2010): pp. 202-18.

Abstract: "American evangelical political theology is facing a crisis of self-identity. Many evangelicals have claimed that evangelical political theology has been taken captive by the Republican Party. In reaction, evangelical reformers have attempted to wrest their political theology from the grip of partisan political programs. God, they claim, is not a Republican or a Democrat. Despite agreement on this project, however, proposals in American evangelicalism have failed to provide a political theology that maintains a sense of evangelical public responsibility and a sense of God's transcendence over partisan political debates. This chapter argues that Niebuhrian Christian Realism offers a theological approach that could open new avenues for political thought which might carry evangelicals past their present conundrum."

Michael S. Hogue (Meadville Lombard Theological School), "After the Secular: Toward a Pragmatic Public Theology", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 78 (2), June 2010: pp. 346-74.

Abstract: "In a time after the secular and of rapid religious change, of increasing interreligious contacts and globally scaled, viscerally local moral challenges, questions of public theology have become central for scholars of religion in many fields, as well as for explicitly normative theological projects. In response to this, this article offers the initial contours of a pragmatic public theology that engages global moral challenges amidst the conditions of pluralism and an ethos of religious transformation. I illustrate this pragmatic public theology as an inter-traditional public theological mode that is methodologically fallibilized, doxologically rather than apologetically focused, strategically engaged in medias res between traditions and global and local moral challenges, and normatively committed to the nurturance of differentiated moral solidarities with and on behalf of the most vulnerable."

Heinrich Bedford-Strohm (University of Bamberg, Germany), "Public Theology and the Economy in a Globalizing World", Dutch Reformed Theological Journal/Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, 51 (1-2), March/June 2010: pp. 15-23.

Excerpt: "This paper was read at the Theological Day of the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University[,] on 25 January 2010. Speaking on 'Public Theology and the economy in a globalizing world' in 30 minutes is a real challenge. The themes of Public Theology, of basic assumptions of economics and of what we mean by the word 'globalization' would be each one a lecture of its own. And yet the connection of the three is exactly what needs to be discussed. The challenge of a globalizing world which has destructive effects on the natural environments and which still tolerates the poverty caused [sic] death of thousands of human beings every day is clearly on the table. I will leave describing these challenges of globalizations more closely to others today and focus on the theological grounding. After a reflection on the relationship of theology and economics in the reformation traditions, I will describe the place of a public theological model of economic ethics in the context of several other models. I will explain what it entails by distinguishing four dimensions of ethical reflection and conclude with exploring the task of the church in a globalizing world."

Guillermo Hansen (Luther Seminary), "Contours for a Public Lutheran Theology in the Face of Empire", Dialog: A Journal of Theology, 49 (2), summer 2010: pp. 96-107.

Abstract: "Three themes structure Lutheranism's interpretation of the biblical narrative as it intersects with the present challenges of Empire: justification by faith as a declaration of inclusiveness; God's threefold-multidimensional action creating and sustaining democratic practices (two kingdoms); and the cross as the critical 'weapon' against the 'glory' of Empire. This implies placing our theology within the present cultural and religious debate in a way consistent with the methodology of the cross: a theology done from the bowels of Empire, revealing its true face behind its alleged 'benevolent' mask."

Paul Hedges (University of Winchester), "Is John Milbank's Radical Orthodoxy a Form of Liberal Theology? A Rhetorical Counter", The Heythrop Journal, 51 (5), September 2010: pp. 795-818.

Excerpt: "The title of this work is intended to be deliberately provocative. In one sense the answer is very clear: no. With an insistence upon unquestioning Chalcedon Orthodoxy, a turn to the resources of the past (especially the fathers and medieval theology) and an avowed rejection of Kant's metaphysics, Milbank's work is the utter antithesis of much liberal theology. I will seek to show that Milbank's theology has features that are often said to be characteristic of liberal theologies, however, and that it has not escaped the shackles of the modernist/liberal worldview it seeks to repudiate. Moreover, I will ask important questions about the increasingly pejorative tag of 'liberal'; many scholars observe that the use of 'conservative' as a blanket term is highly problematic, yet they still deploy 'liberal' in a monolithic sense."

