CFP: Religion in the Public Square and Private Worship

International and interdisciplinary seminar "Religion in the Public Square and Private Worship: in light of Hobbes' reading of 2 Kings 5:18-19" of the Italian academic journal "Politica e Religione" and the Department of Philosophy, History, and Cultural Heritage at the University of Trento, Italy, 9-10 June 2011

Call for papers

Since 2007, the journal "Politica e Religione" has been promoting seminars on the history of theological-political concepts and metaphors at the University of Trento, covering topics such as the Angels of the Nations; the Katéchon and the Antichrist; and the Spirit and the Power: Questions of Political Pneumatology. The proceedings of previous seminars have been published in the journal. Scholars from a variety of religious and disciplinary backgrounds (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, History, Philosophy, Theology, Law, Political Science, etc.) are invited to submit proposals for a contribution during the next seminar.

Description: "In the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes reads the episode of Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:18-19) as an example and a symbol of the right of a political power to control the public manifestations of any religious act. According to the biblical story, Naaman, the captain of the army of an Aramean king, converted to the faith of Israel after having been healed from leprosy, but he asked and obtained permission by a Jewish prophet to publicly worship the god Rimmon because of his obedience to the king. By distinguishing between interior conviction and external worship, the English philosopher[,] on the one hand, opens the way to the modern conception of the freedom of conscience, understood as a political tool for the resolution of religious conflicts and prevention of civil war; on the other hand, puts in doubt the ecclesiastic claims of interfering in any political and public issue precisely by making the interior convictions of the citizens irrelevant (insofar as they obey the laws of the king).

"Hobbes underlines that, by asking only for the interior faith and not for public actions, Jesus has exonerated the Church from judging the civil and political powers. And in the case when royal laws are in contradiction with the norms of the Church, or simply with the interior convictions of the citizens, they should obey those laws because such an act does not impede obtaining eternal salvation. In Hobbes' eyes, this argument frees the same concern for the eternal salvation from any political concern and puts it only within the individual, spiritual sphere. External obedience to the royal laws does not compromise the personal adhesion to norms of the Holy Scriptures. Hobbes' reflections on the biblical episode mentioned above may serve as the opportunity to think again about the relationship between public or political acts of religion, private worship, and interior convictions, in the framework of the complex process of forging the modern concept of 'religious freedom' as the foundation of all modern, secular political institutions.

"The recent claim by almost all traditional religions of a major public role in the global village is a challenge and a stimulus to renew the reflection on how states and politics should regulate the public manifestations of any religious credos in a context of pluralistic societies. Possible themes for a proposed paper: Innovative exegesis and interpretations of the biblical story of 2 Kings 5:18-19; Possible comparison with John 3:1-19 and Gal 2:11-21; How the story of Naaman was received by the Fathers of the Church; Developments of the theme in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian-Orthodox traditions; Development of the theme in the Scholastic schools of thought; The exegetical sources of Hobbes' text on the subject; New interpretations of the subject in the Modern era; Reception of Hobbes's reflections in C. Schmitt, R. Schnur, and R. Koselleck; Relationship between interior faith, domestic worship, and public acts of religion; Developments of the theme in contemporary theology."

Presentations may be given in Italian, English, French, German, or Spanish. Each proposal should include a title, the list of the disciplinary areas involved, an abstract (max. 300 words), and a limited bibliography. Proposals will be accepted on the basis of cogency and consistency with the topic and the method of the seminar. Please send proposals to Michele Nicoletti and Francesco Ghia (both University of Trento): michele.nicoletti@unitn.it, francesco.ghia@unitn.it

Deadline: 28 February 2011

The selected participants are required to submit full papers (max. 2,500-3,000 words) by 9 May 2011.

The best presented papers will be published in the journal (after the usual peer review).

Further information on the journal is to be found here:

www.morcelliana.it/or4/or?uid=morcelliana.main.index&oid=23165

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.

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: 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: 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: 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.

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.)

CONF: Morals and Fear: New Insights from Moral Psychology and Political Theology

Symposium "Moral und Angst: Neue Erkenntnisse aus der Moralpsychologie und der politischen Theologie" ("Morals and Fear: New Insights from Moral Psychology and Political Theology"; my translation) of the Collegium Helveticum of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and the University of Zurich, Semper-Sternwarte (Semper-Observatory), Schmelzbergstrasse 25, Zurich, Switzerland, 21 May 2010, 9.30 am-5.45 pm

www.collegium.ethz.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/ch_events/100521_progr_angst_moral.pdf

Description: "We live in a time of mediatized moral outrage. There is talk of 'unfair trade', 'social injustice' and 'economic exploitation' – but most of all is there the permanent fear one could suddenly belong oneself to those affected and lose out. This mixture of real concern for the future wellbeing of humanity and the fear to be among the potential casualties of change indicates that our moral self is determined not least by our unconscious. The latter, on the other hand, is shaped by our biological constitution, our social and religious environment and our personal life style. During this symposium, philosophers, moral psychologists and theologians will be presenting insights from the areas of moral heuristics and political theology and discuss them in the context of the possibilities and restrictions of moral self-determination." (my translation)

The symposium includes a panel on "Moral und Religion: Erkenntnisse aus der politischen Theologie" ("Morals and Religion: Insights from Political Theology"; my translation), centring on fear of Islam and the historicity of the Qur'an, Israel as a political and theological place, and monotheism and political ethics in the Bible.

Most presentations will be given in German, those on moral psychology in English.

Seating capacity is limited. RSVP by 15 May 2010 to Philipp Aerni (ETH Zurich): aernip@ethz.ch

Followed by a reception.

Articles on political theology, third installment

Here's a third installment of recent articles:

Seyla Benhabib (Yale), "The Return of Political Theology: The Scarf Affair in Comparative Constitutional Perspective in France, Germany and Turkey", Philosophy & Social Criticism, 36 (3-4), March 2010:
pp. 451-71.

