Deirdre King Hainsworth and Scott R. Paeth (editors), "Public Theology for a Global Society: Essays in Honor of Max L. Stackhouse"
(Eerdmans, December 2009):
www.eerdmans.com/shop/product.asp?p_key=9780802865076
Publisher's description: "In these essays [...], leading Christian scholars consider the historical roots and ongoing resources of public theology as a vital element in the church's engagement with global issues. Public Theology for a Global Society explores the concept of public theology and the challenge of relating theological claims to a larger social and political context. The range of essays included here allows readers to understand public theology as both theological practice and public speech, and to consider the potential and limits of public theology in ecumenical and international networks.
"The essays begin by introducing the reader to the development of public theology as an area of study and to the historical interrelationship of religious, legal, and professional categories. The later essays engage the reader with emerging problems in public theology, as religious communities encounter shifting 'publics' that are being transformed by globalization and sweeping political and technological changes. The breadth and scholarship of Public Theology for a Global Society make this volume a fitting tribute to Stackhouse – a central figure in Christian ethics and pioneer in the church's study of globalization."
Deirdre King Hainsworth is Assistant Professor of Ethics and Director of the Center for Business, Religion and Public Life at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Scott R. Paeth is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at DePaul University.
23 January 2010
Book: What Makes a Good Church? Public Theology and the Urban Church
Elaine Graham and Stephen Lowe, "What Makes a Good Church? Public Theology and the Urban Church" (Darton, Longman and Todd, June 2009):
www.dltbooks.com/book_details.asp?bID=940&bc=0&sID=ALL&Type=B&cp=1
Publisher's description: "In its Faithful Cities report (2006), the [Anglican Archbishops'] Commission on Urban Life and Faith [of which both Graham and Lowe were members] identified the question 'What makes a good city?' as a key catalyst for thinking about the future of our cities and towns. In this groundbreaking work of practical theology, the authors [...] explore this question in depth, from historical, social, economic and spiritual perspectives and offer a vision for the long-term future of the 'good city'".
Elaine Graham is Grosvenor Research Professor at the University of Chester. Until October 2009, she was the Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester. From 2005 to 2007, she served as President of the International Academy of Practical Theology.
Stephen Lowe retired from his position as suffragan Bishop of Hulme, in the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, in July 2009. From 2006, he was the Church of England's first Bishop for Urban Life and Faith. He also chaired its Urban Bishops Panel.
www.dltbooks.com/book_details.asp?bID=940&bc=0&sID=ALL&Type=B&cp=1
Publisher's description: "In its Faithful Cities report (2006), the [Anglican Archbishops'] Commission on Urban Life and Faith [of which both Graham and Lowe were members] identified the question 'What makes a good city?' as a key catalyst for thinking about the future of our cities and towns. In this groundbreaking work of practical theology, the authors [...] explore this question in depth, from historical, social, economic and spiritual perspectives and offer a vision for the long-term future of the 'good city'".
Elaine Graham is Grosvenor Research Professor at the University of Chester. Until October 2009, she was the Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester. From 2005 to 2007, she served as President of the International Academy of Practical Theology.
Stephen Lowe retired from his position as suffragan Bishop of Hulme, in the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, in July 2009. From 2006, he was the Church of England's first Bishop for Urban Life and Faith. He also chaired its Urban Bishops Panel.
17 January 2010
Public lecture: The Primal Scenes of Political Theology
University of California at Davis, Davis Humanities Institute (DHI),
126 Vorhies Hall, 1st and A streets, Davis, California, USA,
21 January 2010, 4.00-5.30 pm
Public lecture by Jacques Lezra (Professor of Comparative Literature and Spanish and Portuguese at New York University):
"The Primal Scences of Political Theology"
http://dhi.ucdavis.edu/?p=2987
"And earthly power doth then show likest God's / When mercy seasons justice." – William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice"
"This analogy is the very site of the theologico-political, the hyphen [trait d'union] or translation between the theological and the political." – Jacques Derrida, "Of Spirit: Heidegger and the Question"
In "The Primal Scenes of Political Theology", Jacques Lezra will approach a cluster of urgent questions in contemporary political and cultural theory by reading Freud's readings of Schiller: Is there indeed a "trait d'union" between the theological and the political, marked (as Carl Schmitt and other proponents of the secularization thesis argue) somewhere in the period of early modernity? Which "early modernity" do we mean? And under what conditions can we approach it? What forms of cultural mediation determine the encounter between theology and politics for us today? And conversely: is our understanding of "cultural mediation" itself marked by the encounter between theology and politics in the early modern period?
This event is sponsored by the Graduate Program in Critical Theory, the Departments of English, German, Comparative Literature, Spanish and Portuguese, and the Early Modern Research Cluster.
For more information please contact Matthew Stratton (UC Davis): mstratton@ucdavis.edu
126 Vorhies Hall, 1st and A streets, Davis, California, USA,
21 January 2010, 4.00-5.30 pm
Public lecture by Jacques Lezra (Professor of Comparative Literature and Spanish and Portuguese at New York University):
"The Primal Scences of Political Theology"
http://dhi.ucdavis.edu/?p=2987
"And earthly power doth then show likest God's / When mercy seasons justice." – William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice"
"This analogy is the very site of the theologico-political, the hyphen [trait d'union] or translation between the theological and the political." – Jacques Derrida, "Of Spirit: Heidegger and the Question"
In "The Primal Scenes of Political Theology", Jacques Lezra will approach a cluster of urgent questions in contemporary political and cultural theory by reading Freud's readings of Schiller: Is there indeed a "trait d'union" between the theological and the political, marked (as Carl Schmitt and other proponents of the secularization thesis argue) somewhere in the period of early modernity? Which "early modernity" do we mean? And under what conditions can we approach it? What forms of cultural mediation determine the encounter between theology and politics for us today? And conversely: is our understanding of "cultural mediation" itself marked by the encounter between theology and politics in the early modern period?
This event is sponsored by the Graduate Program in Critical Theory, the Departments of English, German, Comparative Literature, Spanish and Portuguese, and the Early Modern Research Cluster.
For more information please contact Matthew Stratton (UC Davis): mstratton@ucdavis.edu
15 January 2010
CFP: Continental Philosophy of Religion
15th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Religion, Literature and Culture (ISRLC), at St Catherine's College, University of Oxford, England, 23-26 September 2010
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc2329/index.html
A panel on "Continental Philosophy of Religion" is to be organized for this conference.
The panel invites submissions which consider the turn to religion in recent continental philosophy and the implications this has for understandings of religion, reason, and spiritual practice. If philosophy is called, driven, or solicited to think its other, does this mean that philosophy itself is compelled by a religious dynamic? A particular focus will be on the debate around theological and dialectical accounts of materialism. What kind of thinking does justice to the passion of reason, the integrity of matter, and the injunctions of ethical and political commitment? Relevant thinkers and themes might include Jean-Luc Nancy, Radical Orthodoxy, Slavoj Žižek, Grace Jantzen, phenomenology (Henry, Chrétien, Lacoste, Marion), speculative realism/materialism. However, other relevant submissions will be considered.
The panel is being convened by the Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion:
www.hope.ac.uk/acpr
Panel leaders: Steven Shakespeare and Patrice Haynes (both Liverpool Hope University): shakess@hope.ac.uk, haynesp@hope.ac.uk
Short papers are invited for this panel; contributors should aim to deliver a 20-minute piece with 10 further minutes for questions and discussion. Please send the proposed title of your paper, with an abstract of not more than 500 words, to the convenors of the panel.
Deadline for receipt of abstracts: 30 March 2010
One of the keynote speakers at the conference will be Graham Ward (University of Manchester), co-editor of "Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology" (Routledge, 1998).
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc2329/index.html
A panel on "Continental Philosophy of Religion" is to be organized for this conference.
The panel invites submissions which consider the turn to religion in recent continental philosophy and the implications this has for understandings of religion, reason, and spiritual practice. If philosophy is called, driven, or solicited to think its other, does this mean that philosophy itself is compelled by a religious dynamic? A particular focus will be on the debate around theological and dialectical accounts of materialism. What kind of thinking does justice to the passion of reason, the integrity of matter, and the injunctions of ethical and political commitment? Relevant thinkers and themes might include Jean-Luc Nancy, Radical Orthodoxy, Slavoj Žižek, Grace Jantzen, phenomenology (Henry, Chrétien, Lacoste, Marion), speculative realism/materialism. However, other relevant submissions will be considered.
The panel is being convened by the Association for Continental Philosophy of Religion:
www.hope.ac.uk/acpr
Panel leaders: Steven Shakespeare and Patrice Haynes (both Liverpool Hope University): shakess@hope.ac.uk, haynesp@hope.ac.uk
Short papers are invited for this panel; contributors should aim to deliver a 20-minute piece with 10 further minutes for questions and discussion. Please send the proposed title of your paper, with an abstract of not more than 500 words, to the convenors of the panel.
Deadline for receipt of abstracts: 30 March 2010
One of the keynote speakers at the conference will be Graham Ward (University of Manchester), co-editor of "Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology" (Routledge, 1998).
11 January 2010
Book: A Political History of Early Christianity
Allen Brent's monograph "A Political History of Early Christianity"
(T & T Clark, September 2009) contains a chapter on "The Political Theology of the Augustan Revolution: Cosmic Reconstruction":
www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=130547
Publisher's description: "Allen Brent examines early Christianity and its triumph in Roman Empire. Starting with the description of the apocalyptic movement of the earliest form of Roman [Markan] Christianity, Brent moves on to illustrate various aspects that have made Christianity so powerful. Explaining numerous ideas involved in the rising of the Christianity, such as metaphysical reality, church organisation, nascent Trinitarianism, Allen Brent also emphasizes the impact of emperor Constantine's position in the new Christian cosmic and political order: a Trinity of distinct coequal and co-eternal persons was to trump the claims of an imperial monarchy reflecting a cosmic one. Brent discusses the Christian history in the general context of political movements that seek initially to achieve a 'root and branch' transformation of present society."
Reviews: "Allen Brent's Political History of Early Christianity is breath-taking and ground-breaking. He argues that the Jesus Movement, from its earliest days until it blossomed into the officially sanctioned Christianity of the Roman Empire under Constantine at the start of the fourth century, was inextricably linked to and in tension with the political concerns of wider culture. However, Brent demonstrates that this does not reduce Jesus and the movement that evolved in his name to a group of mere social revolutionaries." (Paul Foster, University of Edinburgh)
"His aim in the present book is to examine the relation between metaphysical theories and their political contexts, with a broad remit in the interpretation of the terms 'metaphysical' and 'political'. [...] The writing is characteristically lucid, the scholarship impeccable, the argument brisk but incisive". (Mark Edwards, Oxford)
Allen Brent was formerly Professor in History at James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, and is now a member of the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge.
(T & T Clark, September 2009) contains a chapter on "The Political Theology of the Augustan Revolution: Cosmic Reconstruction":
www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=130547
Publisher's description: "Allen Brent examines early Christianity and its triumph in Roman Empire. Starting with the description of the apocalyptic movement of the earliest form of Roman [Markan] Christianity, Brent moves on to illustrate various aspects that have made Christianity so powerful. Explaining numerous ideas involved in the rising of the Christianity, such as metaphysical reality, church organisation, nascent Trinitarianism, Allen Brent also emphasizes the impact of emperor Constantine's position in the new Christian cosmic and political order: a Trinity of distinct coequal and co-eternal persons was to trump the claims of an imperial monarchy reflecting a cosmic one. Brent discusses the Christian history in the general context of political movements that seek initially to achieve a 'root and branch' transformation of present society."
Reviews: "Allen Brent's Political History of Early Christianity is breath-taking and ground-breaking. He argues that the Jesus Movement, from its earliest days until it blossomed into the officially sanctioned Christianity of the Roman Empire under Constantine at the start of the fourth century, was inextricably linked to and in tension with the political concerns of wider culture. However, Brent demonstrates that this does not reduce Jesus and the movement that evolved in his name to a group of mere social revolutionaries." (Paul Foster, University of Edinburgh)
"His aim in the present book is to examine the relation between metaphysical theories and their political contexts, with a broad remit in the interpretation of the terms 'metaphysical' and 'political'. [...] The writing is characteristically lucid, the scholarship impeccable, the argument brisk but incisive". (Mark Edwards, Oxford)
Allen Brent was formerly Professor in History at James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, and is now a member of the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge.
08 January 2010
CFP: Political theology at AAR 2010
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 30 October-1 November 2010
Calls for panels and papers on political theology
Hent de Vries (Johns Hopkins University) and Corey D.B. Walker (Brown University) will continue their multi-year "Theology and the Political Consultation":
Whither political theology? Why the recent proliferation of scholarship on political theology? How useful is the concept for understanding historic and contemporary flows in politics, religion, society, and thought? Is the very ubiquity of the concept suggestive of a general malaise in critical thinking in our contemporary moment? Whither political theology for all that we know now? We invite paper proposals that critically examine the theoretical and political opportunities and challenges of the use and deployment of ideas and formulations of political theology across disciplinary boundaries. We are particularly interested in proposals that provide new and innovative possibilities for critical engagements with this concept in light of contemporary configurations of political and economic power.
They accept proposals submitted online or by e-mail (no attachment; include the Participant Form for E-mail Submission): hentdevries@jhu.edu, cdbwalker@brown.edu
Johnny B. Hill (Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) organizes the "Theology of Martin Luther King Jr. Consultation":
This Consultation invites papers and panel proposals related to the life and thought of Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights movement, and contemporary social justice movements. We are especially interested in proposals exploring critical reflection on King and political theology, theological understandings of prophetic Christianity, as well as broader religious perspectives on justice and social transformation.
Online proposal submission only.
Contact: jhill@lpts.edu
Reid Locklin (University of Toronto) and Kurt Anders Richardson (McMaster University) are the chairs of the "Comparative Theology Group":
This Group invites comparative, constructive proposals in the following areas: 1) Revelation and natural theology (possibly cosponsored with the Christian Systematic Theology Section); 2) Political theologies; 3) Mystical marriage or union (possibly cosponsored with the Mysticism Group); 4) Frank Clooney on comparative theology; 5) Critical inquiry/critical immunity – the place of critical reasoning in contemporary theologies; 6) Apologetics, polemics, and debate; 7) Theologies mediated through arts; 8) Election/vocation; and 9) Unacknowledged pioneers of comparative theology. We strongly encourage panel proposals and welcome a wide variety of methodological approaches. Proposals on other topics will also be taken into consideration.
Online proposal submission only.
Contacts: reid.locklin@utoronto.ca, kar@mcmaster.ca
There will also be a "Liberation Theologies Consultation", chaired by Thia Cooper (Gustavus Adolphus College):
This Consultation asks, "What does liberation theology mean in and for the twenty-first century?" We encourage cross-over dialogue – between contexts and between disciplines – and reflection on the implications of liberationist discourse for the transformation of theology as a whole – methodologically and theologically. In this vein, we will invite a panel of practitioners and activists, directly and through this call, to engage their particular contexts (economics, politics, sex, gender, ethnicity, race, environment, etc.) with the two themes in this forum. We would like to include a broad spectrum of panelists, representing the medical field, law, journalism, civil society organizations, etc.
Online proposal submission only.
Contact: tcooper@gac.edu
There is a number of other calls that may be of interest, namely from the "Study of Islam Section" (political Islam), the "Theology and Religious Reflection Section" (relationship between aesthetics and the political, between beauty and liberation; intersections of theological and religious reflection with philosophical and political issues), the "Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection Group" (Buddhist political philosophies), the "Kierkegaard, Religion, and Culture Group" (social and political implications of Kierkegaard's concept of the "single individual"; can a politics that speaks to contemporary concerns be derived from Kierkegaard's critique of his time), and the "Christian Zionism in Comparative Perspective Seminar" (faith-based Christian political support for the State of Israel).
You have 1,000 words to make the case for your paper proposal. In addition, you will need a 150-word abstract. Prearranged paper sessions/panels require a separate 1,000 word proposal for each paper in the session. Individual paper abstracts will be listed in the online Program Book.
Submit your proposal via the method requested by the program unit.
Deadline: 1 March 2010
If you have any questions about your proposal, contact the chair of the program unit or the person noted in the call for papers.
Carefully note any audiovisual needs before you submit your proposal. A limited number of meeting rooms are supplied with LCD projectors for connecting to a personal laptop. AAR encourages participants to bring or share a personal or departmental laptop to run any PowerPoint, CD, or DVD presentation. Analog equipment such as overhead projectors, slide projectors, etc. are available to rent at the participant's cost. All AV requests must be received at the time of the proposal. Late requests cannot be accommodated.
Online submission and further information here:
www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/Call_for_Papers/
Notification of your proposal's acceptance status will be sent by 1 April 2010.