Robert S. Taylor (University of California, Davis), "Kant's Political Religion: The Transparency of Perpetual Peace and the Highest Good", The Review of Politics, 72 (1), winter 2010: pp. 1-24.

Abstract: "Scholars have long debated the relationship between Kant's doctrine of right and his doctrine of virtue (including his moral religion or ethico-theology), which are the two branches of his moral philosophy. This article will examine the intimate connection in his practical philosophy between perpetual peace and the highest good, between political and ethico-religious communities, and between the types of transparency peculiar to each. It will show how domestic and international right provides a framework for the development of ethical communities, including a kingdom of ends and even the noumenal ethical community of an afterlife, and how the transparency and trust achieved in these communities are anticipated in rightful political society by publicity and the mutual confidence among citizens that it engenders. Finally, it will explore the implications of this synthesis of Kant's political and religious philosophies for contemporary Kantian political theories, especially those of Jürgen Habermas and John Rawls."

Stephan Rindlisbacher (University of Bern), "Radicalism as Political Religion? The Case of Vera Figner", Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, 11 (1), March 2010: pp. 67-87.

Abstract: "Vera Figner was a leading member of the Russian terrorist group Narodnaia Volia [People's Will] in the late 1870s and early 1880s. In her biography one can trace what Eric Voegelin and Emilio Gentile called 'political religion'. They argue that such a political religion is a basic component of mass mobilisation and also plays an important role in the exerting of political violence in totalitarian states in the twentieth century. Vera Figner and her comrades shared a deep belief in the 'Russian people' as a sacralised secular entity. Because of their ascetic conduct of life within the group, they considered themselves as 'moral elite' (virtuosi), able to lead the 'people' to a better future. Within the 'political sect' of Narodnaia Volia the unconditional submission to the authority of the Executive Committee and the resultant political violence against the regime became means to the revolutionary end. Vera Figner continued uncompromisingly in her struggle against the tsarist regime, even after it became clear that there was obviously no chance of success. In her view she had either to prevail or perish for her 'faith'."

Peter Rohloff (Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston), "Liberation Theology and the Voice of the Indigenous Other in Guatemala", Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 54 (3), fall 2010: pp. 375-7.

Abstract: "The legacy of the liberation theology in Guatemala is complex. Although it mobilized progressive Catholic forces at times, it has not overcome reactionary and conservative church elements. Most importantly, it has not proven entirely capable of rising above elitism, nor has it moved beyond paternalism toward Maya culture."

Jacob L. Wright (Emory University), "The Commemoration of Defeat and the Formation of a Nation in the Hebrew Bible", Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History, 29 (3), fall 2009: pp. 433-72.

Abstract: "This article argues that the emergence of a 'national' consciousness in Israel and Judah was originally fueled by many factors, such as a confined and remote core territory, a history of tribal allegiances, language, culture, law, cult, and ongoing military conflicts. But more important than these factors or any institution of statecraft was the anticipation of defeat and defeat itself. When life could not continue as usual, and the state armies had been conquered, one was forced to answer the question: Who are we? The biblical architects of Israel's memories responded to this question by (selectively) gathering fragments of their collective past and using this material to construct a narrative that depicts the origins of a people and the history leading up to the major catastrophe. Much of the historical narrative treats the period before the rise of the monarchy, and portrays Israel existing as a people long before it established a kingdom – or to use later European political terminology, it portrays Israel existing as a nation before it gained statehood. This 'national' consciousness represents the precondition for the writing of Israel's history and the maturation of its rich theological and political tradition. In demonstrating these points, the article critiques two trajectories of contemporary scholarship: one that follows Julius Wellhausen in viewing the community that emerged after the loss of statehood as a form of 'church,' and another that sees the great moments of state power as the primary context for the formation of the Hebrew Bible and the rich theological-political thought contained therein."