Abstract: "Increasingly in today's world we are experiencing intensifying antagonisms around religious and ethno-cultural differences. The confrontation between political Islam and the so-called 'West' has replaced the rhetoric of the Cold War against communism. This new constellation has not only challenged the hypothesis that 'secularization' inevitably accompanied modernity but has also placed on the agenda political theology as a potent force in many societies. This article analyzes the contemporary revival of political theology by focusing on the headscarf debate in comparative constitutional perspective. It compares the well-known decision of the French Parliament banning the wearing of the headscarf in public schools (2004) with the decision of the German Constitutional Court concerning whether Fereshta Ludin, an Afghani-German teacher wearing the hijab, could teach in German schools (2003) and with the more recent judgment of the Turkish Constitutional Court (summer 2008) upholding the ban on the wearing of the scarf or the turban in institutions of higher learning. At stake in these debates is not only the meaning of fundamental human rights but also why women and their bodies become the object of disciplinary conflicts in culture, law and religion."

Ola Sigurdson (University of Gothenburg), "Beyond Secularism? Towards a Post-Secular Political Theology", Modern Theology, 26 (2), April 2010: pp. 177-96.

Abstract: "In this article I analyse some of the reasons for a recent, resurgent interest in religion and theology by political philosophers and relate this interest to an inherent instability in modernity itself. In the first part I describe the landscape of current political philosophy with a particular emphasis on radical philosophers. In the second part I describe how the liberal distinction between religion and politics generates a theological instability due to the effective disappearance of the social embodiment of religion within modernity. In the third part I draw some conclusions regarding the challenges the new post-secular condition presents to theology."

Jared Hickman (Johns Hopkins University), "Globalization and the Gods, or the Political Theology of 'Race'", Early American Literature, 45 (1), 2010: pp. 145-82.

Excerpt: "Modernity is getting modernized. In order to explain the world in the early twenty-first century – a transnational world from which religion shows no signs of disappearing – recent scholarship increasingly considers modernity in terms of a long history of globalization whose relativizing effects cannot be equated with 'disenchantment.' In this framework, the colonial Americas – as the bridge between Atlantic and Pacific worlds – rather than Enlightenment Europe immediately take modernity's center stage insofar as globalization, by definition, became possible only with the European 'discovery' of the Americas and the momentous transformations this enabled. Eurocentrism takes an unprecedented hit when we trace modernity to an incipient globalization that necessarily coincides with intercultural encounter in the Americas and beyond rather than to an Enlightenment that proceeds from intracultural European self-reflection."

Charis N. Papacharalambous (University of Cyprus), "The Event and the Subject: The (IM)Possible Rehabilitation of Carl Schmitt", Law and Critique, 21 (1), February 2010: pp. 53-72.

Abstract: "The subject is the bearer of the sovereign decision, according to C. Schmitt. This decision grounds on certain situational pragmatics, yet mainly is born out of a 'null'; as the decision forms the political normalcy that follows after, it displays its nature as an 'event'. This subject is simultaneously a legal and a political one; it is the founder of the Nomos. This founding subject has been eclipsed in alignment with its post-modernly acclaimed 'death'. The subject is deemed to have been inherently divided, as long as its identity steadily postpones itself, is incessantly 'differing', according to the deconstructionist approach; or it is considered as fundamentally 'passive', meaning not so much 'weak', but rather dethroning the Western preoccupation with the active autonomous individual; or, it is maintained but intrinsically reversed, now held either as part of a fundamental ontological order and indirectly of the nature (Agamben), or, opposite to Kantian assumptions, as primarily captured in a radical heteronomy, which constitutes it as a proper ethical subject (Levinas). Crucial is how to develop a concept taking into account the eventfulness of the constitution of the subject, without effacing the political character of such constitution by reducing it to non-political discourses, i.e., to metaphysics, morals or economics; how to conceive of Derrida's 'democracy to-come' as political event, namely both as secular act and in the same time as referring to extramundane fundaments (to a 'political theology'?); how to go beyond the linearity of the liberalist ideology by equating the political event with a messianic miracle 'without messianism'; how to 'salute' democracy?"

Ronald Beiner (University of Toronto), "Has the Great Separation Failed?", Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society, 22 (1), March 2010: pp. 45-63.

Abstract: "In The Stillborn God, Mark Lilla illuminates why 'political theology' remains relevant today, in a world we might have assumed was thoroughly secularized. Lilla suggests that political theology is the norm, and that Christianity inadvertently gave birth to an exception. But the exception – liberal theology, or a separation of church and state that would give full play to religious impulses – was doomed. Religious impulses were not satisfied by mere moral sentiment, as offered by Rousseau and Kant; and Hegel opened the door to messianism – and eventually to Hitler – by bringing a philosophical version of redemption into liberal theology."

Michael Allen Gillespie and Lucas Perkins (both Duke University), "Political Anti-Theology", Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society, 22 (1), March 2010: pp. 65-84.

Abstract: "In The Stillborn God, Mark Lilla argues that political theology invariably leads to apocalyptic politics, and that we can avoid this fate only by maintaining a 'Great Separation' between politics and religion, such as the one that Hobbes initiated, but which was overturned by Rousseau and German liberal theology – leading to Nazism. We argue that Hobbes never established such a divide; political theology is far more diverse than Lilla suggests; and liberal German political theology was not a significant source of Nazism. Moreover, liberalism is itself a political theology, suggesting that religion and politics should not, and perhaps cannot, be divided – although they may be reconciled."

Ronnie Po-chia Hsia (Pennsylvania State University), "The Political Theologies of Empires: Jesuit Missionaries between Counter-Reformation Europe and the Chinese Empire", in "Friars, Nobles and Burghers – Sermons, Images and Prints: Studies of Culture and Society in Early-Modern Europe. In Memoriam István György Tóth", eds. Jaroslav Miller and László Kontler (Central European University Press, March 2010): page numbers not given.

www.ceupress.com/books/html/Friars-Nobles-and-Burghers.htm

No abstract or excerpt given.