Membership is not required to submit a proposal. However, all participants accepted to the program must be current (2010) AAR members and registered for the Annual Meeting by 15 June 2010. Membership waivers are available to participants working outside the field of the study of religion or participants from developing nations. Contact the program unit chair for more details on how to arrange a waiver.
Participants may appear no more than two times in any capacity (e.g. paper presenter, panelist, presider, or respondent). The only exception is business meeting presiders. A person can have only one role in a session. You cannot preside and present a paper in the same session. The only exception is business meeting presiders. People can submit no more than two proposals in response to the call for papers. This includes submitting the same proposal to two separate units or two different proposals to two different units.
Calls for panels and papers on political theology
Hent de Vries (Johns Hopkins University) and Corey D.B. Walker (Brown University) will continue their multi-year "Theology and the Political Consultation":
Whither political theology? Why the recent proliferation of scholarship on political theology? How useful is the concept for understanding historic and contemporary flows in politics, religion, society, and thought? Is the very ubiquity of the concept suggestive of a general malaise in critical thinking in our contemporary moment? Whither political theology for all that we know now? We invite paper proposals that critically examine the theoretical and political opportunities and challenges of the use and deployment of ideas and formulations of political theology across disciplinary boundaries. We are particularly interested in proposals that provide new and innovative possibilities for critical engagements with this concept in light of contemporary configurations of political and economic power.
They accept proposals submitted online or by e-mail (no attachment; include the Participant Form for E-mail Submission): hentdevries@jhu.edu, cdbwalker@brown.edu
Johnny B. Hill (Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) organizes the "Theology of Martin Luther King Jr. Consultation":
This Consultation invites papers and panel proposals related to the life and thought of Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights movement, and contemporary social justice movements. We are especially interested in proposals exploring critical reflection on King and political theology, theological understandings of prophetic Christianity, as well as broader religious perspectives on justice and social transformation.
Online proposal submission only.
Contact: jhill@lpts.edu
Reid Locklin (University of Toronto) and Kurt Anders Richardson (McMaster University) are the chairs of the "Comparative Theology Group":
This Group invites comparative, constructive proposals in the following areas: 1) Revelation and natural theology (possibly cosponsored with the Christian Systematic Theology Section); 2) Political theologies; 3) Mystical marriage or union (possibly cosponsored with the Mysticism Group); 4) Frank Clooney on comparative theology; 5) Critical inquiry/critical immunity – the place of critical reasoning in contemporary theologies; 6) Apologetics, polemics, and debate; 7) Theologies mediated through arts; 8) Election/vocation; and 9) Unacknowledged pioneers of comparative theology. We strongly encourage panel proposals and welcome a wide variety of methodological approaches. Proposals on other topics will also be taken into consideration.
Online proposal submission only.
Contacts: reid.locklin@utoronto.ca, kar@mcmaster.ca
There will also be a "Liberation Theologies Consultation", chaired by Thia Cooper (Gustavus Adolphus College):
This Consultation asks, "What does liberation theology mean in and for the twenty-first century?" We encourage cross-over dialogue – between contexts and between disciplines – and reflection on the implications of liberationist discourse for the transformation of theology as a whole – methodologically and theologically. In this vein, we will invite a panel of practitioners and activists, directly and through this call, to engage their particular contexts (economics, politics, sex, gender, ethnicity, race, environment, etc.) with the two themes in this forum. We would like to include a broad spectrum of panelists, representing the medical field, law, journalism, civil society organizations, etc.
Online proposal submission only.
Contact: tcooper@gac.edu
There is a number of other calls that may be of interest, namely from the "Study of Islam Section" (political Islam), the "Theology and Religious Reflection Section" (relationship between aesthetics and the political, between beauty and liberation; intersections of theological and religious reflection with philosophical and political issues), the "Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection Group" (Buddhist political philosophies), the "Kierkegaard, Religion, and Culture Group" (social and political implications of Kierkegaard's concept of the "single individual"; can a politics that speaks to contemporary concerns be derived from Kierkegaard's critique of his time), and the "Christian Zionism in Comparative Perspective Seminar" (faith-based Christian political support for the State of Israel).
You have 1,000 words to make the case for your paper proposal. In addition, you will need a 150-word abstract. Prearranged paper sessions/panels require a separate 1,000 word proposal for each paper in the session. Individual paper abstracts will be listed in the online Program Book.
Submit your proposal via the method requested by the program unit.
Deadline: 1 March 2010
If you have any questions about your proposal, contact the chair of the program unit or the person noted in the call for papers.
Carefully note any audiovisual needs before you submit your proposal. A limited number of meeting rooms are supplied with LCD projectors for connecting to a personal laptop. AAR encourages participants to bring or share a personal or departmental laptop to run any PowerPoint, CD, or DVD presentation. Analog equipment such as overhead projectors, slide projectors, etc. are available to rent at the participant's cost. All AV requests must be received at the time of the proposal. Late requests cannot be accommodated.
Online submission and further information here:
www.aarweb.org/Meetings/Annual_Meeting/Current_Meeting/Call_for_Papers/
Notification of your proposal's acceptance status will be sent by 1 April 2010.
Membership is not required to submit a proposal. However, all participants accepted to the program must be current (2010) AAR members and registered for the Annual Meeting by 15 June 2010. Membership waivers are available to participants working outside the field of the study of religion or participants from developing nations. Contact the program unit chair for more details on how to arrange a waiver.
Participants may appear no more than two times in any capacity (e.g. paper presenter, panelist, presider, or respondent). The only exception is business meeting presiders. A person can have only one role in a session. You cannot preside and present a paper in the same session. The only exception is business meeting presiders. People can submit no more than two proposals in response to the call for papers. This includes submitting the same proposal to two separate units or two different proposals to two different units.
CFP: "Italian Critical Theory" and political theology
The journal "Annali d'Italianistica" – based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – seeks essays for a special issue on "Italian Critical Theory" (including political theology) to be published in fall 2011.
www.ibiblio.org/annali/upcoming.html
Twenty-one years ago, the publication of Giovanna Borradori's anthology Recoding Metaphysics (1988) and of Gianni Vattimo's The End of Modernity (1988) signaled that the post-war generation of Italian philosophers was ready to join the theoretical debate that was going on in the English-speaking world.
The translation of other works by Vattimo generated an interest that went way beyond the boundaries of Italian Studies. A few years later, the English publication of Giorgio Agamben's The Coming Community (1993), immediately followed by other volumes, made the Italian philosopher a household name in comparative literature departments and continental philosophy programs. The philosophical geography of the North-American universities was indeed opening up to new territories.
The appearance of Carlo Sini's Images of Truth (1993), Massimo Cacciari's Necessary Angel (1994), Mario Perniola's Enigmas (1995), Adriana Cavarero's In Spite of Plato (1995), Antonio Negri's Marx Beyond Marx (1996) – not to mention the books of the same authors that came after, culminating in the best-selling status of Antonio Negri's and Michael Hardt's Empire, 2001 – made clear that contemporary Italian philosophy was now a strong presence in the post-modern theoretical landscape of the American and British universities. Recently, Brian Schroeder's and Silvia Benso's anthology Contemporary Italian Philosophy (2007) has charted an exceptionally varied land, whose richness is second to none in terms of theoretical ambition and hermeneutical subtlety.
Seeking to situate itself within this theoretical context, the 2011 "Annali d'Italianistica" volume intends to address the relevance of Italian critical theory today. It will be divided in two parts. The first section will include invited papers only. Some of the most prominent Italian philosophers have been invited to contribute and they have all accepted the invitation. The second section will be open to the contributions of scholars who wish to engage in this theoretical debate and will answer this call for papers.
As a mere suggestion, submissions may be organized around keywords such as aesthetics, bioethics, biopolitics, cognitive approaches, deconstructionism, difference and identity, existentialism and phenomenology, feminism, geopolitics, genealogy, gender, GLBTQ studies, elites and multitudes, Europe and Empire, grammatology, hermeneutics, humanism and anti-humanism, Idealism and its legacy, metaphysics and its destiny, Marxism and post-Marxism, modernity and post-modernity, North/South dichotomy, otherness and sameness, philosophy and religion, political theology, traveling theories, semiotics, style and the philosophical discourse.
In additional to the theorists who have already been mentioned, "Annali d'Italianistica" will welcome papers on other relevant figures of the Italian thought in the last sixty years.
As "Annali d'Italianistica" intends to make Italian critical theory available to the English speaking world, all contributions will be in English. All contributions will be refereed. Essays, not to exceed twenty-five double-spaced pages, should conform to the MLA style, as set forth under "Norms for Contributors" on the "Annali d'Italianistica" website.
Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2010
Prospective contributors should address all inquiries to Alessandro Carrera (Department of Modern and Classical Languages, University of Houston): acarrera@uh.edu
www.ibiblio.org/annali/upcoming.html
Twenty-one years ago, the publication of Giovanna Borradori's anthology Recoding Metaphysics (1988) and of Gianni Vattimo's The End of Modernity (1988) signaled that the post-war generation of Italian philosophers was ready to join the theoretical debate that was going on in the English-speaking world.
The translation of other works by Vattimo generated an interest that went way beyond the boundaries of Italian Studies. A few years later, the English publication of Giorgio Agamben's The Coming Community (1993), immediately followed by other volumes, made the Italian philosopher a household name in comparative literature departments and continental philosophy programs. The philosophical geography of the North-American universities was indeed opening up to new territories.
The appearance of Carlo Sini's Images of Truth (1993), Massimo Cacciari's Necessary Angel (1994), Mario Perniola's Enigmas (1995), Adriana Cavarero's In Spite of Plato (1995), Antonio Negri's Marx Beyond Marx (1996) – not to mention the books of the same authors that came after, culminating in the best-selling status of Antonio Negri's and Michael Hardt's Empire, 2001 – made clear that contemporary Italian philosophy was now a strong presence in the post-modern theoretical landscape of the American and British universities. Recently, Brian Schroeder's and Silvia Benso's anthology Contemporary Italian Philosophy (2007) has charted an exceptionally varied land, whose richness is second to none in terms of theoretical ambition and hermeneutical subtlety.
Seeking to situate itself within this theoretical context, the 2011 "Annali d'Italianistica" volume intends to address the relevance of Italian critical theory today. It will be divided in two parts. The first section will include invited papers only. Some of the most prominent Italian philosophers have been invited to contribute and they have all accepted the invitation. The second section will be open to the contributions of scholars who wish to engage in this theoretical debate and will answer this call for papers.
As a mere suggestion, submissions may be organized around keywords such as aesthetics, bioethics, biopolitics, cognitive approaches, deconstructionism, difference and identity, existentialism and phenomenology, feminism, geopolitics, genealogy, gender, GLBTQ studies, elites and multitudes, Europe and Empire, grammatology, hermeneutics, humanism and anti-humanism, Idealism and its legacy, metaphysics and its destiny, Marxism and post-Marxism, modernity and post-modernity, North/South dichotomy, otherness and sameness, philosophy and religion, political theology, traveling theories, semiotics, style and the philosophical discourse.
In additional to the theorists who have already been mentioned, "Annali d'Italianistica" will welcome papers on other relevant figures of the Italian thought in the last sixty years.
As "Annali d'Italianistica" intends to make Italian critical theory available to the English speaking world, all contributions will be in English. All contributions will be refereed. Essays, not to exceed twenty-five double-spaced pages, should conform to the MLA style, as set forth under "Norms for Contributors" on the "Annali d'Italianistica" website.
Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2010
Prospective contributors should address all inquiries to Alessandro Carrera (Department of Modern and Classical Languages, University of Houston): acarrera@uh.edu
07 January 2010
JOB: Visiting professorship on political theologies at Stanford
Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor at Stanford University 2010-2011
Call for applications
Focus area: "Political Theologies: History, Religion and Law in Modern Germany"
www.stanford.edu/dept/german/cgi-bin/?q=node/259
The Gerda Henkel Visiting Professorship at Stanford's Department of German Studies is open to faculty members at German universities with distinguished scholarly accomplishments in a historical humanities field other than literature, e.g. History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Art, or Music History.
Applicants for the 2010-2011 academic year should demonstrate a specific interest in the broad area "Political Theologies: History, Religion and Law in Modern Germany". Specializations may include topics such as the Kulturkampf, Weber's sociology of religion, the problem of the Weimar Center, or broader questions of charisma in politics.
The Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor will normally be on research leave from his or her home university and will be appointed at Stanford for one academic quarter (three months) to be scheduled at mutual convenience. A stipend is available to help defray costs of the visit.
The Visiting Professor will be expected to offer two courses, at least one of which will be designed for graduate students, while the other will be defined in terms of departmental needs. Each visitor will be fully integrated into the academic and intellectual life of the department, including participation in colloquia. In addition, the Visiting Professor will deliver one formal lecture, advertised to the university community and open to the public.
The academic quarters for 2010-2011 are autumn: 20 September-10 December; winter: 3 January-10 March; and spring: 20 March-8 June.
Applications should include a statement of interest, a full CV and bibliography, a selection of proposed courses, and the preferred term for residence. Please direct inquiries and applications to Ms Midori Inahara: minahara@stanford.edu
Deadline: 30 March 2010
Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty. It welcomes nominations of and applicants from women and members of minority groups, as well as others who would bring additional dimensions to the university's research and teaching missions.
Call for applications
Focus area: "Political Theologies: History, Religion and Law in Modern Germany"
www.stanford.edu/dept/german/cgi-bin/?q=node/259
The Gerda Henkel Visiting Professorship at Stanford's Department of German Studies is open to faculty members at German universities with distinguished scholarly accomplishments in a historical humanities field other than literature, e.g. History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Art, or Music History.
Applicants for the 2010-2011 academic year should demonstrate a specific interest in the broad area "Political Theologies: History, Religion and Law in Modern Germany". Specializations may include topics such as the Kulturkampf, Weber's sociology of religion, the problem of the Weimar Center, or broader questions of charisma in politics.
The Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor will normally be on research leave from his or her home university and will be appointed at Stanford for one academic quarter (three months) to be scheduled at mutual convenience. A stipend is available to help defray costs of the visit.
The Visiting Professor will be expected to offer two courses, at least one of which will be designed for graduate students, while the other will be defined in terms of departmental needs. Each visitor will be fully integrated into the academic and intellectual life of the department, including participation in colloquia. In addition, the Visiting Professor will deliver one formal lecture, advertised to the university community and open to the public.
The academic quarters for 2010-2011 are autumn: 20 September-10 December; winter: 3 January-10 March; and spring: 20 March-8 June.
Applications should include a statement of interest, a full CV and bibliography, a selection of proposed courses, and the preferred term for residence. Please direct inquiries and applications to Ms Midori Inahara: minahara@stanford.edu
Deadline: 30 March 2010
Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty. It welcomes nominations of and applicants from women and members of minority groups, as well as others who would bring additional dimensions to the university's research and teaching missions.
CFP: Deconstructing the Gods: Towards a Post-Religious Criticism
Third Annual Brooklyn College Graduate English Conference, at Brooklyn College (a part of CUNY), New York, USA, 10 April 2010
Call for papers: "Deconstructing the Gods: Towards a Post-Religious Criticism"
Papers on liberation theologies are explicitly invited, but I am sure they also mean political theologies.
"If one were asked to provide a single explanation for the growth of English studies in the later nineteenth century, one could do worse than reply, 'the failure of religion.'" (Terry Eagleton)
"Literature would begin wherever one no longer knows who writes and who signs the narrative of the call – and of the 'Here I Am' – between the absolute Father and Son." (Jacques Derrida)
The concept of "God", in our increasingly pluralist postmodern environment, is protean and subject to vastly divergent individual definitions. Yet gods are often regarded as the most objective and stable nuclei of religious communities. Whereas gods may be imagined as idealized selves, and may epitomize correct morality for a believer, they may simultaneously be said to function as political and rhetorical devices – dangerously slippery proxies of both transcendent subjectivity and faith-based violence.
One of the more liberating tasks of literary criticism, especially since the latter half of the 20th century, has been its attempt to uncover traces of dominant structures that lie dormant in literary texts. Marxist criticism has brought an examination of economic structures in a text. Feminist criticism has brought a critique of patriarchal forces. Postcolonial thought has unfolded the effects of colonialism and imperialism. Where, one might ask, is the criticism of religious power, and how might it be foregrounded?
Unlike other modes of thought, religious discourse is uniquely protected by a veneer of the sacred, which allows it to be self-censoring or, as Derrida said, auto-immunizing. Literary criticism operates as a sort of secular exegesis; it is perhaps for this reason, and because of the pseudo-religious assumptions of criticism, that religion is often elided from critical inquiry. What might a post-religious criticism reveal about the religious forces at work within texts and canons? Within criticism itself?