Hent de Vries (Johns Hopkins), "Fast Forward, or: The Theologico-Political Event in Quick Motion (Miracles, Media, and Multitudes in St. Augustine)", in "How the West Was Won: Essays on Literary Imagination, the Canon, and the Christian Middle Ages for Burcht Pranger", eds. Willemien Otten, Arjo Vanderjagt, and Hent de Vries (Brill, April 2010): pp. 255-80. Available online:

http://humctr.jhu.edu/bin/m/x/hent%20how%20west%20was%20won.pdf

Excerpt: "While suspicious of the abundant expressions of popular religion such as magic and exorcisms, healings and relics, Augustine entertains a complex relationship with the domain of what, traditionally, is conceived as the supernatural. It is this complicated relationship that I wish to bring out in a few broad strokes, mindful of the complexity of the matter and mostly concerned with three or four striking traits of his conception, namely the miracle belief's publicness and publicity, on the one hand, and the miracle's presumed acceleration and fastforwarding of natural processes and, hence, special effect on us, on the other. These are two motifs and motivations that, to my knowledge, have not yet found the attention they deserve. Moreover, Augustine's argument also relies, thirdly, on a conception of multitude and catholicity – indeed, universality or globality – that is not without implications for the philosophical and theologico-political work that his writings continue to inspire and that, anachronistically speaking, they seem to have anticipated all along, not least in their nuanced dealing with and theorization of miracles, their strategic and pragmatic use and momentum, their political but also more generally persuasive and perlocutionary aspect."

Book: Žižek and Politics: A Critical Introduction

Matthew Sharpe and Geoff M. Boucher, "Žižek and Politics: A Critical Introduction" (Edinburgh University Press, March 2010):

www.euppublishing.com/book/9780748638048

Publisher's description: "In Zizek and Politics, Geoff Boucher and Matthew Sharpe go beyond standard introductions to spell out a new approach to reading Zizek, one that can be highly critical as well as deeply appreciative. They show that Zizek has a raft of fundamental positions that enable his theoretical positions to be put to work on practical problems. Explaining these positions with clear examples, they outline why Zizek's confrontation with thinkers such as Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze has so radically changed how we think about society. They then go on to track Zizek's own intellectual development during the last twenty years, as he has grappled with theoretical problems and the political climate of the War on Terror. This book is a major addition to the literature on Zizek and a crucial critical introduction to his thought." (bold removed)

The book includes sections on "Political Theology and the Subject-Object" and "Why Political Theology?".

Matthew Sharpe is a Lecturer in the School of International and Political Studies and Geoff M. Boucher is a Lecturer in the School of Communication and Creative Arts, both at Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.

Book: In the Days of Caesar: Pentecostalism and Political Theology

Just published: Amos Yong, "In the Days of Caesar: Pentecostalism and Political Theology" (Eerdmans, August 2010):

www.eerdmans.com/shop/product.asp?p_key=9780802864062

Publisher's description: "In the Days of Caesar is a constructive political theology formulated in sustained dialogue with pentecostalism – one of the most vibrant religious movements at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Amos Yong here argues that the many tongues, practices, and gifts of pentecostal Christianity can offer new resources to the larger Christian community as it seeks to engage and transform social, political, and economic structures around the world. Yong seeks to correct stereotypes of pentecostalism, both political and theological, and to encourage pentecostals to craft a distinct political theology from their own pentecostalism rather than merely to adopt an external framework for theological or political self-understanding. Moreover, Yong shows how a distinctively pentecostal form of theological reflection has the potential to illuminate and enhance broader Christian belief and practice. This book's engagement with political theology from a pentecostal perspective is the first of its kind. Yong hopes here to serve as an interpreter of the many tongues of pentecostalism and the many other tongues of political theology, to help foster a mutually beneficial discourse and open up uncharted trajectories in both fields."