Giacomo Coccolini (Associazione teologica italiana per lo studio della morale), "Il ritorno della teologia politica [The return of the political theology]", Rivista di teologia morale, 42 (165), 2010: pp. 45-55.

Abstract: "The contemporary political theology is again perceived as ambit of central reflection. It is owed to the renewed centrality of the theological matter in the current political debates, and also to the debate on the political matter related to its bases and legitimation. There are two aspects to deepen: the political one, that seems to forget its own theological origin, even though secularized; and the different theologies that, for long time, have refused a political declination of their fundamental assertions. To answer to these questions, the article analyzes three matters: the secularization of the political matter in the European public ambit; the historical relationship between Christianity and politics; the inseparable connection between theology and politics in the today's post-secular society [sic]."

Kristien Justaert (Catholic University of Leuven), "Liberation Theology: Deleuze and Althaus-Reid", SubStance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism, 39 (1), April 2010: pp. 154-64.

Excerpt: "The contemporary relation between theology and philosophy is a complicated one, but there is at least one strand in theology that has always explicitly used philosophical mediations to clarify and support its theological programme: so-called liberation theology. [...] According to one of the most famous liberation theologians, Enrique Dussel, Marx's thought as a 'philosophy of liberation' was used to 'formulate a metaphysics demanded by revolutionary praxis and technologico-design poiesis against the background of peripheral social formations. To do this it is necessary to deprive Being of its alleged eternal and divine foundation' [...]. This last remark is crucial to understanding the world view and the general perspective of liberation theologians: it is holistic and immanent, not created by a transcendent God that made creation necessarily Good. On the contrary, creation is pervaded with sin, in every place and in every moment where or when human beings or other creatures are oppressed. It is in the 'face' of the oppressed that God can be found, and from the perspective of the 'poor' (in a broad sense) that resistance must grow."

Laura C. Robson (Portland State University), "Palestinian Liberation Theology: Muslim-Christian Relations and the Arab-Israeli Conflict", Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 21 (1), January 2010: pp. 39-50.

Abstract: "This article offers an investigation of the history and intellectual development of Palestinian liberation theology. It focuses in particular on the ways in which the movement's founding writers both made use of and departed from the Latin American model to produce a new theology firmly grounded in specific, local historical and political conditions; the importance of the first intifada for the genesis of this new Palestinian version of liberation theology; and the effort by Palestinian liberation theologians to recast the relationship between Christianity and Islam in the modern Israeli/Palestinian context. It argues that Palestinian liberation theology has become an important intellectual movement among Palestinian Christian elites who seek to convince both Western Christians and Middle Eastern Muslims of a Christian theological justification for a political solution to the Palestinian plight."

Nissim Leon (Bar-Ilan University), "The Transformation of Israel's Religious-Zionist Middle Class", Journal of Israeli History, 29 (1), March 2010: pp. 61-78.

Abstract: "This article argues that the emergence of a new religious-Zionist middle class in Israel may be a factor in restraining the radical potential of the political tendencies that research on religious Zionism has been pointing to for years. It examines, as test cases, the restrained protest against the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and the most recent attempt to change the political leadership of the religious-Zionist parties prior to the 2009 elections. It concludes by connecting the processes described here with a discussion of the possible role of the Israeli middle class in mitigating the rifts within Israeli society."

Anthony G. Reddie (Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education), "Exploring the Workings of Black Theology in Britain: Issues of Theological Method and Epistemological Construct", Black Theology: An International Journal, 7 (1), 2009: pp. 64-85.

Abstract: "This essay outlines two contrasting methods for undertaking Black theology in Britain, namely the respective work of Robert Beckford and that of the author of this paper. The paper is offered as a contribution to the wider development of urban theology in Britain. The author, who is one of the leading Black theologians in Britain, offers this work as a means of unpacking some of the methodological and epistemological concerns of this developing mode of largely Christian inspired Black theological reflection in this country."

Anthony G. Reddie (Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education), "Not Just Seeing, But Really Seeing: A Practical Black Liberationist Spirituality for Re-interpreting Reality", Black Theology: An International Journal, 7 (3), 2009: pp. 339-65.

Abstract: "One of the biggest challenges that confront Black people living in the UK is how to assess the veracity of the macro and micro contexts in which our lives are lived. In a country whose indices for what constitutes normality and acceptability are predicated on notions of 'Whiteness', Black people have always needed to possess an armoury of experiential and psycho-social tools in order to discern how to live as a potent symbol of 'otherness' within the body politic of the nation. This essay, which arises from engagement with a group of Black Methodists, seeks to demonstrate how the use of personal experience and the role the spirit in Black life can lead to ways of being able to discern ones positionality within the broader world of White dominated Britain. The essay brings together reflections on Black theology, Pneumatology and experiential learning in order to great a Practical/Participative Black theology for seeing and reinterpreting the reality of being Black in Britain."

Jonathan L. Walton (University of California, Riverside), "Black Theology and Birmingham: Revisiting a Conversation on Culture", Black Theology: An International Journal, 7 (3), 2009: pp. 259-81.

Abstract: "The purpose of this essay is to trace the development of the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies in order to suggest that it offers a viable option for black liberation theologians concerned with interpreting the intersections of theology and culture in general, and pop culture forms of religious expression such as televangelism in particular. This essay will reveal that the varying methods of cultural studies and black theology have, in many ways, mirrored one another since their respective inceptions. And over the course of the past decade leading black liberation theologians have appealed to the theories and methods of cultural studies in their work. Yet a review of Dwight Hopkins theological analysis of the intersections of black religion and popular culture will demonstrate that revisiting the Birmingham tradition can still prove beneficial, theoretically and methodologically, to the black liberation project. This is particular true in regards to finding the appropriate balance between creative cultural agency and interpretive freedom of the folk, on the one hand, and the ideological dimensions of mass mediated cultural expression such as black televangelism, on the other."