From the feudal warrior culture of Beowulf to the heretical Catholicisms of Ulysses, religious forces are active, whether as narrative fulcra or dynamic backdrops. Literary works such as The Song of Roland depict warring factions of religionists, each with a god-concept at the helm of their ideological battleship. Dissecting these gods with the tools of cultural criticism has the potential to bring new insight, and to uncover power structures previously unnoticed.
How might we discover, for instance, textual evidence for ways in which religions have been used as a means of solidifying tribal identity, and for ways in which religions have been the ideological forces behind genocide? This conference seeks to explore the significance of the "post-religious" in all of its senses, both as an object of literary representation and as a condition of literary study.
Sample topics might include, but are by no means limited to: The Divine Author(ity); Homoeroticism in Early Modern Devotional Literature; Eden, Exile, and the Fortunate Fall; Divine Revelation and the Muse; Via Negativa: What God Isn't; God, Ego, and the God-Self; The Sacred and the Taboo: Religion as a Self-Censoring Discourse; Atheist Literature of the 19th century; Ghosts: Spiritualism in the 19th Century; The Poetics of Transcendent Experience; The Apostate in Islamic Literature; Confessional Literature and the Catholic Confessional; Holy Texts and the Language of Violence; Alterity: Demonization of the "Other" Religion; Liberation Theologies; Blasphemous Humor as Social Satire; Madness and Heresy; The Christian Rhetoric of Imperialism.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words are to be sent in the body of an e-mail to: bcgradconference@gmail.com
Deadline: 31 January 2010
Call for papers: "Deconstructing the Gods: Towards a Post-Religious Criticism"
Papers on liberation theologies are explicitly invited, but I am sure they also mean political theologies.
"If one were asked to provide a single explanation for the growth of English studies in the later nineteenth century, one could do worse than reply, 'the failure of religion.'" (Terry Eagleton)
"Literature would begin wherever one no longer knows who writes and who signs the narrative of the call – and of the 'Here I Am' – between the absolute Father and Son." (Jacques Derrida)
The concept of "God", in our increasingly pluralist postmodern environment, is protean and subject to vastly divergent individual definitions. Yet gods are often regarded as the most objective and stable nuclei of religious communities. Whereas gods may be imagined as idealized selves, and may epitomize correct morality for a believer, they may simultaneously be said to function as political and rhetorical devices – dangerously slippery proxies of both transcendent subjectivity and faith-based violence.
One of the more liberating tasks of literary criticism, especially since the latter half of the 20th century, has been its attempt to uncover traces of dominant structures that lie dormant in literary texts. Marxist criticism has brought an examination of economic structures in a text. Feminist criticism has brought a critique of patriarchal forces. Postcolonial thought has unfolded the effects of colonialism and imperialism. Where, one might ask, is the criticism of religious power, and how might it be foregrounded?
Unlike other modes of thought, religious discourse is uniquely protected by a veneer of the sacred, which allows it to be self-censoring or, as Derrida said, auto-immunizing. Literary criticism operates as a sort of secular exegesis; it is perhaps for this reason, and because of the pseudo-religious assumptions of criticism, that religion is often elided from critical inquiry. What might a post-religious criticism reveal about the religious forces at work within texts and canons? Within criticism itself?
From the feudal warrior culture of Beowulf to the heretical Catholicisms of Ulysses, religious forces are active, whether as narrative fulcra or dynamic backdrops. Literary works such as The Song of Roland depict warring factions of religionists, each with a god-concept at the helm of their ideological battleship. Dissecting these gods with the tools of cultural criticism has the potential to bring new insight, and to uncover power structures previously unnoticed.
How might we discover, for instance, textual evidence for ways in which religions have been used as a means of solidifying tribal identity, and for ways in which religions have been the ideological forces behind genocide? This conference seeks to explore the significance of the "post-religious" in all of its senses, both as an object of literary representation and as a condition of literary study.
Sample topics might include, but are by no means limited to: The Divine Author(ity); Homoeroticism in Early Modern Devotional Literature; Eden, Exile, and the Fortunate Fall; Divine Revelation and the Muse; Via Negativa: What God Isn't; God, Ego, and the God-Self; The Sacred and the Taboo: Religion as a Self-Censoring Discourse; Atheist Literature of the 19th century; Ghosts: Spiritualism in the 19th Century; The Poetics of Transcendent Experience; The Apostate in Islamic Literature; Confessional Literature and the Catholic Confessional; Holy Texts and the Language of Violence; Alterity: Demonization of the "Other" Religion; Liberation Theologies; Blasphemous Humor as Social Satire; Madness and Heresy; The Christian Rhetoric of Imperialism.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words are to be sent in the body of an e-mail to: bcgradconference@gmail.com
Deadline: 31 January 2010
Book: Cool Passion: The Political Theology of Conviction
Thomas Blom Hansen is the author of "Cool Passion: The Political Theology of Conviction" (Amsterdam University Press, May 2009), a booklet of 32 pages apparently based on an inaugural lecture he gave on 25 May 2007 at the conclusion of a three-day conference under the same title, taking place at the University of Amsterdam.
www.aup.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_book&isbn=9789056295509
Publisher's description: "The category of belief has been severely criticised in the last decades but ideas of having principles based on interior reflections and conscience are as strong as ever across the world. This indicates that the modern idea of conviction – religious or secular – should be understood as a way of relating to the world that has a genealogy of its won [sic] that is not identical to religious belief.
"Modern convictions are based on two forms of ethics: firstly an individualized ethics of sincerity that emerged from the 17th century onwards as an ideal of honest and consistent public conduct. Secondly, an ethics of consequence that emerges with radical, Jacobin and collective politics and a new belief in radical socio-political utopias in the 19th century. In the 20th century, these ethical formations have spread across the world and form today the basis of a global grammar of interiority that lies at the heart of near-universal figures such as the 'activist' and the committed selfless social worker."
Thomas Blom Hansen is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam.
www.aup.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_book&isbn=9789056295509
Publisher's description: "The category of belief has been severely criticised in the last decades but ideas of having principles based on interior reflections and conscience are as strong as ever across the world. This indicates that the modern idea of conviction – religious or secular – should be understood as a way of relating to the world that has a genealogy of its won [sic] that is not identical to religious belief.
"Modern convictions are based on two forms of ethics: firstly an individualized ethics of sincerity that emerged from the 17th century onwards as an ideal of honest and consistent public conduct. Secondly, an ethics of consequence that emerges with radical, Jacobin and collective politics and a new belief in radical socio-political utopias in the 19th century. In the 20th century, these ethical formations have spread across the world and form today the basis of a global grammar of interiority that lies at the heart of near-universal figures such as the 'activist' and the committed selfless social worker."
Thomas Blom Hansen is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam.
Book: Disciplining the Divine: Toward an (Im)political Theology
"Disciplining the Divine: Toward an (Im)political Theology" is the first and last book by the Lancaster University theologian Paul Fletcher who passed away suddenly in July 2008. The book was published posthumously by Ashgate in August 2009:
www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=3058&title_id=9873&edition_id=11856
Publisher's description: "Disciplining the Divine offers the first comprehensive treatment of the Social Model of the Trinity, exploring its central place within much theological discourse of the past half century, including its relation to wider cultural and political concerns. The book highlights the manner in which theologians have attempted to make the doctrine of God relevant to modern issues and outlooks and it charts the conditions that have necessitated such a reconfiguration of theological analysis. While interrogatory in tone and intent, Disciplining the Divine nevertheless provides a critical reconstruction of a Christian theology and practice which might be undertaken within the political and cultural contexts of the new millennium."
Review: "In this insightful book, Paul Fletcher provides a critical overview of the status of political theology today, as well as a thorough refutation of the social model of the Trinity. Written with the clarity that derives from long experience of teaching on this subject, Fletcher provides a most engaging suggestion for the future of political theology." (Philip Goodchild, University of Nottingham)
www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=3058&title_id=9873&edition_id=11856
Publisher's description: "Disciplining the Divine offers the first comprehensive treatment of the Social Model of the Trinity, exploring its central place within much theological discourse of the past half century, including its relation to wider cultural and political concerns. The book highlights the manner in which theologians have attempted to make the doctrine of God relevant to modern issues and outlooks and it charts the conditions that have necessitated such a reconfiguration of theological analysis. While interrogatory in tone and intent, Disciplining the Divine nevertheless provides a critical reconstruction of a Christian theology and practice which might be undertaken within the political and cultural contexts of the new millennium."
Review: "In this insightful book, Paul Fletcher provides a critical overview of the status of political theology today, as well as a thorough refutation of the social model of the Trinity. Written with the clarity that derives from long experience of teaching on this subject, Fletcher provides a most engaging suggestion for the future of political theology." (Philip Goodchild, University of Nottingham)
06 January 2010
Book: Political Theology for Theological Politics
In May 2009, G. Emem Umoren published "Political Theology for Theological Politics: A Reflective Inquiry into the Relevance of the 'Isaianic Option' for Contemporary Politics" with AuthorHouse:
www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=57476
Endorsements: "This book, furnishing a rich, exciting and informative excursus into the religio-political history of Israel in the Isaianic prophetic era, has proven to be ever more relevant today." (Emmanuel S. Udoh, priest)
"I have found this book compelling, interesting and relevant to contemporary society, especially in Africa and [t]he Third World [c]ountries. I therefore, very strongly[,] recommend it to pastors, politicians, theologians, public office holders, the general public and[,] particularly, to all lecturers and students of science and the humanities." (Augustine Odey Onah, Head, Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Uyo, Nigeria)
G. Emem Umoren is a priest in the Catholic diocese of Ikot Ekpene in Nigeria. He holds a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome (Angelicum).
www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=57476
Endorsements: "This book, furnishing a rich, exciting and informative excursus into the religio-political history of Israel in the Isaianic prophetic era, has proven to be ever more relevant today." (Emmanuel S. Udoh, priest)
"I have found this book compelling, interesting and relevant to contemporary society, especially in Africa and [t]he Third World [c]ountries. I therefore, very strongly[,] recommend it to pastors, politicians, theologians, public office holders, the general public and[,] particularly, to all lecturers and students of science and the humanities." (Augustine Odey Onah, Head, Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Uyo, Nigeria)
G. Emem Umoren is a priest in the Catholic diocese of Ikot Ekpene in Nigeria. He holds a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome (Angelicum).
05 January 2010
Journal articles on political theology 2009
Some articles on political theology published in 2009 in academic journals of all conceivable disciplines:
David Theo Goldberg (University of California, Irvine), "A Political Theology of Race: Articulating Racial Southafricanization", Cultural Studies, 23 (4), July 2009: pp. 513-37.
Abstract: "Over the past three decades Stuart Hall has provided many of the key terms for (re)thinking the social, the cultural, and the political. Largely absent from his work has been consideration of religion and, given more recent theoretical developments, of the theologico-political. I pose a series of questions to Stuart Hall by considering an analysis of race as political theology, exemplified by a focus on the history of South African apartheid and its afterlife."
Mika Luoma-aho (University of Lapland), "Political Theology, Anthropomorphism, and Person-hood of the State: The Religion of IR", International Political Sociology, 3 (3), September 2009: pp. 293-309.
Abstract: "In this article I identify international relations as a form of religion. My identification takes two epistemological paths. The first one has been cleared by political theologians such as Carl Schmitt, who teach that 'secular' political ideas not only have a divine origin, but also structural identity with Christian theology. I will clear the second path with help from a cognitive theory of religion that identifies anthropomorphism as a defining criterion of religion. International relations is a religion, because it is a system of thought that takes the metaphorical image of the personified, embodied state more seriously than other, more idiosyncratic forms of anthropomorphism. What we have in academic IR is, thus, a theology that works to generalize and systematize this religious image into a disciplinary form."
Dimitris Vardoulakis (University of Western Sydney), "Stasis: Beyond Political Theology?", Cultural Critique, 73, fall 2009, pp. 125-47.
From the preview: "Political theology refers to the impossibility of both to completely separate and to completely conflate politics and religion. [...] It remains a point of contention, however, what the repercussions of the trespassing of theological concepts into the political are. [...] Despite the differences between these thinkers, there is one abiding characteristic. There is a constitutive disjunction between politics and the political, between law and justice. As a result, political theology forecloses meaning in politics – that is, no political party or representative can be thought to represent the political ideal. More emphatically, there is no end of history. I will explore here whether it is possible to understand the foreclosure of meaning not as the conclusion, but rather as the condition of the possibility of the political. Can the meaningless or the irrational function as the basis of the intertwining and imbrication of the secular and the sacred?"
Nur Masalha (St Mary's University College), "Reading the Bible with the Eyes of the Canaanites: Neo-Zionism, Political Theology and the Land Traditions of the Bible (1967 to Gaza 2009)", Holy Land Studies, 8 (1), May 2009: pp. 55-108.
Abstract: "In modern times, a whole range of colonial enterprises have used the Bible. The book of Joshua and other biblical texts evoking the exploits of ancient Israelites have been deployed in support of secular Zionism and settler colonisation in Palestine. The mega narratives of the Bible, however, appeared to mandate the ethnic cleansing and even genocide of the indigenous population of Canaan. This article argues that, with the rise of messianic Zionism since 1967, a Jewish theology of zealotocracy, based on the land traditions of the Bible, has emerged in Israel – a political theology that demanded the destruction of the so-called modern Canaanites; since 1967 fundamentalist rabbis have routinely compared the Palestinian people to the ancient Canaanites, Philistines and Amalekites, whose annihilation or expulsion by the ancient Israelites was predestined by a divine design. This article focuses on the politics of reading the Bible by neo-Zionists and examines the theology of the messianic current which embraces the paradigm of Jews as a divinely 'chosen people' and sees the indigenous Palestinians as no more than illegitimate squatters, and a threat to the process of messianic redemption; their human and civil rights are no match for the biblically ordained holy war of conquering and settling the 'Promised Land'."
Rutger Henneman (researcher and activist) and Alastair McIntosh (University of Strathclyde), "The Political Theology of Modern Scottish Land Reform", Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 3 (3), 2009: pp. 340-75.
Abstract: "This paper gathers evidence that modern Scottish land reform was influenced by applied liberation theology from both grassroot community activists and institutional churches. Scotland's land tenure was feudal to the late twentieth century. Plutocratic ownership impacted the economics and psychology of community wellbeing. The 1990s produced a land reform movement culminating in the new Scottish Parliament's Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. These created a conditional 'community right to buy' and affirmed freedom of 'right to roam'. Two percent of Scottish land is now in community ownership. Our research interviewed fifteen movers and shakers – both national theologians and local activists from the vanguard land trusts of Eigg, Assynt and Gigha. We conclude that spirituality and religion can be subtle drivers of community empowerment. By inspiring, informing and legitimising socio-political transformation, a 'Remnant' theology factored into Scottish legislation of international significance."
Erin Runions (Pomona College), "Detranscendentalizing Decisionism: Political Theology after Gayatri Spivak", Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 25 (2), fall 2009, pp. 67-85.
Abstract: "This essay uses the thought of Gayatri Spivak to reread one religious trope – the antichrist – commonly used in conservative political discourse to motivate a masculinist theopolitical decisionism. Runions draws a connection between Spivak's insistence on detranscendentalizing radical alterity – which is a deconstructive literary approach to religious narratives – and Spivak's larger concern with ethics. The project of detranscendentalizing is an important first step toward the impossible ethical encounter with the other; it thus charts a course for critiquing theopolitics and imagining new modes of political engagement, in ways that resist the usual conservative accusations of neutrality. To illustrate, the essay draws to the fore the ancient Near Eastern mythological filiations between Christ and antichrist; it reads the antichrist as a detranscendentalized figure that ironically disrupts the masculinist authority of decisions made in the name of Christ and makes room for the singular encounter with the political other."
Anthony O'Mahony (Heythrop College), "The Vatican and Europe: Political Theology and Ecclesiology in Papal Statements from Pius XII to Benedict XVI", International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 9 (3), August 2009, pp. 177-94.
Abstract: "The article examines the origins and evolution of the Vatican's political theology and ecclesiology for Europe from Pius XII (especially after the Second World War) and including the pontificates of John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It seeks to examine the continuities of the 'Idea of Europe' in papal thought against a background of changing political context – the end of the Second World War, the Cold War, the fall of the communist state system, the emergence of a united but diverse Europe after 1989. The political structures of the continent now include within its geographic sweep Western and Eastern Christian churches which, divided by tradition and modern history, find their relationship a key marker in the contemporary religious identity of Europe. This reality is a significant framework for Vatican thinking on Europe especially for John Paul II and Benedict XVI."
Victoria Kahn (University of California at Berkeley), "Political Theology and Fiction in The King's Two Bodies", Representations, 106, spring 2009: pp. 77-101.