Amos Yong is J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology at Regent University.

Book: Terror, Religion, and Liberal Thought

Just published: Richard B. Miller, "Terror, Religion, and Liberal Thought" (Columbia University Press, September 2010):

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15098-9/terror-religion-and-liberal-thought

Publisher's description: "Religious violence may trigger feelings of repulsion and indignation, especially in a society that encourages toleration and respect, but rejection contradicts the principles of inclusion that define a democracy and its core moral values. How can we think ethically about religious violence and terrorism, especially in the wake of such atrocities as 9/11? Known for his skillful interrogation of ethical issues as they pertain to religion, politics, and culture, Richard B. Miller returns to the basic tenets of liberalism to divine an ethical response to religious extremism. He questions how we should think about the claims and aspirations of political religions, especially when they conflict so deeply with liberal norms and practices, and he suggests how liberal critics can speak confidently in ways that respect cultural and religious difference. Miller explores other concerns within these investigations as well, such as the protection of human rights and a liberal democratic commitment to multicultural politics. In relating religion and ethics, he develops a new lens for viewing political religions and their moral responsibilities. This probing inquiry also forces us to rethink our response to 9/11."

Excerpt: "[I]n chapter 6 I will show how the grounds for thinking about human dignity and human rights provide a basis for dialogue with Muslim political theology."

Richard B. Miller is Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions at Indiana University.

Book: Succeeding King Lear: Literature, Exposure, and the Possibility of Politics

Just published: Emily Sun, "Succeeding King Lear: Literature, Exposure, and the Possibility of Politics" (Fordham University Press, September 2010):

www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?id=9780823232802

Publisher's description: "This book investigates the question of the relations between literature and politics in democratic modernity. It makes connections between Shakespeare's tragedy, Wordsworth's poetry, and the documentary nonfiction and photography of James Agee and Walker Evans to offer new ways of thinking of the logic of literary history and the relationship between early modern, Romantic, and twentieth-century texts; and it brings literature into dialogue with contemporary philosophical re-readings of Western political thought. King Lear, Sun argues, opens up a literary succession at the heart of which is a crisis of sovereignty. Interrogating what it is to be a political subject as actor and spectator in the kingdom, the play issues an injunction to transform spectatorship in plural and nonsovereign terms. Thorough engagements with Lear, Wordsworth in the 1790s, and Agee and Evans in the 1930s assume this injunction by generating new artistic genres and modes for their times."

Endorsement: "Emily Sun has written an ambitious study that is a delight to read on how literary works foster a truly active rather than passive spectatorship as well as a 'plural speech' necessary to avoid tyrannous political theologies. Drawing in major contemporary theorists, her patient and clarifying style, with its ability to zoom from large questions to telling textual detail, compels us to think anew about this task." (Geoffrey Hartman, Yale)

Emily Sun is Visiting Assistant Professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross

CFP: Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011

Please circulate widely!

CALL FOR PAPERS

Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011

Organized by: Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS)

Location: Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the University of Geneva, Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland

Date: 12-13 July 2011

The "Political Theology Agenda" (www.political-theology-agenda.blogspot.com) has been run by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society since January 2009. The blog is the premier resource on the net for the comparative study of political theology and political theologies across the boundaries of various traditions and academic disciplines.

The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011 will be the second event we organize in conjunction with the blog. It follows on from a highly successful first symposium held in Geneva in August 2010 and two equally well-received events on comparative political theology SCIS organized earlier, namely, in September 2007, a section and symposium at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research in Pisa, Italy, and, in July 2008, a stand-alone symposium at Sciences Po/the Institute for Political Studies (IEP) in Paris, France. All three events drew participants from the world over.