Young Bin Moon (Seoul Women's University), "God as a Communicative System Sui Generis: Beyond the Psychic, Social, Process Models of the Trinity", Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science, 45 (1), March 2010: 105-26.

Abstract: "With an aim to develop a public theology for an age of information media (or media theology), this article proposes a new
God-concept: God is a communicative system sui generis that autopoietically processes meaning/information in the supratemporal realm via perfect divine media ad intra (Word/Spirit). For this task, Niklas Luhmann's systems theory is critically appropriated in dialogue with theology. First, my working postmetaphysical/epistemological stance is articulated as realistic operational constructivism and functionalism. Second, a series of arguments are advanced to substantiate the thesis: (1) God is an observing system sui generis; (2) self-referential communication is divine operation; (3) unsurpassable complexity is divine mystery; (4) supratemporal autopoiesis of meaning is divine processing; (5) agape is the symbolic medium of divine communication. Third, this communicative model of God is developed into a trinitarian theology, with a claim that this model offers a viable alternative beyond the standard (psychic, social, process) models. Finally, some implications of this model are explored for constructive theology (conceiving creation as divine mediatization) and for science-and-religion in terms of derivative models: (1) God as a living system sui generis and (2) God as a meaning system sui generis."

Matthew L. Becker (Valparaiso University), "What Good is Theology?", Daystar Journal, fall 2009: page numbers not given. Available here:

http://daystarnet.org/Jounal-spring-2010/What%20Good%20Is%20Theology.pdf

Excerpt: "How does good theology relate to the publics that are 'society' and 'the world'? In other words, is there a viable 'public theology' that can claim the adjective 'good?' While the constraints of this little essay preclude even a partially-developed understanding of public theology, a few key elements can be highlighted."

Recent articles on political theology, second installment

Here's a second installment of recent articles (this will be a recurrent feature from now on):

Wolfram Malte Fues (University of Basel), "The Foe. The Radical Evil. Political Theology in Immanuel Kant and Carl Schmitt", The Philosophical Forum, 41 (1-2), spring/summer 2010: pp. 181-204.

Excerpt: "'In a few weeks' time, I shall surprise you with a new work by Kant that will very much astound you,' Friedrich Schiller writes to his friend Christian Gottfried Körner on February 28, 1793, referring to Immanuel Kant's Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. 'One of the fundamental principles held in it, however, outrages my [...] feelings. For he [Kant, W.M.F.] asserts a propensity of the human heart to evil, which he calls the radical evil, and which under no circumstances must be confused with the stimuli of the sensuous nature. He places it above and beyond the sensuous, in man's spiritual nature, as the locus of freedom.' No sooner has self-enlightening reason drawn religion into its bounds, than it breaks with the old Manichaean-Christian dogma of evil as the sin of the flash against the spirit. Reason starts seeking evil within itself, within its principle of self-determination, and hence at the very 'locus of freedom.' A Janus-faced reason, which, entirely by its freedom of choice, conceals good behind evil, evil behind good? Whose 'progress in the consciousness of freedom' can lead us into paradise just as well as into utter catastrophe? It is not surprising that this radical evil fascinates Schiller as much as it outrages him. Let us investigate the causes for Schiller's conflicting sensations and their interconnection."

Geoffrey Waite (Cornell University), "Kant, Schmitt or Fues on Political Theology, Radical Evil and the Foe (pour une philosophie buissonière et parallactique)", The Philosophical Forum, 41 (1-2), spring/summer 2010: pp. 205-27.

No abstract or excerpt given.

R.R. Reno (Creighton University), "Lawe, loue and lewete: The Kenotic Vision of Traditional Christian Political Theology", in "Crisis, Call, and Leadership in the Abrahamic Tradition", eds. Peter Ochs and William Stacy Johnson (Palgrave Macmillan, December 2009): pp. 169-83.

www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=375019

Excerpt: "My purpose, then, is to show how [William Langland's late medieval poem] Piers Plowman and its allegorical dream sequences function as a scripturally reasoned response to the cry of the poor that gives spiritual transformation priority over social change. I begin with a brief account of the argument of Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, and then I move to an exposition of the social analysis present in Langland's poem. In conclusion, I will gesture toward the question of how my interpretation of Piers Plowman might inform a postliberal effort to restore scriptural reasoning to a foundational role in forming our social consciences."

Jacob Schiff (University of Chicago), "From Anti-Liberal to Untimely Liberal: Leo Strauss' Two Critiques of Liberalism", Philosophy & Social Criticism, 36 (2), February 2010: pp. 157-81.

Abstract: "Leo Strauss' ubiquitous presence in recent US foreign policy debates demands a thorough analysis of his critique of liberalism. I identify and explain a previously unnoticed transformation in that critique. Strauss' Weimar critique of liberalism was philosophical and political; like Carl Schmitt, he sought philosophical grounds to replace liberalism with an authoritarian political system. However, post-emigration Strauss abandoned this political agenda, exclusively pursuing a philosophical critique that exposed modern liberalism's purported weaknesses in order to strengthen its core. I accentuate this change by reading Strauss' postwar lecture, 'The Three Waves of Modernity', as an implicit response to and reconstruction of Schmitt's 'Neutralizations and Depoliticizations' essay. Strauss' changing relationship to political theology and political philosophy was central to his transformation: while a philosophically grounded political theology undergirded his early disdain for liberalism, Strauss later abandoned political theology for a quasi-theological faith in political philosophy that motivated his more moderate, philosophical critique."

Govert J. Buijs (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), "The Souls of Europe", LIMES: Cultural Regionalistics, 2 (2), 2009: pp. 126-39.