Abstract: "This essay argues that Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies is intended as a contribution to twentieth-century debates about political theology and that modern students of political theology can learn from Kantorowicz's association of political theology with legal fiction."
Jennifer R. Rust (Saint Louis University), "Political Theology and Shakespeare Studies", Literature Compass, 6 (1), January 2009: pp. 175-90.
Abstract: "The current focus on political theology in Shakespeare studies is largely devoted to tracing how Shakespeare's dramas illuminate the structural link between religious and political forms in both early modernity and modern liberal democracy. Critics concerned with addressing Shakespeare's engagement with political theology are also interested in how Shakespeare's portrayal of sovereign bodies in crisis constitute an early representation of 'biopolitics'. These critics draw on theorists ranging from Carl Schmitt to Giorgio Agamben to inform their analyses of the way Shakespeare dramatizes sovereignty in a 'state of emergency' in his histories and tragedies. Plays such as Richard II, Coriolanus, and Hamlet have drawn particular attention insofar as they vividly interrogate the nature of the sovereign exception and decision highlighted by theorists of political theology. While this line of criticism adds a new theoretical dimension to Shakespeare studies, it also offers the potential for remapping our understanding of the religious and political history of early modern England in its attention to the deforming pressure of religious schism on traditional structures of sovereignty."
Aaron Riches (University of Nottingham), "Political Theology and Pauline Law: Notes Toward a Sapiential Legality", Telos, 146, spring 2009, pp. 140-57.
Excerpt: "In 1979, on the thirty-ninth anniversary of the closing of the Franco-Spanish border at Port Bou and one day before the anniversary of the suicide of Walter Benjamin, Jacob Taubes and Carl Schmitt opened the Bible in the Sauerland. The two men sat down in Plettenburg to read St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, chapters 9-11. As if in memory of Benjamin, they spoke 'under a priestly seal': Schmitt, the most important state law theorist of the twentieth century, a Roman Catholic and sometime member of the Nazi Party; Taubes, a Jewish philosopher of a Messianic and oddly left-wing disposition ..."
Mike Grimshaw (University of Canterbury), "Responding not Believing: Political Theology and Post-Secular Society", Political Theology, 10 (3), fall 2009: pp. 537-57.
Abstract: "In the past decade social theorists and Continental philosophers have returned again to an engagement with Christianity and the legacy of Christian belief. This is framed in the context of a Europe seen in transition to a post-secular identity and, often implicitly, against what is seen as an encroaching Islamic presence within Europe. This move has often brought together Marxist, post-Marxist, and Catholic-legacy philosophers, together with philosophical Protestants in an attempt to recover what I term a political theology of response. Response, in opposition to belief, signals an alternative post-secular turn of attempted inclusion out of a perceived shared cultural legacy. This essay asks if, in such a cultural philosophical turn, the alternative post-secular turn of a political theology of response signals that belief remains within the private sphere as we seek to engage in a public conversation of non-believing 'response'?"
The same journal, "Political Theology", carried, on occasion of the 500th birthday of John Calvin, in issue 3 of its 10th volume (fall 2009) a symposium on "John Calvin and Political Theology":
www.politicaltheology.com/ojs/index.php/PT/issue/view/690
Articles include: "Editorial: Remembering Geneva's Calvin" by Marilynne Robinson (University of Iowa); "John Calvin and the Jews: A Problem in Political Theology" by David C. Steinmetz (Duke Divinity School); "Calvin and Natural Rights" by David Little (Harvard Divinity School); "Calvin's Legacy for Public Theology" by Richard J. Mouw (Fuller Theological Seminary); and "What Reformed Theology in a Calvinist Key Brings to Conversations about Justice" by Douglas F. Ottati (Davidson College).
Aristide Tessitore (Furman University), "Political Theology and the Theological-Political Problem", Perspectives on Political Science, 38 (1), winter 2009: pp. 5-12.
Abstract: "This essay offers a critical appreciation of Mark Lilla's Stillborn God. To his credit, Lilla understands the primacy and enduring appeal of political theology, as well as the danger of intellectual complacency about the underlying principles of modern politics. Lilla maintains that modern politics is a relatively recent and radically novel experiment that aims at nothing less than displacing a primordial and perennial way of constituting politics with reference to the divine. My essay compares Lilla's analysis of the fundamental antagonism between political theology and modern liberal politics to Strauss's analysis of the theological-political problem. In doing so, I bring to light both the strengths and limits of Lilla's attempt to clarify the relationship between politics, biblical religion, and philosophic rationalism."
Sandrine Baume (University of Lausanne), "On Political Theology: A Controversy Between Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt", History of European Ideas, 35 (3), September 2009: pp. 369-81.
Abstract: "This article pays special attention to the large number of references to political theology by Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt, particularly in the interwar period, and seeks to interpret these references in a new way. While Schmitt's analogies between God and state are to be expected considering his strong Catholic roots, such comparisons are much more surprising for a positivist like Hans Kelsen, who always tried to relieve state and law from transcendental elements. The article concludes that, far from being marginal in the doctrinal dispute between Schmitt and Kelsen, references to political theology express and summarize their major controversy about the relation between state and law, as well as about the sources of the state's unity. The heart of the disputatio between the two jurists concerned the ability of the political power to emancipate itself from the juridical order. The 'legal miracle' – in this context meaning the occasional autonomization of the state from law – was for Schmitt the manifestation of sovereign power. However, for Kelsen it represented the negation of the state's essence, whose actions must be determined only by the legal order."
Anna Schmidt (University of Munich), "The Problem of Carl Schmitt's Political Theology", Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, 36 (3), summer 2009: pp. 219-52.
No abstract available.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos (University of Coimbra, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Warwick), "If God Were a Human Rights Activist: Human Rights and the Challenge of Political Theologies", Law, Social Justice and Global Development Journal (LGD), 13, 2009 (1), March, refereed electronic journal, full text available online:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/lgd/2009_1/santos
Abstract: "Citing the inability of conventional human rights thinking to address the 'strong' questions raised by our times, this article pursues a twofold objective: to identify the major challenges that the rise of political theologies at the beginning of the twentieth-first [sic] century posed to human rights; and second, to select within a broad landscape of theological analysis the types of reflections and practices that might contribute to expand and deepen the canon of human rights politics. In order to achieve this double goal the article uses complexity as its main analytical guideline making distinctions from which significant consequences were drawn: on one side, distinctions among different types of political theologies (pluralist versus revelationist, traditionalist versus progressive); and, on the other, between two contrasting discourses and practices of human rights politics (hegemonic versus counter-hegemonic). Depending on the circumstances, even conventional or hegemonic human rights struggles may be a progressive tool against social practices and norms derived from traditionalist and revelationist theologies. Pluralist and progressive theologies, in turn, may be a source of radical energy toward more ambitious, counter-hegemonic human rights struggles."
Please let me know if I missed any important articles.
David Theo Goldberg (University of California, Irvine), "A Political Theology of Race: Articulating Racial Southafricanization", Cultural Studies, 23 (4), July 2009: pp. 513-37.
Abstract: "Over the past three decades Stuart Hall has provided many of the key terms for (re)thinking the social, the cultural, and the political. Largely absent from his work has been consideration of religion and, given more recent theoretical developments, of the theologico-political. I pose a series of questions to Stuart Hall by considering an analysis of race as political theology, exemplified by a focus on the history of South African apartheid and its afterlife."
Mika Luoma-aho (University of Lapland), "Political Theology, Anthropomorphism, and Person-hood of the State: The Religion of IR", International Political Sociology, 3 (3), September 2009: pp. 293-309.
Abstract: "In this article I identify international relations as a form of religion. My identification takes two epistemological paths. The first one has been cleared by political theologians such as Carl Schmitt, who teach that 'secular' political ideas not only have a divine origin, but also structural identity with Christian theology. I will clear the second path with help from a cognitive theory of religion that identifies anthropomorphism as a defining criterion of religion. International relations is a religion, because it is a system of thought that takes the metaphorical image of the personified, embodied state more seriously than other, more idiosyncratic forms of anthropomorphism. What we have in academic IR is, thus, a theology that works to generalize and systematize this religious image into a disciplinary form."
Dimitris Vardoulakis (University of Western Sydney), "Stasis: Beyond Political Theology?", Cultural Critique, 73, fall 2009, pp. 125-47.
From the preview: "Political theology refers to the impossibility of both to completely separate and to completely conflate politics and religion. [...] It remains a point of contention, however, what the repercussions of the trespassing of theological concepts into the political are. [...] Despite the differences between these thinkers, there is one abiding characteristic. There is a constitutive disjunction between politics and the political, between law and justice. As a result, political theology forecloses meaning in politics – that is, no political party or representative can be thought to represent the political ideal. More emphatically, there is no end of history. I will explore here whether it is possible to understand the foreclosure of meaning not as the conclusion, but rather as the condition of the possibility of the political. Can the meaningless or the irrational function as the basis of the intertwining and imbrication of the secular and the sacred?"
Nur Masalha (St Mary's University College), "Reading the Bible with the Eyes of the Canaanites: Neo-Zionism, Political Theology and the Land Traditions of the Bible (1967 to Gaza 2009)", Holy Land Studies, 8 (1), May 2009: pp. 55-108.
Abstract: "In modern times, a whole range of colonial enterprises have used the Bible. The book of Joshua and other biblical texts evoking the exploits of ancient Israelites have been deployed in support of secular Zionism and settler colonisation in Palestine. The mega narratives of the Bible, however, appeared to mandate the ethnic cleansing and even genocide of the indigenous population of Canaan. This article argues that, with the rise of messianic Zionism since 1967, a Jewish theology of zealotocracy, based on the land traditions of the Bible, has emerged in Israel – a political theology that demanded the destruction of the so-called modern Canaanites; since 1967 fundamentalist rabbis have routinely compared the Palestinian people to the ancient Canaanites, Philistines and Amalekites, whose annihilation or expulsion by the ancient Israelites was predestined by a divine design. This article focuses on the politics of reading the Bible by neo-Zionists and examines the theology of the messianic current which embraces the paradigm of Jews as a divinely 'chosen people' and sees the indigenous Palestinians as no more than illegitimate squatters, and a threat to the process of messianic redemption; their human and civil rights are no match for the biblically ordained holy war of conquering and settling the 'Promised Land'."
Rutger Henneman (researcher and activist) and Alastair McIntosh (University of Strathclyde), "The Political Theology of Modern Scottish Land Reform", Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 3 (3), 2009: pp. 340-75.
Abstract: "This paper gathers evidence that modern Scottish land reform was influenced by applied liberation theology from both grassroot community activists and institutional churches. Scotland's land tenure was feudal to the late twentieth century. Plutocratic ownership impacted the economics and psychology of community wellbeing. The 1990s produced a land reform movement culminating in the new Scottish Parliament's Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. These created a conditional 'community right to buy' and affirmed freedom of 'right to roam'. Two percent of Scottish land is now in community ownership. Our research interviewed fifteen movers and shakers – both national theologians and local activists from the vanguard land trusts of Eigg, Assynt and Gigha. We conclude that spirituality and religion can be subtle drivers of community empowerment. By inspiring, informing and legitimising socio-political transformation, a 'Remnant' theology factored into Scottish legislation of international significance."
Erin Runions (Pomona College), "Detranscendentalizing Decisionism: Political Theology after Gayatri Spivak", Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 25 (2), fall 2009, pp. 67-85.
Abstract: "This essay uses the thought of Gayatri Spivak to reread one religious trope – the antichrist – commonly used in conservative political discourse to motivate a masculinist theopolitical decisionism. Runions draws a connection between Spivak's insistence on detranscendentalizing radical alterity – which is a deconstructive literary approach to religious narratives – and Spivak's larger concern with ethics. The project of detranscendentalizing is an important first step toward the impossible ethical encounter with the other; it thus charts a course for critiquing theopolitics and imagining new modes of political engagement, in ways that resist the usual conservative accusations of neutrality. To illustrate, the essay draws to the fore the ancient Near Eastern mythological filiations between Christ and antichrist; it reads the antichrist as a detranscendentalized figure that ironically disrupts the masculinist authority of decisions made in the name of Christ and makes room for the singular encounter with the political other."
Anthony O'Mahony (Heythrop College), "The Vatican and Europe: Political Theology and Ecclesiology in Papal Statements from Pius XII to Benedict XVI", International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 9 (3), August 2009, pp. 177-94.
Abstract: "The article examines the origins and evolution of the Vatican's political theology and ecclesiology for Europe from Pius XII (especially after the Second World War) and including the pontificates of John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It seeks to examine the continuities of the 'Idea of Europe' in papal thought against a background of changing political context – the end of the Second World War, the Cold War, the fall of the communist state system, the emergence of a united but diverse Europe after 1989. The political structures of the continent now include within its geographic sweep Western and Eastern Christian churches which, divided by tradition and modern history, find their relationship a key marker in the contemporary religious identity of Europe. This reality is a significant framework for Vatican thinking on Europe especially for John Paul II and Benedict XVI."
Victoria Kahn (University of California at Berkeley), "Political Theology and Fiction in The King's Two Bodies", Representations, 106, spring 2009: pp. 77-101.
Abstract: "This essay argues that Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies is intended as a contribution to twentieth-century debates about political theology and that modern students of political theology can learn from Kantorowicz's association of political theology with legal fiction."
Jennifer R. Rust (Saint Louis University), "Political Theology and Shakespeare Studies", Literature Compass, 6 (1), January 2009: pp. 175-90.
Abstract: "The current focus on political theology in Shakespeare studies is largely devoted to tracing how Shakespeare's dramas illuminate the structural link between religious and political forms in both early modernity and modern liberal democracy. Critics concerned with addressing Shakespeare's engagement with political theology are also interested in how Shakespeare's portrayal of sovereign bodies in crisis constitute an early representation of 'biopolitics'. These critics draw on theorists ranging from Carl Schmitt to Giorgio Agamben to inform their analyses of the way Shakespeare dramatizes sovereignty in a 'state of emergency' in his histories and tragedies. Plays such as Richard II, Coriolanus, and Hamlet have drawn particular attention insofar as they vividly interrogate the nature of the sovereign exception and decision highlighted by theorists of political theology. While this line of criticism adds a new theoretical dimension to Shakespeare studies, it also offers the potential for remapping our understanding of the religious and political history of early modern England in its attention to the deforming pressure of religious schism on traditional structures of sovereignty."
Aaron Riches (University of Nottingham), "Political Theology and Pauline Law: Notes Toward a Sapiential Legality", Telos, 146, spring 2009, pp. 140-57.
Excerpt: "In 1979, on the thirty-ninth anniversary of the closing of the Franco-Spanish border at Port Bou and one day before the anniversary of the suicide of Walter Benjamin, Jacob Taubes and Carl Schmitt opened the Bible in the Sauerland. The two men sat down in Plettenburg to read St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, chapters 9-11. As if in memory of Benjamin, they spoke 'under a priestly seal': Schmitt, the most important state law theorist of the twentieth century, a Roman Catholic and sometime member of the Nazi Party; Taubes, a Jewish philosopher of a Messianic and oddly left-wing disposition ..."
Mike Grimshaw (University of Canterbury), "Responding not Believing: Political Theology and Post-Secular Society", Political Theology, 10 (3), fall 2009: pp. 537-57.
Abstract: "In the past decade social theorists and Continental philosophers have returned again to an engagement with Christianity and the legacy of Christian belief. This is framed in the context of a Europe seen in transition to a post-secular identity and, often implicitly, against what is seen as an encroaching Islamic presence within Europe. This move has often brought together Marxist, post-Marxist, and Catholic-legacy philosophers, together with philosophical Protestants in an attempt to recover what I term a political theology of response. Response, in opposition to belief, signals an alternative post-secular turn of attempted inclusion out of a perceived shared cultural legacy. This essay asks if, in such a cultural philosophical turn, the alternative post-secular turn of a political theology of response signals that belief remains within the private sphere as we seek to engage in a public conversation of non-believing 'response'?"
The same journal, "Political Theology", carried, on occasion of the 500th birthday of John Calvin, in issue 3 of its 10th volume (fall 2009) a symposium on "John Calvin and Political Theology":
www.politicaltheology.com/ojs/index.php/PT/issue/view/690
Articles include: "Editorial: Remembering Geneva's Calvin" by Marilynne Robinson (University of Iowa); "John Calvin and the Jews: A Problem in Political Theology" by David C. Steinmetz (Duke Divinity School); "Calvin and Natural Rights" by David Little (Harvard Divinity School); "Calvin's Legacy for Public Theology" by Richard J. Mouw (Fuller Theological Seminary); and "What Reformed Theology in a Calvinist Key Brings to Conversations about Justice" by Douglas F. Ottati (Davidson College).