The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011 is set to be equally international and interdisciplinary in scope. We invite affiliated academics, independent scholars, and doctoral students and candidates from a wide range of disciplines, such as Theology, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Political Theory, Political Science, International Relations, Law, Literature, History, Jewish Studies, Education, Cultural Studies, Geography, and so on. Papers may not only cover any and all aspects of political theology, but also related concepts, such as liberation theology, public theology, black theology, the Christian Right, Radical Orthodoxy, religious anarchism, Minjung theology, Dalit theology, radical Islam, religious Zionism, political religion, civil religion, etc. Have a look at the blog to see what might be of interest and falls within our remit. Papers may be theoretical and/or empirical in nature. Although not a condition, we particularly encourage a comparative perspective. Work in progress is welcome too.

We expect that 15-20 participants will be attending the workshop-style Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2011. Over the course of two full days, each presenter will have 45-60 minutes (depending on the number of participants) to present his or her paper and discuss it with all others. The symposium starts early on Tuesday and ends Wednesday late in the afternoon. Due to the small size of the symposium, all participants are expected to attend both days.

As with all SCIS events, no fees will be charged from participants, and no funding is available to cover participants' travel and accommodation expenses. We will be glad to issue letters of acceptance on request to assist participants in securing funding from their usual sources. The 18th-century Château de Bossey, set in an outstanding natural environment overlooking Lake Geneva and the French Alps, offers comfortable accommodation at reasonable prices. Further information will be provided to confirmed participants.

Please send your proposal to: e.kofmel@sussexcentre.org

Deadline: 31 January 2011

Later submissions may still be accepted, but early submission is strongly advised and proposals may be accepted as they come in.

Cordially,

Erich Kofmel
Managing Director / Research Professor of Political Theory
Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS)
www.sussexcentre.org
E-mail: e.kofmel@sussexcentre.org

Postal address:
Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society
1200 Geneva
Switzerland

SCIS is an international association under Swiss law.
Founded 2006 at the University of Sussex.

Book: Faith in Politics: Religion and Liberal Democracy

Just published: Bryan T. McGraw, "Faith in Politics: Religion and Liberal Democracy" (Cambridge University Press, June 2010):

www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521130424

Publisher's description: "No account of contemporary politics can ignore religion. The liberal democratic tradition in political thought has long treated religion with some suspicion, regarding it as a source of division and instability. Faith in Politics shows how such arguments are unpersuasive and dependent on questionable empirical claims: rather than being a serious threat to democracies' legitimacy, stability and freedom, religion can be democratically constructive. Using historical cases of important religious political movements to add empirical weight, Bryan McGraw suggests that religion will remain a significant political force for the foreseeable future and that pluralist democracies would do well to welcome rather than marginalize it."

The book "[a]pplies the moral and philosophical claims to political Islam and the American Christian Right, encouraging readers to rethink how we should view these challenging political movements".

Endorsement: "Bryan McGraw offers a judicious argument for a new integration of religion and politics. Silencing religion as some liberals would do is no less fundamentalist than establishing religion as some Christians have done, he shows. It is far better for modern democracies to foster open toleration and robust engagement of all forms of faith and non-faith that can test and contest each other's policies. It is also far better for modern faith communities to develop an integrated political theology that balances responsible self-rule with reasonable public advocacy – following the example of several nineteenth-century European religious groups. Political historians and political philosophers will learn much from these learned and elegant pages." (John Witte Jr., Emory University)

Bryan T. McGraw is Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations at Wheaton College.

CONF: Political Theology Reformed?

Biennial Conference of the Reformation Studies Colloquium, University of St Andrews, Scotland, 7-9 September 2010

www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rsc2010/

This conference features a panel on "Political Theology Reformed? The Influence of the Reformation on Early Modern Political Languages in England, Germany and Poland" (Session 2/Panel 15, 8 September, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, location: Divinity Lecture 2) with the following papers: Maciej Ptaszyński (University of Warsaw), "Language of Resistance: Political, Philosophical and Theological Arguments for Disobedience in Sixteenth-Century Poland"; Philip Hahn (Goethe University Frankfurt), "The Political Language of Lutheran Preachers in Saxonia and Thuringia, ca. 1550-1675: Continuity and Adaptation of a Reformation Heritage"; Ulrich Niggemann (University of Marburg), "Divine Right, 'Courtly Reformation' or Contractarianism? Political and Theological Languages in the Funeral Sermons on King William III"; chair: Natalia Nowakowska (Oxford).