Abstract: "How should Europe deal politically with its legacy as a so-called 'Christian civilization'? Should this imply an overt reference to God or to the Christian or Judeo-Christian tradition in European constitutional documents (as was debated when the so-called 'Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe' was tabled)? This debate raised the old 'politico-theological problem': does a political order need some kind of metaphysical or religious grounding, a 'soul', or can it present itself as a purely rational order, the result of a utilitarian calculus? In this article it is argued that the secular idea of the state as an inherent element in the 'Judeo-Christian tradition', for a 'divine state' usurps a place that is only God's. So, this religious tradition itself calls for a secular state, and this inherent relationship between religion and secularity has become a key element for the interpretation of European civilization, most notably in the idea of a separation of the church and the state. But the very fact that this is a religious idea does imply that the European political order cannot be seen as a purely rational political order without a soul. The idea of a 'plural soul' is proposed as a way out of the dilemma."

Shmuel Trigano (University Paris X Nanterre), "The Return of the Theological-Political in Democracy and the Rediscovery of Biblical Politics", Hebraic Political Studies, 4 (3), summer 2009: pp. 304-18. Available online:

www.hpstudies.org/20/admin/pdfs/07305e34-7d1c-437c-a8ce-f0fd3df92a25.pdf

Abstract: "The Spinozist moment was a turning point for democratic theory. It reduced the biblical heritage of political philosophy to mere theology and thus founded the 'autonomy of politics' so brilliantly theorized by Rousseau in his 'Social Contract.' Yet Spinoza and Rousseau could not found their system without reintroducing (an immanent or secularized) transcendence to politics, such that a kind of reenchantment, in the form of civil and political religions, has occurred in modern politics. These are crucial matters to consider today, as this transcendence so crucial to the foundations of democracy is collapsing. To confront this problem, one might consider that Spinoza theoretically founded democracy by expelling the biblical, and its rediscovery today might help us think through the present crisis."

Martín Plot, "The Democratico-Political: Social Flesh and Political Forms in Lefort and Merleau-Ponty", Theory & Event, 12 (4), 2009, no page numbers given.

Excerpt: "Modern democracy is an enigma. It is an enigma because, being born out of the split of the theological and the political, it places society face to face with its own institution. In theologico-political orders, societies take themselves for granted, they see themselves as a unity guaranteed by the objectifying gaze of God. Modern democracies, in contrast, confront the ambiguity proper of a being that becomes an entity before its own gaze – a two-dimensional, reversible being, a seer that is also a visible. No longer being a heteronomously constituted object, now the body politic becomes both a subject and an object, a flesh in the gaze of itself. In order to understand this mutation and the advent of the form of society that I will call democratico-political, one of my articulating strategies will be the uncovering of the implicit dimensions – and the exploration of the political potentialities – of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concept of flesh."

Paul W. Kahn (Yale Law School), "Torture and Democratic Violence", Ratio Juris, 22 (2), June 2009: pp. 244-59.

Abstract: "To understand the problem of torture in a democratic society, we have to take up a political-theological perspective. We must ask how violence creates political meaning. Torture is no more destructive and no more illiberal than other forms of political violence. The turn away from torture was not a turn away from violence, but a change in the locus of sacrifice: from scaffold to battlefield. Torture had been a ritual of mediation between sovereign and subject. Once sovereignty is located in the people, it no longer makes sense to speak of being sacrificed for the sovereign. Instead, sovereign presence is now realized in an act of self-sacrifice. The wars of modern nation-states have been acts of reciprocal self-sacrifice. Terror invokes torture in response because both speak a primitive language of political sacrifice, denying the enemy the privilege of self-sacrifice."

Gerard Mannion (Catholic University of Leuven), "A Brief Genealogy of Public Theology, Or Doing Theology when it Seems Nobody is Listening ...", Annali di Studi Religiosi, 10, November 2009: pp. 121-54.

Abstract: "This paper seeks to introduce the background to public theology, offering some reflections upon its origins, history, methodologies, as well as the recent state of public theology as a sub-discipline in its own right. After a brief discussion of the scope and definitions of public theology, the paper will offer a genealogical account of the origins and development of what is today termed 'public theology', throughout key periods of the history of the church. A discussion of the emergence of the sense of public theology as a sub-discipline in its own right in the later stages of the twentieth century will follow. Then, the paper will offer a tentative 'typology' of recent forms of public theology, before offering some suggestive conclusions concerning the most fruitful direction in which theological contributions to the wider public arena might progress."

Nimi Wariboko (Andover Newton Theological School), "Ethical Methodology: Between Public Theology and Public Policy", Journal of Religion and Business Ethics, 1 (1), 2009: article 4. Available online:

http://via.library.depaul.edu/jrbe/vol1/iss1/4/

Abstract: "That public theology is relevant to public policy debates and formulation should be self-evident. After all, public theologians aspire to develop ethical frameworks and discourses about how we should live together in plural civil societies. They offer public theology as a form of discourse. Unfortunately, they have largely failed to explicitly develop a procedural method of ethical analysis relevant to public policy decision-making. This paper proposes an ethical methodology as a form of public discourse, a meta-ethical model showing how themes, concerns, and insights of public theology can be systematically organized into practical policy arguments. It provides a robust 'mechanics' to aid public theologians prepare ethical analyses for public policies."

Nico N. Koopman (Stellenbosch University), "For God So Loved the World ... Some Contours for Public Theology in South Africa", Dutch Reformed Theological Journal/Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, 50 (3-4), December 2009: pp. 409-26.

Abstract: "After a brief autobiographical outline of the author's involvement in public theology, this article argues in favour of a critical and constructive public theology, which reflects upon the role of Christian faith in public life in the young South African democracy and in other democratic societies. It offers some crucial contours for the development of public theology. It firstly calls attention to different approaches to and emphases in public theology. With different emphases and methodologies the three central questions of public theology regarding the inherent public nature of God's love for the world, the public rationality of this love, and the public implications of God's love for the world, are addressed. Public theology is secondly described as an intra-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and transdisciplinary scholarly practice. In the formulation of a third contour the possibilities of what [p]ublic theology might become are discussed, namely a theological discipline, subdiscipline, research field, curriculum organiser, catalyst or a new contextual theology. In two final sections the publics of public theology and the contemporary agenda of public theology are discussed."

David Novak (University of Toronto), "The Theopolitics of Abraham Joshua Heschel", Modern Judaism, 29 (1), February 2009: pp. 106-16.