Aristide Tessitore (Furman University), "Political Theology and the Theological-Political Problem", Perspectives on Political Science, 38 (1), winter 2009: pp. 5-12.
Abstract: "This essay offers a critical appreciation of Mark Lilla's Stillborn God. To his credit, Lilla understands the primacy and enduring appeal of political theology, as well as the danger of intellectual complacency about the underlying principles of modern politics. Lilla maintains that modern politics is a relatively recent and radically novel experiment that aims at nothing less than displacing a primordial and perennial way of constituting politics with reference to the divine. My essay compares Lilla's analysis of the fundamental antagonism between political theology and modern liberal politics to Strauss's analysis of the theological-political problem. In doing so, I bring to light both the strengths and limits of Lilla's attempt to clarify the relationship between politics, biblical religion, and philosophic rationalism."
Sandrine Baume (University of Lausanne), "On Political Theology: A Controversy Between Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt", History of European Ideas, 35 (3), September 2009: pp. 369-81.
Abstract: "This article pays special attention to the large number of references to political theology by Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt, particularly in the interwar period, and seeks to interpret these references in a new way. While Schmitt's analogies between God and state are to be expected considering his strong Catholic roots, such comparisons are much more surprising for a positivist like Hans Kelsen, who always tried to relieve state and law from transcendental elements. The article concludes that, far from being marginal in the doctrinal dispute between Schmitt and Kelsen, references to political theology express and summarize their major controversy about the relation between state and law, as well as about the sources of the state's unity. The heart of the disputatio between the two jurists concerned the ability of the political power to emancipate itself from the juridical order. The 'legal miracle' – in this context meaning the occasional autonomization of the state from law – was for Schmitt the manifestation of sovereign power. However, for Kelsen it represented the negation of the state's essence, whose actions must be determined only by the legal order."
Anna Schmidt (University of Munich), "The Problem of Carl Schmitt's Political Theology", Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, 36 (3), summer 2009: pp. 219-52.
No abstract available.
Boaventura de Sousa Santos (University of Coimbra, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Warwick), "If God Were a Human Rights Activist: Human Rights and the Challenge of Political Theologies", Law, Social Justice and Global Development Journal (LGD), 13, 2009 (1), March, refereed electronic journal, full text available online:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/lgd/2009_1/santos
Abstract: "Citing the inability of conventional human rights thinking to address the 'strong' questions raised by our times, this article pursues a twofold objective: to identify the major challenges that the rise of political theologies at the beginning of the twentieth-first [sic] century posed to human rights; and second, to select within a broad landscape of theological analysis the types of reflections and practices that might contribute to expand and deepen the canon of human rights politics. In order to achieve this double goal the article uses complexity as its main analytical guideline making distinctions from which significant consequences were drawn: on one side, distinctions among different types of political theologies (pluralist versus revelationist, traditionalist versus progressive); and, on the other, between two contrasting discourses and practices of human rights politics (hegemonic versus counter-hegemonic). Depending on the circumstances, even conventional or hegemonic human rights struggles may be a progressive tool against social practices and norms derived from traditionalist and revelationist theologies. Pluralist and progressive theologies, in turn, may be a source of radical energy toward more ambitious, counter-hegemonic human rights struggles."
Please let me know if I missed any important articles.
Book: Credit, crisis, and redemption (in German)
Samuel Weber (Northwestern University) has had a small booklet published in Germany titled "Geld ist Zeit: Gedanken zu Kredit und Krise" (Diaphanes Verlag, September 2009):
www.diaphanes.de/scripts/buch.php?ID=180
According to the publisher's website, this is a translation from English, but the original text seems not yet to have been published. Weber appears to have spoken on the topic in English ("Money is Time: Is the 'Credit Crisis' A Crisis of 'Redemption'?") at the University of Stockholm (December 2008), the University of Nottingham (October 2009), and the Catholic University of Portugal (November 2009), though.
From the publisher's description (my rough translation): Along with the financial crisis and the crisis of the banking industry, "[w]e are currently experiencing a veritable crisis of faith, which shakes the value system of the western world in its foundations. Samuel Weber's essay is guided by the question what logic is at the basis of an economy that has reached such extensive, quasi-theological dimensions".
Benjamin Franklin said "time is money", but also "credit is money". "The logic of capitalism is built [...] on credit: the belief of investors and consumers in the amortization of debt through return on investment ('Rendite'). 'Return on investment' is 'the capitalist kind of profit as redemption: repayment, amortization and salvation ('Rückzahlung, Tilgung und Erlösung').
"Weber's lucid, fierce analysis of the 'crisis' reveals that in a society in which the credere has taken the place of the Lutheran sola fide, capitalism has become the religion of a cult that is (with Walter Benjamin) 'not atoning, but indebting'." (my italics)
A (largely unfavourable) review in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung indicates that Weber bases his essay as much on Carl Schmitt's political theology – an analogy between religious and secular terminology – as on Benjamin.
www.diaphanes.de/scripts/buch.php?ID=180
According to the publisher's website, this is a translation from English, but the original text seems not yet to have been published. Weber appears to have spoken on the topic in English ("Money is Time: Is the 'Credit Crisis' A Crisis of 'Redemption'?") at the University of Stockholm (December 2008), the University of Nottingham (October 2009), and the Catholic University of Portugal (November 2009), though.
From the publisher's description (my rough translation): Along with the financial crisis and the crisis of the banking industry, "[w]e are currently experiencing a veritable crisis of faith, which shakes the value system of the western world in its foundations. Samuel Weber's essay is guided by the question what logic is at the basis of an economy that has reached such extensive, quasi-theological dimensions".
Benjamin Franklin said "time is money", but also "credit is money". "The logic of capitalism is built [...] on credit: the belief of investors and consumers in the amortization of debt through return on investment ('Rendite'). 'Return on investment' is 'the capitalist kind of profit as redemption: repayment, amortization and salvation ('Rückzahlung, Tilgung und Erlösung').
"Weber's lucid, fierce analysis of the 'crisis' reveals that in a society in which the credere has taken the place of the Lutheran sola fide, capitalism has become the religion of a cult that is (with Walter Benjamin) 'not atoning, but indebting'." (my italics)
A (largely unfavourable) review in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung indicates that Weber bases his essay as much on Carl Schmitt's political theology – an analogy between religious and secular terminology – as on Benjamin.
31 December 2009
Books: "The Radical Orthodoxy Reader", and essays in political theology
The year 2009 has seen a number of books by John Milbank published. "The Radical Orthodoxy Reader" (Routledge), co-edited with Simon Oliver, includes a chapter, written by Milbank himself, titled "Political Theology and the New Science of Politics":
www.routledge.com/books/The-Radical-Orthodoxy-Reader-isbn9780415425131
From the publisher's description: "The Radical Orthodoxy Reader presents a selection of key readings in the field of [Anglican] Radical Orthodoxy, the most influential theological movement in contemporary academic theology. Radical Orthodoxy draws on pre-Enlightenment theology and philosophy to engage critically with the assumption and priorities of secularism, modernity, postmodernity, and associated theologies."
Already in January 2009, Milbank's "The Future of Love: Essays in Political Theology" (Cascade Books) was published:
www.wipfandstock.com/store/The_Future_of_Love_Essays_in_Political_Theology
Described thus: "With a newly written preface relating his theology to the current global situation, The Future of Love contains revised versions of eighteen of John Milbank's essays on theology, politics, religion, and culture – ranging from the onset of neoliberalism to its current crisis, and from the British to the global context. [...] Taken together, the collection amounts to a 'political theology' arrived at from diverse angles."
Michael Northcott (University of Edinburgh) writes: "These essays, published over thirty years and gathered in this important new book, demonstrate the consistent acuity and imaginative power of John Milbank's politico-theological vision. Milbank bestrides the Anglosaxon theological world with a project that is uniquely embedded in the romantic, anglocatholic, and socialist critiques of modernity from Coleridge to Ruskin. In this book we see the gradual repristination of these critiques against atheism, humanism, and neoliberalism, and the unfolding of a political theology after the secular in the form of a biblical and realist metaphysic and the neoplatonist sublime. The Future of Love is a powerful rendering of a truer and more virtuous life world than that delivered by the last thirty years of godforsaken market capitalism."
www.routledge.com/books/The-Radical-Orthodoxy-Reader-isbn9780415425131
From the publisher's description: "The Radical Orthodoxy Reader presents a selection of key readings in the field of [Anglican] Radical Orthodoxy, the most influential theological movement in contemporary academic theology. Radical Orthodoxy draws on pre-Enlightenment theology and philosophy to engage critically with the assumption and priorities of secularism, modernity, postmodernity, and associated theologies."
Already in January 2009, Milbank's "The Future of Love: Essays in Political Theology" (Cascade Books) was published:
www.wipfandstock.com/store/The_Future_of_Love_Essays_in_Political_Theology
Described thus: "With a newly written preface relating his theology to the current global situation, The Future of Love contains revised versions of eighteen of John Milbank's essays on theology, politics, religion, and culture – ranging from the onset of neoliberalism to its current crisis, and from the British to the global context. [...] Taken together, the collection amounts to a 'political theology' arrived at from diverse angles."
Michael Northcott (University of Edinburgh) writes: "These essays, published over thirty years and gathered in this important new book, demonstrate the consistent acuity and imaginative power of John Milbank's politico-theological vision. Milbank bestrides the Anglosaxon theological world with a project that is uniquely embedded in the romantic, anglocatholic, and socialist critiques of modernity from Coleridge to Ruskin. In this book we see the gradual repristination of these critiques against atheism, humanism, and neoliberalism, and the unfolding of a political theology after the secular in the form of a biblical and realist metaphysic and the neoplatonist sublime. The Future of Love is a powerful rendering of a truer and more virtuous life world than that delivered by the last thirty years of godforsaken market capitalism."
30 December 2009
Book: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century
Tripp York wrote a book on religious anarchism: "Living on Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century" (Wipf and Stock, 2009).
http://wipfandstock.com/store/Living_on_Hope_While_Living_in_Babylon_The_Christian_Anarchists_of_the_20th_Century
Publisher's description: "Though Christendom has come to an end, it appears that old habits die hard. Jesus promised his followers neither safety nor affluence, but rather that those who come after him should expect persecution. Christian discipleship and tribal nationalism, however, despite the legal separation of church and state, continue to be co-opted into the nation-state project of prosperity and security. This co-option has made it difficult for the church to recognize her task to be a prophetic witness both for and against the state. That only a small pocket of Christians bear witness against such an accommodation of Christian practice is disconcerting; and yet, it breeds hope.
"In Living on Hope While Living in Babylon, Tripp York examines a few twentieth century Christians who lived such a witness, including the Berrigan brothers, Dorothy Day, and Eberhard Arnold. These witnesses can be viewed as anarchical in the sense that their loyalty to Christ undermines the pseudo-soteriological myth employed by the state. While these Christians have been labeled pilgrims, revolutionaries, nomads, subversives, agitators, and now, anarchists, they are more importantly seekers of the peace of the city whose chief desire is for those belonging to the temporal cities to be able to participate in the eternal city – the city of God. By examining their ideas and their actions, this book will attempt to understand how the politics of the church – an apocalyptic politic – is necessary for the church to understand her mission as bearer of the gospel."
Endorsed by D. Stephen Long (Marquette University) thus: "This work offers one of the most constructive political theologies I have read for some time. Refusing any merely reactive logic, York develops a theological an-archy that neither seeks relevance to nor reaction against a specific construal of state sovereignty. The 'arche' is the Risen Lamb who was slain, who calls into question the disorder created by materialism, racism, and militarism. [...] This is lively, enjoyable, and convicting reading."
http://wipfandstock.com/store/Living_on_Hope_While_Living_in_Babylon_The_Christian_Anarchists_of_the_20th_Century
Publisher's description: "Though Christendom has come to an end, it appears that old habits die hard. Jesus promised his followers neither safety nor affluence, but rather that those who come after him should expect persecution. Christian discipleship and tribal nationalism, however, despite the legal separation of church and state, continue to be co-opted into the nation-state project of prosperity and security. This co-option has made it difficult for the church to recognize her task to be a prophetic witness both for and against the state. That only a small pocket of Christians bear witness against such an accommodation of Christian practice is disconcerting; and yet, it breeds hope.
"In Living on Hope While Living in Babylon, Tripp York examines a few twentieth century Christians who lived such a witness, including the Berrigan brothers, Dorothy Day, and Eberhard Arnold. These witnesses can be viewed as anarchical in the sense that their loyalty to Christ undermines the pseudo-soteriological myth employed by the state. While these Christians have been labeled pilgrims, revolutionaries, nomads, subversives, agitators, and now, anarchists, they are more importantly seekers of the peace of the city whose chief desire is for those belonging to the temporal cities to be able to participate in the eternal city – the city of God. By examining their ideas and their actions, this book will attempt to understand how the politics of the church – an apocalyptic politic – is necessary for the church to understand her mission as bearer of the gospel."
Endorsed by D. Stephen Long (Marquette University) thus: "This work offers one of the most constructive political theologies I have read for some time. Refusing any merely reactive logic, York develops a theological an-archy that neither seeks relevance to nor reaction against a specific construal of state sovereignty. The 'arche' is the Risen Lamb who was slain, who calls into question the disorder created by materialism, racism, and militarism. [...] This is lively, enjoyable, and convicting reading."
29 December 2009
CONF: Early Modern/Postmodern: Inventing the Political Subject
8th Annual West Coast Conference on Law and Literature "Early Modern/Postmodern: Inventing the Political Subject", at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, University Park Campus, Musick Law Building, Faculty Lounge, Room 433,
13 January 2010, 2-6 pm
http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/event/871394
The West Coast Conference on Law and Literature explores how the early modern period invented the political subjecthood we inhabit to this day.
How do contemporary studies in political theory, ranging from Hannah Arendt to Carl Schmitt to Michel Foucault, transform our understanding of these debates, and how are the postmodern thinkers in turn inflected (or is it infected?) by those of the earlier period? Are we modern, pre-modern, postmodern, or somehow residing in all three moments at once?
The organizers' goal is not only to return to central questions of the relationship between the individual and the political and turn them a little onto their heads, but to draw anew the connections between law, literature, and the social.
Speakers for the conference include: Julia Reinhard Lupton (English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine), "Arendt in Italy: Or, The Taming of the Shrew"; Victoria Kahn (English and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley) who will also turn to Arendt, this time in the context of Spinoza, Old Testament law, political theology, and literature; Bernadette Meyler (Law, Cornell University), connecting law and literature, in her case drawing on Schmitt, Foucault, and Hobbes.
The conference will be followed by a reception.
Organizers: Center for Law, History and Culture, in collaboration with the Early Modern Studies Institute at USC.
RSVP: clhcserv@law.usc.edu
13 January 2010, 2-6 pm
http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/32/event/871394
The West Coast Conference on Law and Literature explores how the early modern period invented the political subjecthood we inhabit to this day.
How do contemporary studies in political theory, ranging from Hannah Arendt to Carl Schmitt to Michel Foucault, transform our understanding of these debates, and how are the postmodern thinkers in turn inflected (or is it infected?) by those of the earlier period? Are we modern, pre-modern, postmodern, or somehow residing in all three moments at once?
The organizers' goal is not only to return to central questions of the relationship between the individual and the political and turn them a little onto their heads, but to draw anew the connections between law, literature, and the social.
Speakers for the conference include: Julia Reinhard Lupton (English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine), "Arendt in Italy: Or, The Taming of the Shrew"; Victoria Kahn (English and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley) who will also turn to Arendt, this time in the context of Spinoza, Old Testament law, political theology, and literature; Bernadette Meyler (Law, Cornell University), connecting law and literature, in her case drawing on Schmitt, Foucault, and Hobbes.
The conference will be followed by a reception.
Organizers: Center for Law, History and Culture, in collaboration with the Early Modern Studies Institute at USC.
RSVP: clhcserv@law.usc.edu
28 December 2009
Book: Jacob Taubes' "Occidental Eschatology"
These days, Stanford University Press is publishing two new books with texts by Jacob Taubes (author of "The Political Theology of Paul"). First up is the English translation of Taubes' 1947 doctoral dissertation, "Occidental Eschatology" (Abendländische Eschatologie; translated from German with a preface by David Ratmoko):
www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=16921
Publisher's description: Taubes' "Occidental Eschatology", "the one book he published in his lifetime, seeks to renegotiate the historical synthesis and spiritual legacy of the West through the study of apocalypticism. Covering the origins of apocalypticism from Hebrew prophecy through antiquity and early Christianity to its medieval revival in Joachim of Fiore, Taubes reveals its later secularized forms in Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard. His aim is to show the lasting influence of revolutionary, messianic teleology on Western philosophy, history, and politics.