No abstracts provided by the organizers.

Further information (full programme, how to register, etc.) is to be found on the above website.

Public lecture: From Political Theology to Vernacular Prophecy

University of Virginia, Miller Center of Public Affairs, Forum Room, 2201 Old Ivy Road, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, 3 December 2010, 12.30-2.15 pm

Colloquium with George Shulman: "From Political Theology to Vernacular Prophecy: Rethinking Redemption and Politics"

http://millercenter.org/academic/gage/colloquia/detail/5802

No abstract provided by the organizers.

George Shulman is Professor in the Gallatin School of Individualized Studies at New York University. His interests lie in the fields of political thought and American studies.

The colloquium is free and open to the general public. Lunch will be served starting at 12.30 pm, and the paper presentation and discussion will run from 12.45 pm to 2.15 pm.

The paper will be posted online one week prior to the colloquium.

RSVP required: gage@virginia.edu

Book: Political Theology and Theology of the Cross (in German)

Just published in German: Christian Johannes Neddens, "Politische Theologie und Theologie des Kreuzes: Werner Elert und Hans Joachim Iwand" (Political Theology and Theology of the Cross: Werner Elert and Hans Joachim Iwand; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, August 2010):

www.v-r.de/de/titel/1001004601/

From the publisher's description: "With Werner Elert and Hans Joachim Iwand two Lutheran theologians are looked at who substantially shaped the theological and political way of the Evangelical Church in Germany from the 30s through the 50s of the last century. Christian Neddens highlights the origins and the development of their theological positions. The focus of his study lies on the respective characteristic and momentous interrelation of the political theology or political ethics of a Christology of the cross that refers back to the theology of Martin Luther." (my translation)

Christian Neddens is a parish priest of the Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche (SELK; Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church; my translation) in Brunsbrock, Germany. This book is based on his 2008 doctoral dissertation in Systematic Theology at the University of Greifswald.

Book: Manifesto of the Critical Theory of Society and Religion

Just published: Rudolf Siebert's "Manifesto of the Critical Theory of Society and Religion: The Wholly Other, Liberation, Happiness and the Rescue of the Hopeless" in three unaffordable volumes (Brill, August 2010):

www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=210&pid=30475

Publisher's description: "The Manifesto develops further the Critical Theory of Religion intrinsic to the Critical Theory of Society of the Frankfurt School into a new paradigm of the Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy and Theology of Religion. Its central theme is the theodicy problem. The Manifesto approaches this theme in the framework of comparative religion and critical political theology in a narrative and discursive fashion. In search of a solution to the theodicy problem, the Manifesto explores, [sic] trends in civil society toward Alternative Future I (the Totally Administered Society), Alternative Future II (the Militarized Society), and Alternative Future III (the Reconciled Society) in the horizon of the longing for the Wholly Other as perfect justice and unconditional love. Toward that goal it relies on both the critical theory of society as developed by Max Horkheimer, Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, and others, and on the new political theology of Johannes B. Metz, Helmut Peukert, and Edmund Arens."

German-born Rudolf Siebert is Professor of Religion and Society at Western Michigan University.

Book: Groundless Existence: The Political Ontology of Carl Schmitt

Just published: Michael Marder, "Groundless Existence: The Political Ontology of Carl Schmitt" (Continuum, July 2010):

www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=133275

Publisher's description: "Groundless Existence discusses the implicit phenomenological and existential foundations of Schmitt's political philosophy. The book's unique contribution lies in its claim that Schmitt decisively breaks with the metaphysical tradition and predicates the political on the 'groundless' categories of existence, including risk, decision, and agonism. This argument is substantiated by both tacit and explicit existentialist and phenomenological underpinnings of Schmitt's work, discussed here for the first time in book form. The book provides an insight into the implications of Schmitt's thought reconceptualized in the light of contemporary political developments. An essential text for anyone interested in the political theory of Carl Schmitt, it offers a new reading of Schmitt's work against the double background of phenomenology and existentialism."