Excerpt: "My late revered teacher, Abraham Joshua Heschel, even today is probably best remembered by many for his political activism during the 1960s and the early 1970s. Whenever newsreels taken during that time are shown again, one will inevitably see Heschel alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in the march from Selma, Alabama, or one will frequently see Heschel marching in front of the White House protesting the war in Vietnam. Yet there is little in Heschel's earlier work, written or oral, to intimate that, let alone how, he would move into this kind of public role in the last years of his life".

Yaniv Belhassen (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) and Jonathan Ebel (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigne), "Tourism, Faith and Politics in the Holy Land: An Ideological Analysis of Evangelical Pilgrimage", Current Issues in Tourism, 12 (4), July 2009: pp. 359-78.

Abstract: "This article aims to enhance the discussion of the role of ideology in the development of tourism practices through a closer examination of the case of Christian pilgrimage. The analysis focuses on the theo-political ideology of Christian Zionism and its roles and manifestations in the context of evangelical pilgrimages to Israel. Findings suggest that ideological dynamics within the development of these tours can be discussed by distinguishing between four tourism actors, namely, ideological organizations, tour organizers, Israeli officials, and the tourists. We suggest that these actors can be differentiated from each other in accordance with their ideological roles and orientations. Additionally, by demonstrating the similar utilization of pilgrimage by theo-political opponents of Christian Zionism, such as Sabeel and FOSNA, this article illustrates how pilgrimage to the Holy Land has become an arena for competition between these two rival ideologies within the Evangelical movement. The article concludes with a discussion on the role of pilgrimages to Israel as a platform through which theo-political ideologies are manifested, distributed, utilized, and consumed."

Benjamin H. Bratton (University of California, San Diego), "On Geoscapes and the Google Caliphate: Reflections on the Mumbai Attacks", Theory, Culture & Society, 26 (7-8), December 2009:
pp. 329-42.

Abstract: "When advanced technologies of globalization that are closely associated with secular cosmopolitics are opportunistically employed by fundamentalist politico-theologies for their own particular purposes, an essential irresolution of territory, jurisdiction and programmatic projection is revealed. Where some may wish to identify an ideal correspondence between a global political sphere into which multiple differences might be adjudicated and the visual, geographic representation of a single planetary space, this conjunction is dubious and highly conditional. Instead multiple territorial projections and competing claims on space are also generative of the very qualities of the spatial as a political medium altogether. For example, the well-publicized use of satellite-based mapping and telecommunications tools, such as Google Earth, by the terrorist group that attacked Mumbai in November 2008, raises several knotty and important questions about how contrary comprehensive images of the world can make use of one another in ways that undermine the 'unitotality' of global territory. It is not that Google and Jihad are 'equivalent' or even 'translatable', but rather because they are not, they are in practice interoperable. Instead links between urbanism, cosmography, and the socialization of planetary software networks demonstrate the centrality of design to the ongoing fashioning of the territory of territories, the geoscape."

Ana Belén Soage (University of Granada), "Introduction to Political Islam", Religion Compass, 3 (5), September 2009: pp. 887-96.

Abstract: "This paper explores how and why Islamism (i.e. political Islam) emerged in the last decades of the 19th century. It resorts to original sources to illustrate Muslim responses to the perceived threat of Westernisation and, notably, the development of Islamism as a reaction to the evolving socio-political conditions in the Middle East. In addition, it demonstrates that, despite claims to religious purity, Islamists have incorporated elements of the foreign ideologies they profess to oppose. The article ends by providing a tentative classification of modern-day Islamists."

Book on Islamic political theology and human rights

Again a book that in early announcements bore "political theology" in the (working) title, but which for unexplained reasons was ultimately published under another title. Abdulaziz Sachedina's new book, called "Reform through Human Rights: Islamic Political Theology" early last year, was published by Oxford University Press as "Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights" in November 2009:

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195388428.do

Publisher's description: "Whether Islam is compatible with human rights in general, and with the Declaration of Human Rights in particular, has been both a Muslim issue and a concern of the international community. Muslim rulers, Western analysts and policymakers, and Muslim extremists as well as conservative Muslims, have often agreed for diverse reasons that Islam and human rights cannot co-exist. In this book Aziz Sachedina argues for the essential compatibility of Islam and human rights. He offers a balanced and incisive critique of leading Western experts who ignore or marginalize the relationship of religion to human rights. At the same time, he re-examines the inherited tradition that forms the basis of conservative Muslim objections, arguing that it is culturally conditioned and therefore open to development and change. Finally, and most importantly, Sachedina delineates a fresh contemporary Muslim position that argues for a correspondence between Islam and secular concepts of human rights, grounded in sacred sources as well as Islamic history and thought."

Excerpts: "Islamic political theology involves metaphysics and carries an underlying assumption that revelation-based certainty guides the move from the ontological-theological level to the ethical-political to create the ideal public order. [...] [T]he emergence of a new
theological-ethical vision of politics among traditionalist interpreters of political theology is basically different from the classically formulated political society in that the new vision of public order is nationalistic as well as self-deterministic. [...] The most critical challenge facing the traditional leadership is to search for an inclusive political theology that no longer discriminates by faith to determine an individual's rights and duties. [...] Islamic political theology from its early inception provided religious legitimacy to existing social and political structures by insisting upon certain extraneous characteristics to the public order under divinely ordained legal norms. [...] I undertake to analyze diverse interpretations of political theology as they impact upon human rights discourse".

Abdulaziz Sachedina is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia.

CONF: RAKIA – Colloquium for Graduate Students

RAKIA – Colloquium for Graduate Students, at the newly-founded Hebraic Graduate School of Europe (HGSE) in Berlin, Germany,
14-18 February 2010

The western notion of modernity developed out of Enlightenment and secularization processes. This is one of the reasons, why the topic of modernity has become one of the central topoi in the present dialogue between cultures. Enlightenment and secularization are intimately interwoven with the way the different religious traditions that have shaped the face of Europe – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – have developed in the course of time.