"Combining painstaking scholarship with an unmatched scope of reference, Taubes takes a comprehensive approach to the twin focuses of political theology and philosophy of history. He argues that acceptance of the idea that time will one day come to an end has profound implications for political thought. If natural time is experienced as an eternal cycle of events, 'history' is the realm of time in which human actions can make decisions to alter the progression of events. This philosophy asks that individuals take responsibility for their own actions and resist authority that claims to act on their behalf. Whereas universal history is written by the victors, the messianic or apocalyptic event enters history and gives a voice to the oppressed."
Stanford University Press is also releasing "From Cult to Culture: Fragments Toward a Critique of Historical Reason" (edited by Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert and Amir Engel, with a preface by Aleida and Jan Assmann): "The essays presented here represent the fruit of conversations, conferences, and workshops that [Taubes] organized over the course of his career."
www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=16921
Publisher's description: Taubes' "Occidental Eschatology", "the one book he published in his lifetime, seeks to renegotiate the historical synthesis and spiritual legacy of the West through the study of apocalypticism. Covering the origins of apocalypticism from Hebrew prophecy through antiquity and early Christianity to its medieval revival in Joachim of Fiore, Taubes reveals its later secularized forms in Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard. His aim is to show the lasting influence of revolutionary, messianic teleology on Western philosophy, history, and politics.
"Combining painstaking scholarship with an unmatched scope of reference, Taubes takes a comprehensive approach to the twin focuses of political theology and philosophy of history. He argues that acceptance of the idea that time will one day come to an end has profound implications for political thought. If natural time is experienced as an eternal cycle of events, 'history' is the realm of time in which human actions can make decisions to alter the progression of events. This philosophy asks that individuals take responsibility for their own actions and resist authority that claims to act on their behalf. Whereas universal history is written by the victors, the messianic or apocalyptic event enters history and gives a voice to the oppressed."
Stanford University Press is also releasing "From Cult to Culture: Fragments Toward a Critique of Historical Reason" (edited by Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert and Amir Engel, with a preface by Aleida and Jan Assmann): "The essays presented here represent the fruit of conversations, conferences, and workshops that [Taubes] organized over the course of his career."
27 December 2009
Book: Christianity and Contemporary Politics
The new book by Luke Bretherton (King's College London) is titled "Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness" (Wiley-Blackwell, January 2010):
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405199695.html
According to the publisher's description, this book "[e]xplores the relationship between Christianity and contemporary politics through case studies of faith-based organizations, Christian political activism and welfare provision in the West; these case studies assess initiatives including community organizing, fair trade, and the sanctuary movement; [o]ffers an insightful, informative account of how Christians can engage politically in a multi-faith, liberal democracy; [i]ntegrates debates in political theology with inter-disciplinary analysis of policy and practice regarding religious social, political and economic engagement in the USA, UK, and continental Europe; [r]eveals how Christians can help prevent the subversion of the church – and even of politics itself – by legal, bureaucratic, and market mechanisms, rather than advocating withdrawal or assimilation; [e]ngages with the intricacies of contemporary politics whilst integrating systematic and historical theological reflection on political and economic life".
Endorsed elsewhere thus: "Sophisticated, erudite, deeply insightful, and written with a passion born out of political engagement. Bretherton pushes the field of political theology into fresh pastures ... This book will serve many, not just political theorists and theologians." (Gaving D'Costa, University of Bristol)
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405199695.html
According to the publisher's description, this book "[e]xplores the relationship between Christianity and contemporary politics through case studies of faith-based organizations, Christian political activism and welfare provision in the West; these case studies assess initiatives including community organizing, fair trade, and the sanctuary movement; [o]ffers an insightful, informative account of how Christians can engage politically in a multi-faith, liberal democracy; [i]ntegrates debates in political theology with inter-disciplinary analysis of policy and practice regarding religious social, political and economic engagement in the USA, UK, and continental Europe; [r]eveals how Christians can help prevent the subversion of the church – and even of politics itself – by legal, bureaucratic, and market mechanisms, rather than advocating withdrawal or assimilation; [e]ngages with the intricacies of contemporary politics whilst integrating systematic and historical theological reflection on political and economic life".
Endorsed elsewhere thus: "Sophisticated, erudite, deeply insightful, and written with a passion born out of political engagement. Bretherton pushes the field of political theology into fresh pastures ... This book will serve many, not just political theorists and theologians." (Gaving D'Costa, University of Bristol)
26 December 2009
Book: The Politics of Discipleship: Becoming Postmaterial Citizens
Graham Ward (University of Manchester) recently had his new book published, "The Politics of Discipleship: Becoming Postmaterial Citizens" (Baker Academic, September 2009):
www.bakeracademic.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=C5E01AF419374641BEA3063DB0415D7D
Endorsements: "In this book, Graham Ward boldly offers a fresh description of the consumer economy and the processes of globalization, examining the illusions they generate, the states of amnesia they call us into, and the slavery they impose. In the process, he constructs a counter-narrative of a Christian discipleship in the service of postmaterial values that is founded on an eschatological humanism and ecclesiology. The result is a new political theology, powerfully presented, rooted in Scripture and tradition, and fully engaged in reading the postsecular signs of the times." (Peter Manley Scott, University of Manchester)
"For some time now, Graham Ward has blended orthodox theology, biblical study, and cultural theory with an independent originality. Now he has added politics to this mix. The result is simultaneously a greater edge to his own theology and an imbuing of contemporary political theology with more realistic depth and practical prescience than it usually exhibits. An extremely significant volume in the present time." (John Milbank, University of Nottingham)
"With erudition, insight, and sheer imaginative power, Graham Ward examines the complexities and tasks of Christian discipleship in a globalized world. There is no surer guide than Ward to the enticements and dangers of postmodern, postmaterial life – where values themselves have become virtual, adopted for a day – or to the hope of finding the true meaning of our still-present materiality in the practices of church and in the ecclesiality of the body of Christ. Yet Ward's encyclopedic grasp of political theory; his detailed, often dazzling readings of Scripture; and his profound inhabitation of theology are deployed with a humor and lightness of touch that renders this book both challenging and immensely readable. It is political theology but also a page-turner: impressive, provocative, and impossible to put down." (Gerard Loughlin, Durham University)
The author of the book is part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement.
www.bakeracademic.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=C5E01AF419374641BEA3063DB0415D7D
Endorsements: "In this book, Graham Ward boldly offers a fresh description of the consumer economy and the processes of globalization, examining the illusions they generate, the states of amnesia they call us into, and the slavery they impose. In the process, he constructs a counter-narrative of a Christian discipleship in the service of postmaterial values that is founded on an eschatological humanism and ecclesiology. The result is a new political theology, powerfully presented, rooted in Scripture and tradition, and fully engaged in reading the postsecular signs of the times." (Peter Manley Scott, University of Manchester)
"For some time now, Graham Ward has blended orthodox theology, biblical study, and cultural theory with an independent originality. Now he has added politics to this mix. The result is simultaneously a greater edge to his own theology and an imbuing of contemporary political theology with more realistic depth and practical prescience than it usually exhibits. An extremely significant volume in the present time." (John Milbank, University of Nottingham)
"With erudition, insight, and sheer imaginative power, Graham Ward examines the complexities and tasks of Christian discipleship in a globalized world. There is no surer guide than Ward to the enticements and dangers of postmodern, postmaterial life – where values themselves have become virtual, adopted for a day – or to the hope of finding the true meaning of our still-present materiality in the practices of church and in the ecclesiality of the body of Christ. Yet Ward's encyclopedic grasp of political theory; his detailed, often dazzling readings of Scripture; and his profound inhabitation of theology are deployed with a humor and lightness of touch that renders this book both challenging and immensely readable. It is political theology but also a page-turner: impressive, provocative, and impossible to put down." (Gerard Loughlin, Durham University)
The author of the book is part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement.
23 December 2009
Book: The Political Theology of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh
Paul Eidelberg (former Professor of Political Science, Bar-Ilan University) has written a book seeking to compare Jewish political theology and the political theology of the American Founding Fathers: "Toward a Renaissance of Israel and America: The Political Theology of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh" (Lightcatcher Books, November 2009).
www.lightcatcherbooks.com/products_books_Renaissance.shtml
From the publisher's description: "The American people know hardly anything about the political theology of their Declaration of Independence, and are therefore ignorant of the political philosophy that inspired the Framers of the American Constitution. Similarly, most people in Israel are ignorant of the liberality and magnanimity of the Torah's constitution of government. Both nations are in dire need of Rabbi Benamozegh's teachings. Benamozegh's erudition, his knowledge of the wisdom of 'Jerusalem and Athens,' the cities that fructified Western civilization, can help us overcome the enemy of civilization, totalitarian Islam."
US-born Israeli Paul Eidelberg received his doctoral degree at the University of Chicago, where he studied under Leo Strauss. He is the founder and president of the Jerusalem-based Foundation for Constitutional Democracy.
www.lightcatcherbooks.com/products_books_Renaissance.shtml
From the publisher's description: "The American people know hardly anything about the political theology of their Declaration of Independence, and are therefore ignorant of the political philosophy that inspired the Framers of the American Constitution. Similarly, most people in Israel are ignorant of the liberality and magnanimity of the Torah's constitution of government. Both nations are in dire need of Rabbi Benamozegh's teachings. Benamozegh's erudition, his knowledge of the wisdom of 'Jerusalem and Athens,' the cities that fructified Western civilization, can help us overcome the enemy of civilization, totalitarian Islam."
US-born Israeli Paul Eidelberg received his doctoral degree at the University of Chicago, where he studied under Leo Strauss. He is the founder and president of the Jerusalem-based Foundation for Constitutional Democracy.
21 December 2009
Phillip Blond's "ResPublica" think tank and Radical Orthodoxy
Check over at my personal blog for an assessment of the latest development in UK political theology: Phillip Blond, a former Senior Lecturer in theology and philosophy at the University of Cumbria, has been able to raise 1.5 million pounds to launch his own think tank, called "ResPublica":
www.erichkofmel.com/2009/12/phillip-blonds-respublica-think-tank.html
Blond has shot to the attention of the UK media only this year and has been hailed as Tory leader (and possible prime minister come May 2010) David Cameron's "philosopher king". ResPublica was launched on 26 November in the presence of Cameron, but the financial backers behind it remain anonymous. It stands to reason, though, that they are in support of the ideas associated with what Blond calls "Red Toryism".
Phillip Blond is a part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement. Radical Orthodoxy set out, hardly ten years ago, from Cambridge's Peterhouse College to renew the Church of England. Already the current Archbishop of Canterbury, and head of the Anglican community, Rowan Williams, is said to be an adherent of Radical Orthodoxy. And now the movement has gained influence over Tory policy and the likely next prime minister. Radical-orthodox political theology has a chance to become for the UK what black liberation theology arguably has become under Barack Obama in the US.
www.erichkofmel.com/2009/12/phillip-blonds-respublica-think-tank.html
Blond has shot to the attention of the UK media only this year and has been hailed as Tory leader (and possible prime minister come May 2010) David Cameron's "philosopher king". ResPublica was launched on 26 November in the presence of Cameron, but the financial backers behind it remain anonymous. It stands to reason, though, that they are in support of the ideas associated with what Blond calls "Red Toryism".
Phillip Blond is a part of the Anglican Radical Orthodoxy movement. Radical Orthodoxy set out, hardly ten years ago, from Cambridge's Peterhouse College to renew the Church of England. Already the current Archbishop of Canterbury, and head of the Anglican community, Rowan Williams, is said to be an adherent of Radical Orthodoxy. And now the movement has gained influence over Tory policy and the likely next prime minister. Radical-orthodox political theology has a chance to become for the UK what black liberation theology arguably has become under Barack Obama in the US.
18 December 2009
Benedict XVI and the political theology of John of Salisbury
When has the pope become a proponent of political theology?
He must be aware of the concept, after having served with Johann Baptist Metz on the theological faculty of the University of Münster in the 1960s. However, he always was more notorious for opposing political theologies, such as Latin American liberation theology.
That he does not commonly use the term "political theology" in his speeches and writings makes it only the more noteworthy that he did so this week, when referring to the medieval theologian John of Salisbury:
www.zenit.org/article-27863?l=english
Pope Benedict XVI particularly recommends John of Salisbury's book "Policraticus" (The Man of Government) – a "treatise on philosophy and political theology".
I double checked: the Italian original indeed also has "teologia politica".
He must be aware of the concept, after having served with Johann Baptist Metz on the theological faculty of the University of Münster in the 1960s. However, he always was more notorious for opposing political theologies, such as Latin American liberation theology.
That he does not commonly use the term "political theology" in his speeches and writings makes it only the more noteworthy that he did so this week, when referring to the medieval theologian John of Salisbury:
www.zenit.org/article-27863?l=english
Pope Benedict XVI particularly recommends John of Salisbury's book "Policraticus" (The Man of Government) – a "treatise on philosophy and political theology".
I double checked: the Italian original indeed also has "teologia politica".
Journal "Direction": Toward Anabaptist Political Theology
The Spring 2009 issue of the journal "Direction: A Mennonite Brethren Forum" was themed "Toward Anabaptist Political Theology".
Six months after publication of the printed journal, the full-text articles have now become available to read online free of charge:
www.directionjournal.org/toc/?38-1
Articles include "An Anabaptist-Mennonite Political Theology: Theological Presuppositions" (A. James Reimer, formerly Conrad Grebel University College); "Exousiology and Torah: A Suggestion for Mennonite Political Theology with Reference to the Reimer-Yoder Divide" (Jodie Boyer Hatlem, University of Toronto, and Douglas Johnson Hatlem, pastor); "Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop" (Travis P. [sic] Kroeker, McMaster University); "A Response to P. Travis Kroeker's 'Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop'" (John H. Redekop, Trinity Western University/Wilfrid Laurier University).
The journal's self-description: "Direction journal was begun in 1972 as a partnership among four Mennonite Brethren educational institutions in Canada and the US. Eventually two additional schools joined the group, and the US and Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conferences also provide support. [...] Neither a purely academic journal nor a denominational magazine, Direction highlights the interdependence of Christian reflection and mission."
Six months after publication of the printed journal, the full-text articles have now become available to read online free of charge:
www.directionjournal.org/toc/?38-1
Articles include "An Anabaptist-Mennonite Political Theology: Theological Presuppositions" (A. James Reimer, formerly Conrad Grebel University College); "Exousiology and Torah: A Suggestion for Mennonite Political Theology with Reference to the Reimer-Yoder Divide" (Jodie Boyer Hatlem, University of Toronto, and Douglas Johnson Hatlem, pastor); "Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop" (Travis P. [sic] Kroeker, McMaster University); "A Response to P. Travis Kroeker's 'Messianic Political Theology: Yoder contra Redekop'" (John H. Redekop, Trinity Western University/Wilfrid Laurier University).
The journal's self-description: "Direction journal was begun in 1972 as a partnership among four Mennonite Brethren educational institutions in Canada and the US. Eventually two additional schools joined the group, and the US and Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conferences also provide support. [...] Neither a purely academic journal nor a denominational magazine, Direction highlights the interdependence of Christian reflection and mission."
CFP: Sainthood in Fragile States
A seminar of the Danish Research School of Regional Studies and the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies of the University of Copenhagen, taking place at the Danish Institute in Damascus, Syria,
12-15 April 2010
http://regionalestudier.hum.ku.dk/konferencer/sainthood/
Call for papers: "Sainthood in Fragile States"
This seminar discusses the creation, adaptation, or denunciations of claims to sainthood in local, regional, and national discourses in the Middle East, including political theologies.
Within recent decades the question of sainthood, in various meanings of the term, has emerged as a powerful theme in negotiating identities. The legitimacy of sainthood is increasingly contested, yet often nation states make use of claims to holiness as consolidating figures, while simultaneously maintaining an ambivalent position toward the legitimacy of individual claims to sainthood. From Christians performing miracles, to Islamic denunciation of saint pilgrimages, to insistence on venerating local saints, to national discourse rooted in venerated figures, sainthood "matters" in that it is not clearly discernable to all parties what makes the specific saint exceptional or to what degree sainthood is embodied.
Recognition of sainthood relies on a complex negotiation of the relationship between the visible, the forces of the unseen, authority, and creation of alternative realities. The qualities of sainthood can thus best be conceptualized as both pertaining to existential and structural dimensions, as fragile states, where mixed motivations emphasize the possibilities and dangers in the life of the individual as well as the nation.
This seminar aims at discussing how such relationships and claims are accepted, contested, or existing in parallel, and thereby has a bearing on social and political life in the Middle East.