The book contains a section on "Political Theology as a Hermeneutic Endeavor".

Endorsement: "No one has written more lucidly or insightfully on Schmitt's philosophical standing and on the fundamental problems of the political. Groundless Existence is the new gold standard in Schmitt scholarship and an indispensable point of reference in political philosophy." (Russell Berman, Stanford)

Michael Marder is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Duquesne University, USA, and a Research Fellow in the Centre of Philosophy at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Book: Black Theology, Slavery and Contemporary Christianity

Just published: "Black Theology, Slavery and Contemporary Christianity: 200 Years and No Apology", edited by Anthony G. Reddie (Ashgate, August 2010):

www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=9106&edition_id=11894

Publisher's description: "Black Theology, Slavery and Contemporary Christianity explores the legacy of slavery in Black theological terms. Challenging the dominant approaches to the history and legacy of slavery in the British Empire, the contributors show that although the 1807 act abolished the slave trade, it did not end racism, notions of White supremacy, or the demonization of Blackness, Black people and Africa. This interdisciplinary study draws on biblical studies, history, missiology and Black theological reflection, exploring the strengths and limitations of faith as the framework for abolitionist rhetoric and action. This Black theological approach to the phenomenon of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the institution of slavery draws on contributions from Africa, the Caribbean, North America and Europe."

Endorsements: "An important interpretation of black liberation theology." (James H. Cone, Union Theological Seminary)

"This is the first intellectually formidable book on the Atlantic slave phenomenon from the perspective of Black Theology. The interdisciplinary scholarship and the cast of scholars and practitioner contributors to this text are unprecedented." (Dwight N. Hopkins, University of Chicago)

"Not always easy or comfortable, the essays force the reader to confront vital moral and theological problems, not merely of the historical past, but of the contemporary world. They tease out the anomalies (of Christianity's role both in supporting, and then in ending slavery) and the challenges faced by Christians when studying the painful story of enslavement in the Atlantic world." (Jim Walvin, University of York)

Anthony G. Reddie is a Research Fellow at the Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham.

Book: Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21st Century

Just published: Daniel Schultz, "Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21st Century" (Ig Publishing, August 2010):

www.igpub.com/changingthescript.html

Publisher's description: "In recent years, and in particular since the election of Barack Obama, the religious conversation in America has been dominated by calls for progressives to move beyond 'partisanship' by reaching out to evangelicals in order to create a 'big tent' on social issues such as abortion and marriage equality, despite the lack of evidence that such a strategy can or ever did work. This misguided notion that we can build a shared political and religious center has for the most part shut out true progressive voices, allowing a small conservative minority to control the political and religious debate in this country, with only the most tepid of moral criticism from the religious centrists who claim to desire bipartisan consensus.

"In Changing the Script, Daniel Schultz, one of the leading progressive religious voices in America today, builds upon the insights of Old Testament scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann to identify five 'scripts' that exercise unseen power in our society: the therapeutic, technological, consumerist, militarist, and conformist. Confronting each of these scripts and the actions of both the Right and the Left that have allowed them to take root in our culture, Schultz voices a perspective that shows what an authentically progressive and authentically faithful religious ideal would truly look like."

Daniel Schultz is a pastor in the United Church of Christ and PhD student in Philosophy of Religions at the University of Chicago.