Enlightenment and tradition are however not opposites in western thought. The emancipatory impulse of secularized Enlightenment is, in the form of Jewish monotheism and Greek rationalism, embedded in the fundamentals of western tradition on which Islam is also founded. In religion, philosophy, science, and art the peoples of Europe have interpreted the historical experiences of modernization. Besides this, there existed also a critique of modernity, a desire to preserve tradition, impulses, that have also left their imprint on the process of modernity.

The organizers want to explore the cultural, philosophical, social, and political aspects of the above problematic. Themes to be discussed include: "Secularization and Globalization" (Sunday, 7 pm); "Israel – Individual, People, and Nation in Western Tradition" (Monday, 9 am-
12 pm); "Nationalism, Zionism, and Messianism" (2-6 pm); "Europe between Athens and Jerusalem" (Tuesday, 9 am-12pm); "Political Theology and Political Theory" (2-6 pm); "Law and Religion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam" (Wednesday, 9 am-12 pm); "Jews and Muslims in Post-Christian Europe" (2-6 pm); "The State of Israel in European and Arabic Context" (Thursday, 9 am-12 pm); "Towards a 'Cultural Magna Charta for Europe' – Summation" (2-6 pm)

Particular attention will be paid to the perspective of the Shoah, the crisis (and possible renewal) of the humanities in Israel and Europe, and the Jewish Heritage of Europe in the tension between "Israel in Europe – Europe in Israel". Against the background of the destruction of the Jewish heritage of Europe, the bridge between Israel and Europe can serve as a way for a renewal of a common ethos.

The proposed Magna Charta will bear witness to the mutual influences of the different traditions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Greek-Roman Antiquity – that have shaped the face of Europe. This is necessary to find ways and means reflecting the "principle of differences" as a basis for equality, aiming at a new definition of the "contrat social" for the member states of Western, Central and Eastern Europe, after the breakdown of the great structures of the 19th century and the ideologies of the 20th century in the age of globalization.

The Colloquium will be conducted as an interdisciplinary seminar. The various topics will be presented by short lectures and papers, given by professors, doctoral candidates, and students, in which also current work-in-progress and research projects can be introduced and discussed. The evening programme includes public lectures and discussions, films, music, and literary readings.

Post-doctoral and doctoral researchers and masters students from all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences such as Jewish Studies, Philosophy, Theology, Sociology, History, Political Science, Law, Economics, Cultural Studies, Literature, and Education, are cordially invited to participate.

Please send applications to Michelle Piccirillio (Hebraic Graduate School of Europe): piccirillo@hgse.eu

Public lecture: Alfarabi's Goal: Political Philosophy, not Political Theology

Tulane University, The Murphy Institute, Stibbs Conference Room, Lavin-Bernick Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA,
25 February 2010, 4.00 pm

Public lecture by Charles Butterworth: "Alfarabi's Goal: Political Philosophy, not Political Theology"

http://murphy.tulane.edu/events/lectures/1622.php

No abstract provided by the organizers.

Emeritus Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and currently Visiting Professor in the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, Charles Butterworth specializes in medieval Islamic political philosophy. His publications include critical editions of many commentaries written by Averroes on Aristotle's logic, as well as translations of treatises by Averroes, Alfarabi, Alrazi, and Maimonides. He has also published translations and analyses of the political teaching of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The lecture is free and open to all.

CFP: No!: Subjectivity and Agency in Muslim Rights/Rites of Negation

7th Annual Duke-UNC Graduate Islamic Studies Conference, at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA, 27-28 February 2010

Call for papers: "No!: Subjectivity and Agency in Muslim Rights/Rites of Negation"

Graduate students in Islamic Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are now accepting papers for this conference, including such on Muslim political theologies.

Keynote speaker: Kecia Ali (Boston University)

"And when a limit is established, norms and interdictions are not far behind" – Jacques Derrida

The concept and practice of "No!" can establish barriers and break them down. As Georges Bataille explained, "No" can be passive negation or active rebellion. Who gets to refuse and how they do so involves subjectivity – ways in which individuals relate to themselves and the other. The act of negation enacts the affirmation of possible alternatives. Such acts range from Satan's refusal to bow before Adam to a wife's legal inability to refuse her husband's sexual overtures in Muslim jurisprudence. In ordinary life, individuals enunciate negation through multiple media, including expressions of tact and satire. In politics, the state expresses its agency by codifying certain political ideologies, while individuals actualize their agency by negating or affirming them. Practices of negation, refusal, and dissent both constitute and are constituted by subjectivity and society. This connection has often been overlooked in recent studies of Islam.

Therefore, the organizers of this conference welcome diverse approaches to examine negation, agency, and the subject in the study of classical, medieval, and contemporary Islamicate contexts. They are particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to this theme with regards to Muslim political theologies, Islamic textual canons, and Muslim minorities, including those of gender, sexuality, race, and class.

In addition to formal papers, they also welcome films related to theme of the conference.

Possible paper/film topics may include: Refusal or appropriation of normative categories of gender and sexuality; Approaches to difference in Muslim intellectual history; The construction of Sunni and Shi'a theology through mutual refusal; The role of dissent in contemporary Muslim politics; Rejection of Arabized Muslim identity; Negation as a hermeneutical tool in the construction of authority in jurisprudential methodology; Re-defining collective Muslim narratives and representations; Appropriation or negation of legal rulings through the utilization of objectives of Islamic law; Annihilating the self in Sufism; Muslim dissent as political threat; Asceticism and martyrdom as socio-political refusal in early Sufism; Disavowal of Muslim minorities; Refusing racial categories within Islam; Turns from Ash'arite theological hegemony in contemporary Sunnism; Appropriations and negations of the Muslim past in contemporary apologetic discourses.

The conference will proceed in an interactive workshop format. Those invited to present papers are asked to remain for the duration of the conference in order to engage the work of fellow participants.