The organizers hereby aim to challenge the way both politics and theologies are being conceptualized for contemporary Middle East, in that modernity and religious awakening both make way for disenchantment and re-enchantment. These can be seen as coterminous or opening zones of indeterminacy in which many aspects take place at the same time, with varying social outcome.
Questions that could be addressed: What makes a saint, or what qualities of sainthood apply across social, political, and religious contexts? How is "sainthood" used in negotiating identities at various levels of society? How is evidence of efficacy negotiated? What evidence is applied to substantiate relationships between the seen and the unseen, or revelation and concealment? How is the relationship between politics and theology, the "political theologies", negotiated around figures of sainthood or sanctity?
Abstracts (approx. 300 words) are to be submitted to Andreas Bandak (University of Copenhagen): bandak@hum.ku.dk
Deadline: 12 January 2010
Participants will arrange for their own transportation. The seminar will pay for visa, accommodation, and food, from the evening of the 12th to the evening of the 15th.
Form: The seminar will bring together senior and upcoming Danish and international scholars for a joint investigation of issues of sainthood in contemporary Middle East. Perspectives from all disciplines are encouraged. Keynote speakers will give 45-minute presentations, and PhD students are invited to give 30-minute presentations. All papers are followed by joint discussion. The organizers' aim is to publish the proceedings from the seminar.
Keynotes: Lisa Wedeen (Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Chicago) and Glenn Bowman (Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of Kent)
Organizers: Andreas Bandak (PhD Fellow, Centre for Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen) and Mikkel Bille (Assistant Professor, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen)
See also suggested readings at the above web link.
12-15 April 2010
http://regionalestudier.hum.ku.dk/konferencer/sainthood/
Call for papers: "Sainthood in Fragile States"
This seminar discusses the creation, adaptation, or denunciations of claims to sainthood in local, regional, and national discourses in the Middle East, including political theologies.
Within recent decades the question of sainthood, in various meanings of the term, has emerged as a powerful theme in negotiating identities. The legitimacy of sainthood is increasingly contested, yet often nation states make use of claims to holiness as consolidating figures, while simultaneously maintaining an ambivalent position toward the legitimacy of individual claims to sainthood. From Christians performing miracles, to Islamic denunciation of saint pilgrimages, to insistence on venerating local saints, to national discourse rooted in venerated figures, sainthood "matters" in that it is not clearly discernable to all parties what makes the specific saint exceptional or to what degree sainthood is embodied.
Recognition of sainthood relies on a complex negotiation of the relationship between the visible, the forces of the unseen, authority, and creation of alternative realities. The qualities of sainthood can thus best be conceptualized as both pertaining to existential and structural dimensions, as fragile states, where mixed motivations emphasize the possibilities and dangers in the life of the individual as well as the nation.
This seminar aims at discussing how such relationships and claims are accepted, contested, or existing in parallel, and thereby has a bearing on social and political life in the Middle East.
The organizers hereby aim to challenge the way both politics and theologies are being conceptualized for contemporary Middle East, in that modernity and religious awakening both make way for disenchantment and re-enchantment. These can be seen as coterminous or opening zones of indeterminacy in which many aspects take place at the same time, with varying social outcome.
Questions that could be addressed: What makes a saint, or what qualities of sainthood apply across social, political, and religious contexts? How is "sainthood" used in negotiating identities at various levels of society? How is evidence of efficacy negotiated? What evidence is applied to substantiate relationships between the seen and the unseen, or revelation and concealment? How is the relationship between politics and theology, the "political theologies", negotiated around figures of sainthood or sanctity?
Abstracts (approx. 300 words) are to be submitted to Andreas Bandak (University of Copenhagen): bandak@hum.ku.dk
Deadline: 12 January 2010
Participants will arrange for their own transportation. The seminar will pay for visa, accommodation, and food, from the evening of the 12th to the evening of the 15th.
Form: The seminar will bring together senior and upcoming Danish and international scholars for a joint investigation of issues of sainthood in contemporary Middle East. Perspectives from all disciplines are encouraged. Keynote speakers will give 45-minute presentations, and PhD students are invited to give 30-minute presentations. All papers are followed by joint discussion. The organizers' aim is to publish the proceedings from the seminar.
Keynotes: Lisa Wedeen (Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Chicago) and Glenn Bowman (Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of Kent)
Organizers: Andreas Bandak (PhD Fellow, Centre for Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen) and Mikkel Bille (Assistant Professor, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen)
See also suggested readings at the above web link.
09 December 2009
Laestadian-ism: Political theology and civil religion in secularizing Finland
The Academy of Finland's Research Council for Culture and Society has decided to fund a research project on political Laestadianism, "Laestadian-ism: Political Theology and Civil Religion in Secularizing Finland", led by Mika Luoma-aho (Assistant Professor of International Relations, University of Lapland), to the tune of 375,000 Euro over the period 1 January 2010 through 31 December 2012.
Project description: "Laestadianism is the largest revivalist movement within the Finnish Lutheran Church. Our project aims to provide current, empirically oriented and theoretically innovative analysis of the political aspects of laestadianism. Laestadianism is a form of 'fundamentalism' that poses no challenge to other Christian denominations or religions, just as it does not in any way aim to subvert the establishment. Quite the contrary: Laestadians have long practiced their religion within the confines of the national Lutheran Church; they have traditionally taken an active role in civil society; and they continue to organize themselves politically through the Finnish parliamentary system. What we see in laestadianism is Finland's Christian Right: it embodies and represents much of what goes under Christian reaction in this country.
"Laestadianism is not a political movement in the conventional sense of the term: it does not have its own party or a political platform. Our project will make the political aspects of laestadianism discernible by approaching it from two conceptual angles. We will (I) politicize the history of Laestadian theology and (II) make explicit the politics of practicing the Laestadian religion today. This we will do (i) by approaching laestadianism as a tradition of political theology; and (ii) by framing laestadianism as a form of civil religion. Our hypothesis is that among the varieties and intensities of civil religion we may identify in Finnish politics today, laestadianism embodies its purest theological expression and most explicit political articulation.
"Laestadianism is important, because there are regions in this country, parties in its political system, where the role of the movement is noteworthy. It is also an interesting movement in itself, because while secular political life sees religion often in personal terms, there is a politically active and outspoken movement in this secular age that believes otherwise. The Laestadians believe that the state has a very specific theological meaning: it is government established by God and in its proper functioning his rule and reign are in stake [sic]. There is a sharp contrast between the world-views of laestadianism and that of the secular majority of 'Finns'.
"There is a desperate need for political research on the Laestadian movement. Our project will provide up-to-date information on its political history, religiously structured view of social life, and political significance in Finland today. This information is needed to overcome prejudice in society. Furthermore: we will use this information ourselves in contributing to current debates on the relationship between organized religion and the institution of the secular, national state."
The project already has a blog, "Laestadian-ism":
http://laestadian-ism.blogspot.com/
According to it, Laestadianism is "based on the heritage of a Sami botanist and preacher Lars Levi Laestadius" (1800-1861). "In our research we combine current theoretical literatures on political theology and civil religion with an empirically oriented approach to the movement in Finnish society. This weblog will be updated with current information on project events and public relations, commentary and analysis on issues touching the laestadian movement in Finland and elsewhere, as well as debates on political theology and civil religion in general".
Project contact: mika@luoma-aho.fi
Project description: "Laestadianism is the largest revivalist movement within the Finnish Lutheran Church. Our project aims to provide current, empirically oriented and theoretically innovative analysis of the political aspects of laestadianism. Laestadianism is a form of 'fundamentalism' that poses no challenge to other Christian denominations or religions, just as it does not in any way aim to subvert the establishment. Quite the contrary: Laestadians have long practiced their religion within the confines of the national Lutheran Church; they have traditionally taken an active role in civil society; and they continue to organize themselves politically through the Finnish parliamentary system. What we see in laestadianism is Finland's Christian Right: it embodies and represents much of what goes under Christian reaction in this country.
"Laestadianism is not a political movement in the conventional sense of the term: it does not have its own party or a political platform. Our project will make the political aspects of laestadianism discernible by approaching it from two conceptual angles. We will (I) politicize the history of Laestadian theology and (II) make explicit the politics of practicing the Laestadian religion today. This we will do (i) by approaching laestadianism as a tradition of political theology; and (ii) by framing laestadianism as a form of civil religion. Our hypothesis is that among the varieties and intensities of civil religion we may identify in Finnish politics today, laestadianism embodies its purest theological expression and most explicit political articulation.
"Laestadianism is important, because there are regions in this country, parties in its political system, where the role of the movement is noteworthy. It is also an interesting movement in itself, because while secular political life sees religion often in personal terms, there is a politically active and outspoken movement in this secular age that believes otherwise. The Laestadians believe that the state has a very specific theological meaning: it is government established by God and in its proper functioning his rule and reign are in stake [sic]. There is a sharp contrast between the world-views of laestadianism and that of the secular majority of 'Finns'.
"There is a desperate need for political research on the Laestadian movement. Our project will provide up-to-date information on its political history, religiously structured view of social life, and political significance in Finland today. This information is needed to overcome prejudice in society. Furthermore: we will use this information ourselves in contributing to current debates on the relationship between organized religion and the institution of the secular, national state."
The project already has a blog, "Laestadian-ism":
http://laestadian-ism.blogspot.com/
According to it, Laestadianism is "based on the heritage of a Sami botanist and preacher Lars Levi Laestadius" (1800-1861). "In our research we combine current theoretical literatures on political theology and civil religion with an empirically oriented approach to the movement in Finnish society. This weblog will be updated with current information on project events and public relations, commentary and analysis on issues touching the laestadian movement in Finland and elsewhere, as well as debates on political theology and civil religion in general".
Project contact: mika@luoma-aho.fi
04 December 2009
CONF: American Comparative Literature Association annual meeting
Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 1-4 April 2010 (Thursday evening through Sunday noon)
www.acla.org/acla2010/
Three seminars taking place at this conference may be of particular interest to those engaged in the study of political theology.
A seminar on "Rethinking Secularism" will be organized by Elizabeth S. Anker and Bernadette A. Meyler (both Cornell University):
Debates about secularism have increasingly provided a focal point for theorizing the legal and political institutions, practices, and beliefs that regulate collective existence, or the individual's inscription within the community. The many issues raised by the status of the secular assume different aspects with reference to the nation state, democratic systems of governance, religious cultures, and/or the cosmopolitan order more generally. This seminar will focus on the nexus between the legal and cultural dimensions of secularism and, in doing so, will explore the limits of discourses on the secular.
More concretely, questions may include: What relationships do indigenous epistemologies and worldviews have to secular humanism? Is nationalism better explained through the rubric of secularism or instead that of political theology? Are the conceptions of time and history that gird ostensibly secular political ideologies in fact informed by religious frameworks? How might one theorize post-secular ontologies or modalities of embodied and affective belonging otherwise discounted within liberal rationalism? Can reform occur through religions or religious dissent rather than by means of secularization and reasoned public deliberation? What role has the language of tolerance played in shaping the religious/secular divide? How do certain images, like that of the veil, become iconic representations of the conflict between religious and secular? Through what mechanisms do rhetoric, and even law, migrate from the religious to the secular and back again? Finally, what roles do literature and art perform in mapping the shifting terrain that demarcates the secular from the religious?
A seminar on "Theory and the Theological" will be organized by Peter Y. Paik (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee):
Theorists in recent years have looked to theology for conceptual models to address certain impasses inherent to postmodernity. Alain Badiou draws heavily from theological categories in setting forth his account of political commitment, while tropes drawn from mystical and heterodox sources are prominent in the writings of Giorgio Agamben when he evokes modes of being that go beyond the constraints of bare life. Theology plays a significant role in the theorization of radical politics in the work of Slavoj Žižek and Antonio Negri, while Judith Butler and Simon Critchley look to the work of Emmanuel Levinas to provide an ethical grounding for the political. Meanwhile, theologians such as Catherine Pickstock, John Milbank, and David Bentley Hart engage postmodernity from the standpoint of faith. Finally, these debates have been anticipated in the work of earlier thinkers such as Christopher Lasch, Philip Rieff, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Eric Voegelin, whose respective critiques of liberal modernity parallel and diverge in striking ways from the battle lines most familiar to the present.
The seminar will take up such questions as: What kinds of resources does theological reflection provide in imagining sociopolitical forms of life beyond the liberal capitalist status quo? How has the resurgence of religious belief and the politics of religious militancy affected literary and cultural production? Are theologically-informed critiques of neo-liberal capitalism more promising than those launched on secular grounds? Or are these critiques neutralized by liberal relativism, or by what Philip Rieff terms the "therapeutic ethos"?
A seminar on "Literature and Criticism after Secularism" will be organized by Thomas Dancer and Jack Dudley (both University of Wisconsin, Madison):
Much scholarship on modern and contemporary literature has taken it as an article of faith that writers either turned away from or actively rejected religion. While this "narrative of secularization", to use Pericles Lewis' terms, still holds sway in literary studies, the fields of critical theory, political science, and sociology have increasingly interrogated the categories "secular" and "religious", as in the work of Charles Taylor, Hent de Vries, William E. Connolly, Talal Asad, and Slavoj Žižek. Such work has generated the new category, "post-secular", which examines the anxieties and absences in secular imaginaries, philosophies, and politics. This work also challenges the "secular" as the unconscious norm of intellectual practice.
Our moment, then, sees criticism and intellectual discourse as facing a public sphere that can no longer be understood to privilege the values of secularism. Papers contributed to this seminar will engage this moment by exploring the long historical entanglement of secularism, religion, and the post-secular, while following recent developments that aim to recuperate or refashion "secularity" in a way more consistent with an open, pluralistic public space.
The ACLA's annual conferences have a unique structure in which most papers are grouped into 9-12 person seminars that meet two hours per day, for the three days of the conference, in order to foster discussion. Some 8-person seminars meet the first two days of the conference. The conference will also include plenary sessions, workshops, a business meeting, a banquet, and other events in downtown New Orleans and on the Tulane campus. Please check with the conference and/or seminar organizers whether people can participate in seminars who do not present a paper themselves. Contact: info@acla.org
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the ACLA's website. The schedule of events, including locations, should be up in early 2010.
www.acla.org/acla2010/
Three seminars taking place at this conference may be of particular interest to those engaged in the study of political theology.
A seminar on "Rethinking Secularism" will be organized by Elizabeth S. Anker and Bernadette A. Meyler (both Cornell University):
Debates about secularism have increasingly provided a focal point for theorizing the legal and political institutions, practices, and beliefs that regulate collective existence, or the individual's inscription within the community. The many issues raised by the status of the secular assume different aspects with reference to the nation state, democratic systems of governance, religious cultures, and/or the cosmopolitan order more generally. This seminar will focus on the nexus between the legal and cultural dimensions of secularism and, in doing so, will explore the limits of discourses on the secular.
More concretely, questions may include: What relationships do indigenous epistemologies and worldviews have to secular humanism? Is nationalism better explained through the rubric of secularism or instead that of political theology? Are the conceptions of time and history that gird ostensibly secular political ideologies in fact informed by religious frameworks? How might one theorize post-secular ontologies or modalities of embodied and affective belonging otherwise discounted within liberal rationalism? Can reform occur through religions or religious dissent rather than by means of secularization and reasoned public deliberation? What role has the language of tolerance played in shaping the religious/secular divide? How do certain images, like that of the veil, become iconic representations of the conflict between religious and secular? Through what mechanisms do rhetoric, and even law, migrate from the religious to the secular and back again? Finally, what roles do literature and art perform in mapping the shifting terrain that demarcates the secular from the religious?
A seminar on "Theory and the Theological" will be organized by Peter Y. Paik (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee):
Theorists in recent years have looked to theology for conceptual models to address certain impasses inherent to postmodernity. Alain Badiou draws heavily from theological categories in setting forth his account of political commitment, while tropes drawn from mystical and heterodox sources are prominent in the writings of Giorgio Agamben when he evokes modes of being that go beyond the constraints of bare life. Theology plays a significant role in the theorization of radical politics in the work of Slavoj Žižek and Antonio Negri, while Judith Butler and Simon Critchley look to the work of Emmanuel Levinas to provide an ethical grounding for the political. Meanwhile, theologians such as Catherine Pickstock, John Milbank, and David Bentley Hart engage postmodernity from the standpoint of faith. Finally, these debates have been anticipated in the work of earlier thinkers such as Christopher Lasch, Philip Rieff, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Eric Voegelin, whose respective critiques of liberal modernity parallel and diverge in striking ways from the battle lines most familiar to the present.
The seminar will take up such questions as: What kinds of resources does theological reflection provide in imagining sociopolitical forms of life beyond the liberal capitalist status quo? How has the resurgence of religious belief and the politics of religious militancy affected literary and cultural production? Are theologically-informed critiques of neo-liberal capitalism more promising than those launched on secular grounds? Or are these critiques neutralized by liberal relativism, or by what Philip Rieff terms the "therapeutic ethos"?