Book: Christianity and Politics: A Brief Guide to the History

Just published: C.C. Pecknold, "Christianity and Politics: A Brief Guide to the History" (Cascade Books, August 2010):

http://wipfandstock.com/store/Christianity_and_Politics_A_Brief_Guide_to_the_History

Publisher's description: "It is not simply for rhetorical flourish that politicians so regularly invoke God's blessings on the country. It is because the relatively new form of power we call the nation-state arose out of a Western political imagination steeped in Christianity. In this brief guide to the history of Christianity and politics, Pecknold shows how early Christianity reshaped the Western political imagination with its new theological claims about eschatological time, participation, and communion with God and neighbor. The ancient view of the Church as the 'mystical body of Christ' is singled out in particular as the author traces shifts in its use and meaning throughout the early, medieval, and modern periods – shifts in how we understand the nature of the person, community and the moral conscience that would give birth to a new relationship between Christianity and politics. While we have many accounts of this narrative from either political or ecclesiastical history, we have few that avoid the artificial separation of the two. This book fills that gap and presents a readable, concise, and thought-provoking introduction to what is at stake in the contentious relationship between Christianity and politics."

Endorsements: "Political theology – thinking theologically about politics and understanding all political thought as first-and-last theological – is a lively field that until now has lacked a lucid and elegantly brief introduction. Pecknold's book fills that gap, and more: it makes a real theoretical contribution of its own, most notably in its treatment of the migration of the treatment of conscience from church to state, and the effects of that migration on the understanding of freedom, political and otherwise." (Paul J. Griffiths, Duke University)

"Modern life and thought has a centripetal force, separating into discrete units what should be held together: politics, economics, theology, metaphysics, liturgy, and history. This division of labor creates specialists who can see the units but lack focus for a larger vision [...]. This comprehensive work shows connections that only someone of [Pecknold's] breadth of knowledge could see. The result is a first-rate work that sets the bar for political theology." (D. Stephen Long, Marquette University)

Chad C. Pecknold is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America.

Report on the Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010: Political theology goes East and South

The first event held by the Geneva-based Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS) in conjunction with its "Political Theology Agenda" blog, the Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010, was a full success.

It took place on 18 and 19 August 2010 at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland. Bossey doubles as an institute of the University of Geneva since all degrees awarded there (Masters and PhD degrees in Ecumenical Studies) are granted by the University of Geneva.

Keynote speakers were Professor Aliakbar Alikhani, Head of the Institute for Social and Cultural Studies at the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Tehran, Iran, and Professor Galip Veliu from the Department of Philosophy at the State University of Tetovo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The Political Theology Agenda Symposium 2010 attracted seventeen papers submitted by participants from institutions such as University College London, the University of Birmingham (both UK), the University of Helsinki (Finland), the University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada), the University of Tehran (Iran), the University of the Punjab (Pakistan), the University of South Africa, the University of Zimbabwe, the National University of Malaysia, Universitas Nasional at Jakarta (Indonesia), and San Beda College in Manila (the Philippines). Other countries represented include Macedonia, Romania, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Nigeria.

Speakers – from doctoral candidates to full professors – came from the disciplines of Political Science, Philosophy, Political Theory, Theology, Church History, and Islamic Studies, giving theoretical as well as empirical presentations on subjects including secularization and religious pluralism, political theology, black theology, liberation theology, and radical Islam.

After Pisa, Italy, in 2007 and Paris, France, in 2008, this was the third symposium on political theology organized by the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society and, once more, it opened up new frontiers for political theology. It was by far the most international event we ever organized (and quite possibly the most international event on political theology to take place anywhere as yet) with five participants from Iran alone and scores of submissions (not all accepted) from the Middle East and East Asia as well as Africa. Taken together with a high number of submissions from (South-)Eastern Europe, there is a significant trend to be observed: after gaining momentum in the Anglophone countries over the past few years, the study of political theology now goes East and South, spreading to Asia and Africa.

The Political Theology Agenda blog and the Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society will continue to be at the forefront of these developments.

(On the downside, all prospective American and Israeli participants withdrew, one by one, from the symposium once they knew that there would be Iranians present. Way to encourage dialogue.)