To apply, please send a proposal of no more than 500 words (double spaced), the paper title, and your Curriculum Vitae to: dukeuncconf@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions: 15 December 2009

Organizers: Brandon Gorman (Department of Sociology, UNC-Chapel Hill), Matthew Hotham (Department of Religious Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill), Nadia Khan (Department of Religion, Duke University), Ali Altaf Mian (Department of Religion, Duke University), and Saadia Yacoob (Department of Religion, Duke University)

Islamic liberation theology author and "Radicals" amongst most influential Muslims

South African Farid Esack, author of "Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism: an Islamic perspective of interreligious solidarity against oppression" (Oneworld Publications, 1997), has been named one of the world's most influential Muslims.

"The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World" is a 2009 publication by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (RISSC) in Jordan and Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Washington, DC, USA. The book, which is available free of charge online, was edited by Prof John L. Esposito and Prof Ibrahim Kalin (both Georgetown):

www.rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf

Esack, recently a Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School and identified by the book's editors as "a professor at the University of Johannesburg" (although he appears not now to be listed on that university's website), has found mention in two categories: "Scholarly" and "Issues of the Day".

There is also a whole category of "Radicals" amongst the most influential Muslims, including all the usual suspects, who will subscribe to a form of fundamentalist Islamic political theology entirely different from Esack's.

Book: "Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives"

Alexandre J.M.E. Christoyannopoulos recently published an edited volume on "Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives" with Cambridge Scholars Publishing (August 2009):

www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Religious-Anarchism--New-Perspectives1-4438-1132-7.htm

On that site a link is provided to a sample PDF including table of contents. Already the first chapter, by Richard Fitch (Birkbeck), mentions political theology repeatedly.

Publisher's description: "Both religion and anarchism have been increasingly politically active of late. This edited volume presents twelve chapters of fresh scholarship on diverse facets of the area where they meet: religious anarchism.

"The book is structured along three themes: [1] early Christian anarchist 'pioneers', including Pelagius, Coppe, Hungarian Nazarenes, and Dutch Christian anarchists; [2] Christian anarchist reflections on specific topics such as Kierkegaardian indifference, Romans 13, Dalit religious practice, and resistance to race and nation; [3] religious anarchism in other traditions, ranging from Wu Nengzi's Daoism and Rexroth's Zen Buddhism to various currents of Islam, including an original Anarca-Islamic 'clinic'.

"This unique book therefore furthers scholarship on anarchism, on millenarian and revolutionary thinkers and movements, and on religion and politics. It is also of value to members of the wider public interested in radical politics and in the political implications of religion. And of course, it is relevant to those interested in any of the specific themes and thinkers focused on within individual chapters. In short, this book presents a range of innovative perspectives on a web of topics that, while held together by the common thread of religious anarchism, also speaks to numerous broader themes which have been increasingly prominent in the twenty-first century."

The editor, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos (University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University), last year contributed a chapter on Leo Tolstoy's Christian anarchism to my own book, "Anti-Democratic Thought" (Imprint Academic, 2008). His other publications include a chapter in the present volume as well as peer-reviewed articles in Anarchist Studies, The Heythrop Journal, and Politics and Religion.

"Bringing together the work of international writers, both new and established scholars and practitioners, this book fills an important gap in the existing literature. [...] Another important strength is that the authors work in variety of disciplinary fields and are thus able to bring insights from history, philosophy and political theory as well as anarchist studies, to bear on the subject. [...] [T]he authors examine a range of ethical questions about the legitimate boundaries of the state and the limits of authority, the duty of obedience and the primacy of conscience in political action." – Ruth Kinna (Loughborough University)

"[I]t presents a wide range of little known and unexpected sources, inspiring a fresh look at contemporary approaches to change. [...] Each article explores new issues in areas as diverse as Pelagian studies, Hungarian history and Islamic political theology." – Ronald Creagh (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier)

CFP: Political theology in Islam

2010 Regional Meeting of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR) at the Century City Marriott Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 5-7 March 2010

http://174.36.9.161/About_AAR/Regions/Southeast/call.asp

The SECSOR section or program unit "Islam" has been allocated five panels at this conference. Proposals on all topics in Islamic Studies will be considered, but proposals on political theology are especially invited (along with such on social and economic justice; teaching Islam; scripture, religion, and science; and Islam in the West).

Members who wish to present a paper or coordinate a session are invited to submit proposals (1-2 pages) or complete manuscripts to the section chairs, Rachel Scott (Virginia Tech): rmscott@vt.edu
and Dave Damrel (University of Southern Carolina, Upstate): ddamrel@uscupstate.edu

Deadline: 1 October 2009

Please use the proposal submission form available on the SECSOR website:

www.secsor.appstate.edu

Each member is limited to one proposal. (Check with SECSOR whether proposals by non-members are admissible.)

Please note that papers must be of such a length as can be presented and discussed within 45 minutes. Planned use of audio-visual equipment must be noted on the submission form. Due to the very high cost of renting audio-visual equipment, presenters who wish to use such equipment must provide it themselves. SECSOR will provide a limited number of designated AV rooms with a screen, cart, and cords; however, presenters must bring their own projection, audio, and other AV equipment. It is still necessary for program planners to know which presenters are planning on using AV equipment, though, so they can be scheduled in the appropriate rooms (see proposal form). The copying of handouts is also the responsibility of the presenter.

All program participants must be pre-registered for the meeting.

CONF: Euro-Islam: The Dynamics of Effective Integration

The Southeast Europe Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, USA, has put online the video and transcripts of a conference on "Euro-Islam: The Dynamics of Effective Integration", held on 21 June 2006:

www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=109941&fuseaction=topics.event_summary&event_id=185188

They say: This Wilson Center conference explores the diplomatic, cultural, and security ramifications of this newly-emergent issue through the twin prisms of social ideology and political theology, using country-specific case studies of Muslim populations in European states, assessing future trends, opportunities, and dangers, with an overarching emphasis on US policy options.