A seminar on "Literature and Criticism after Secularism" will be organized by Thomas Dancer and Jack Dudley (both University of Wisconsin, Madison):
Much scholarship on modern and contemporary literature has taken it as an article of faith that writers either turned away from or actively rejected religion. While this "narrative of secularization", to use Pericles Lewis' terms, still holds sway in literary studies, the fields of critical theory, political science, and sociology have increasingly interrogated the categories "secular" and "religious", as in the work of Charles Taylor, Hent de Vries, William E. Connolly, Talal Asad, and Slavoj Žižek. Such work has generated the new category, "post-secular", which examines the anxieties and absences in secular imaginaries, philosophies, and politics. This work also challenges the "secular" as the unconscious norm of intellectual practice.
Our moment, then, sees criticism and intellectual discourse as facing a public sphere that can no longer be understood to privilege the values of secularism. Papers contributed to this seminar will engage this moment by exploring the long historical entanglement of secularism, religion, and the post-secular, while following recent developments that aim to recuperate or refashion "secularity" in a way more consistent with an open, pluralistic public space.
The ACLA's annual conferences have a unique structure in which most papers are grouped into 9-12 person seminars that meet two hours per day, for the three days of the conference, in order to foster discussion. Some 8-person seminars meet the first two days of the conference. The conference will also include plenary sessions, workshops, a business meeting, a banquet, and other events in downtown New Orleans and on the Tulane campus. Please check with the conference and/or seminar organizers whether people can participate in seminars who do not present a paper themselves. Contact: info@acla.org
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the ACLA's website. The schedule of events, including locations, should be up in early 2010.
CONF: Renaissance Society of America annual meeting
56th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA), in Venice, Italy, 8-10 April 2010
www.rsa.org/meetings/annualmeeting.php
A number of papers on political theology will be given at this conference.
Foremost, a panel on "Early Modern and Contemporary Political Theologies", organized by Travis R. DeCook (Carleton University) and chaired by Paul Anthony Stevens (University of Toronto), will take place on 8 April, 9.00-10.30 am (Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 0E).
Abstracts of two papers in this panel: Travis R. DeCook, "Milton and the Post-Postmodern Turn to St. Paul": "Recently, the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou have emphasized the significance of St. Paul's formulation of universalism for our purportedly 'post-political' era. This paper considers the problematic status of Judaism and Jewish identity within this scheme by taking up the function of the Pauline spirit/letter distinction in the writings of John Milton. Specifically, it considers the role played by the notion of Christianity's supersession of the Jewish past in Milton's political writings and the poems Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. These late poems offer a suggestive analogy with Badiou and Zizek, since they reflect on the defeat of Milton's revolutionary hopes. The function of Jewish identity in these texts complicates prevailing understandings of Christian supersession; this paper uncovers how such complications play an important role in Milton's post-Restoration politics, and moreover illuminate and challenge how Pauline universalism gets appropriated in today's political thought."
Jennifer Rebecca Rust (Saint Louis University), "Political Theologies of the Corpus Mysticum: Schmitt, Kantorowicz and de Lubac": "The fate of the corpus mysticum in the work of Carl Schmitt and Ernst Kantorowicz measures the distance between these two theorists' 'political theologies.' Schmitt marginalizes the traditional notion of the collective 'mystical body' of the Church in order to foreground the 'concrete' person of the decisive sovereign, while Kantorowicz implicitly corrects Schmitt by emphasizing the transference of the corpus mysticum from an ecclesiastical to a political context in the premodern period. I identify a third way between these two alternatives in a major source for Kantorowicz's analysis of the corpus mysticum, the twentieth-century Catholic theologian Henri de Lubac. Kantorowicz faithfully reproduces much of de Lubac's argument, but he also subtly misreads de Lubac's claims about the dynamic relationship between Eucharistic and ecclesiastical bodies in the early Church. I consider how the corpus mysticum opens a space for dialogue between contemporary theories of political theology and twentieth-century Catholic resourcement theology."
In the panel "Sessions in Honor of Colin Eisler II: Trecento and Quattrocento Devotional Images" (8 April, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, Fondazione Cini – Sala del Piccolo Teatro), Suzanna B. Simor (City University of New York, Queen's College) will be presenting a paper on "The Credo in Siena: Art, Civic Religion and Politics in Sienese Images of the Christian Creeds".
Abstract: "In the span of a mere four decades in the first half of the fifteenth century, Siena produced an unparalleled concentration of ambitious visualizations of the texts of the Christian creeds, realized in commissions for the most powerful patrons of the city-state. The leading communal and ecclesiastical institutions all featured Creed cycles in prominent locations, embedded in coherent and richly symbolic programs. This essay will explore the imagery of these Sienese Creed cycles within their shared tradition and with attention to factors that likely contributed to their individual interpretations. It will demonstrate that within the prescriptive confines of its Creed's content, each of the Sienese renditions was addressed directly to its audience, conceived and employed for specific purposes, and deployed iconography that supported each patron's particular agenda. Reflecting Siena's characteristic blending of religion and politics, the diverse Sienese Credos partake of the political theology of the commune."
In the panel "Politics and Religion: Jesuit and Princely Cooperation in Counter-Reformation Strategies", sponsored by the Society for Early Modern Catholic Studies (9 April, 4.00-5.30 pm, Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 2B), Raffaella Santi (Università degli Studi di Urbino) will be presenting a paper on "The Function of Political Theology in Hobbes's Leviathan".
Abstract: "The English version of Leviathan, written by Thomas Hobbes in Paris during the English Civil War, appeared in London in 1651; while the somewhat revised Latin version was published in Amsterdam in 1668, as the third and final part of the collection of Hobbes's Opera philosophica, Quae latine scripsit, Omnia…(in 2 vols). The main change in both versions of Leviathan, with respect to his previous works on political philosophy – namely The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic and De cive – is the great importance attributed to religious and theological matters, and to political theology. For instance, Hobbes discusses the famous De summo pontifice by Cardinal Bellarmino, re-interpreting many biblical passages through his materialistic theology. Emphasizing the 'chiasmus' rhetorical structure of the four parts of Leviathan, I will argue that the Hobbesian analysis of the holy Scriptures is made in order to ensure a theoretical 'theological' foundation for sovereign power, that reinforces the 'scientific' foundation, based on human nature, carried out in the first two parts of Leviathan."
In the same panel, John H. Smith (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper, "Bellarmine, Kings, and The Church": "As the chief apologist and theologian of the post-Trentine Counter-[R]eformation, the Jesuit cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) systematized the arguments against Protestantism in his monumental Disputations on Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics (1586-89, 1596, 1608). Central to his discussion are the debates over the extent of the church's political power as well as over the religious authority of temporal leaders. Bellarmine strove to find a middle ground, what Hughes Oliphant Old calls a 'baroque synthesis' between Aquinas and Machiavelli, between the ambitions of the popes and the claims of kings and princes across Europe. On the one hand, his writings were at one point placed on the papal index (by Sixtus V) and, on the other, he delivered a powerful response to James I of England against the oath of allegiance. This paper explores Bellarmine's politico-theological arguments, comparing them to the Protestant thinkers he took so seriously. They have continued relevance today for disputations concerning religious vs. secular political authority."
In the panel "Weimar, Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Erich Auerbach and the Quest for European Internationalism", sponsored by the Renaissance Studies Certificate Program at CUNY's Graduate Center (10 April, 2.00-3.30 pm, Biblioteca Marciana), Jane O. Newman (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper on "Modernity, Habitus, Ethics: Worldliness in Auerbach's Dante and Boccaccio".
Abstract: "In his 1921 dissertation on the Renaissance novella, Auerbach maintains that 'this-worldliness' is the essence of the Romance tradition. While the exemplum and fabliau appear to offer anterior models, he claims that it was Dante and his focus in the Commedia on 'secular life' that were the origins of this most 'modern' of genres. My paper investigates the evolution of Auerbach's argument about the relation between Dante and Boccaccio between 1921 and 1946 in the context of the political-theological controversies in Germany during the early twentieth century. In the poetry of Auerbach's exceedingly Thomist Dante, the 'image of man' counterintuitively 'eclipses the image of God' and thus counters the 'spiritualizing' 'figural-Christian' logic associated with Protestant dialectical theology. And yet, it is not clear that the ensuing modern world of Boccaccio's Decameron is much better, ensnared as it is in a habitus of worldly desire with no 'constructive ethical force.'"
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the RSA's website.
www.rsa.org/meetings/annualmeeting.php
A number of papers on political theology will be given at this conference.
Foremost, a panel on "Early Modern and Contemporary Political Theologies", organized by Travis R. DeCook (Carleton University) and chaired by Paul Anthony Stevens (University of Toronto), will take place on 8 April, 9.00-10.30 am (Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 0E).
Abstracts of two papers in this panel: Travis R. DeCook, "Milton and the Post-Postmodern Turn to St. Paul": "Recently, the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou have emphasized the significance of St. Paul's formulation of universalism for our purportedly 'post-political' era. This paper considers the problematic status of Judaism and Jewish identity within this scheme by taking up the function of the Pauline spirit/letter distinction in the writings of John Milton. Specifically, it considers the role played by the notion of Christianity's supersession of the Jewish past in Milton's political writings and the poems Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. These late poems offer a suggestive analogy with Badiou and Zizek, since they reflect on the defeat of Milton's revolutionary hopes. The function of Jewish identity in these texts complicates prevailing understandings of Christian supersession; this paper uncovers how such complications play an important role in Milton's post-Restoration politics, and moreover illuminate and challenge how Pauline universalism gets appropriated in today's political thought."
Jennifer Rebecca Rust (Saint Louis University), "Political Theologies of the Corpus Mysticum: Schmitt, Kantorowicz and de Lubac": "The fate of the corpus mysticum in the work of Carl Schmitt and Ernst Kantorowicz measures the distance between these two theorists' 'political theologies.' Schmitt marginalizes the traditional notion of the collective 'mystical body' of the Church in order to foreground the 'concrete' person of the decisive sovereign, while Kantorowicz implicitly corrects Schmitt by emphasizing the transference of the corpus mysticum from an ecclesiastical to a political context in the premodern period. I identify a third way between these two alternatives in a major source for Kantorowicz's analysis of the corpus mysticum, the twentieth-century Catholic theologian Henri de Lubac. Kantorowicz faithfully reproduces much of de Lubac's argument, but he also subtly misreads de Lubac's claims about the dynamic relationship between Eucharistic and ecclesiastical bodies in the early Church. I consider how the corpus mysticum opens a space for dialogue between contemporary theories of political theology and twentieth-century Catholic resourcement theology."
In the panel "Sessions in Honor of Colin Eisler II: Trecento and Quattrocento Devotional Images" (8 April, 11.00 am-12.30 pm, Fondazione Cini – Sala del Piccolo Teatro), Suzanna B. Simor (City University of New York, Queen's College) will be presenting a paper on "The Credo in Siena: Art, Civic Religion and Politics in Sienese Images of the Christian Creeds".
Abstract: "In the span of a mere four decades in the first half of the fifteenth century, Siena produced an unparalleled concentration of ambitious visualizations of the texts of the Christian creeds, realized in commissions for the most powerful patrons of the city-state. The leading communal and ecclesiastical institutions all featured Creed cycles in prominent locations, embedded in coherent and richly symbolic programs. This essay will explore the imagery of these Sienese Creed cycles within their shared tradition and with attention to factors that likely contributed to their individual interpretations. It will demonstrate that within the prescriptive confines of its Creed's content, each of the Sienese renditions was addressed directly to its audience, conceived and employed for specific purposes, and deployed iconography that supported each patron's particular agenda. Reflecting Siena's characteristic blending of religion and politics, the diverse Sienese Credos partake of the political theology of the commune."
In the panel "Politics and Religion: Jesuit and Princely Cooperation in Counter-Reformation Strategies", sponsored by the Society for Early Modern Catholic Studies (9 April, 4.00-5.30 pm, Università Ca Foscari – San Basilio – Aula 2B), Raffaella Santi (Università degli Studi di Urbino) will be presenting a paper on "The Function of Political Theology in Hobbes's Leviathan".
Abstract: "The English version of Leviathan, written by Thomas Hobbes in Paris during the English Civil War, appeared in London in 1651; while the somewhat revised Latin version was published in Amsterdam in 1668, as the third and final part of the collection of Hobbes's Opera philosophica, Quae latine scripsit, Omnia…(in 2 vols). The main change in both versions of Leviathan, with respect to his previous works on political philosophy – namely The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic and De cive – is the great importance attributed to religious and theological matters, and to political theology. For instance, Hobbes discusses the famous De summo pontifice by Cardinal Bellarmino, re-interpreting many biblical passages through his materialistic theology. Emphasizing the 'chiasmus' rhetorical structure of the four parts of Leviathan, I will argue that the Hobbesian analysis of the holy Scriptures is made in order to ensure a theoretical 'theological' foundation for sovereign power, that reinforces the 'scientific' foundation, based on human nature, carried out in the first two parts of Leviathan."
In the same panel, John H. Smith (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper, "Bellarmine, Kings, and The Church": "As the chief apologist and theologian of the post-Trentine Counter-[R]eformation, the Jesuit cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) systematized the arguments against Protestantism in his monumental Disputations on Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics (1586-89, 1596, 1608). Central to his discussion are the debates over the extent of the church's political power as well as over the religious authority of temporal leaders. Bellarmine strove to find a middle ground, what Hughes Oliphant Old calls a 'baroque synthesis' between Aquinas and Machiavelli, between the ambitions of the popes and the claims of kings and princes across Europe. On the one hand, his writings were at one point placed on the papal index (by Sixtus V) and, on the other, he delivered a powerful response to James I of England against the oath of allegiance. This paper explores Bellarmine's politico-theological arguments, comparing them to the Protestant thinkers he took so seriously. They have continued relevance today for disputations concerning religious vs. secular political authority."
In the panel "Weimar, Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Erich Auerbach and the Quest for European Internationalism", sponsored by the Renaissance Studies Certificate Program at CUNY's Graduate Center (10 April, 2.00-3.30 pm, Biblioteca Marciana), Jane O. Newman (University of California, Irvine) will be presenting a paper on "Modernity, Habitus, Ethics: Worldliness in Auerbach's Dante and Boccaccio".
Abstract: "In his 1921 dissertation on the Renaissance novella, Auerbach maintains that 'this-worldliness' is the essence of the Romance tradition. While the exemplum and fabliau appear to offer anterior models, he claims that it was Dante and his focus in the Commedia on 'secular life' that were the origins of this most 'modern' of genres. My paper investigates the evolution of Auerbach's argument about the relation between Dante and Boccaccio between 1921 and 1946 in the context of the political-theological controversies in Germany during the early twentieth century. In the poetry of Auerbach's exceedingly Thomist Dante, the 'image of man' counterintuitively 'eclipses the image of God' and thus counters the 'spiritualizing' 'figural-Christian' logic associated with Protestant dialectical theology. And yet, it is not clear that the ensuing modern world of Boccaccio's Decameron is much better, ensnared as it is in a habitus of worldly desire with no 'constructive ethical force.'"
You can find further information on the conference, including registration, on the RSA's website.
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)
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)
01 December 2009
CONF: Political Theology for the 21st Century? Trends and Tasks
International conference organized by the International Research Network on Religion and Democracy (IRNRD), at Corvinus University of Budapest, Institute of Political Science, Közraktár utca 4-6, Room 510, 1093 Budapest, Hungary, 14-15 December 2009
The manifold developments that characterize the contemporary cultural, political, and religious scenery have recently engendered intensive attention concerning political theology – taking this term in the widest possible sense. New trends and traditional ideas equally colour these movements for reinventing and redefining the tasks of political theology in the current era. The conference's main purpose is to give a rich, though not exhaustive, overview of some contemporary theoretical approaches related to this topic in philosophy, theology, and political theory.
The conference starts at 8.45 am on 14 December and ends with lunch on 15 December.
Presentations (in five panels) include: "The Secular Sphere in Western Theology – A Historical Reconsideration" (Matthias Riedl, Central European University); "Liberation Theology in Latin America and its Theological Legacies" (David Tombs, Trinity College Dublin); "Metzean Categories for a Politics of Peace" (Péter Losonczi, University of West Hungary); "The Political Theology of Navayana Buddhism" (Aakash Singh, LUISS University, Rome); "Laestadianism: Political Theology and Civil Religion in Secularizing Finland" (Mika Luoma-aho, University of Lapland); "Active and Non-violent Resistance and the Jesus of Nazareth" (András Csepregi, Evangelical Lutheran Theological University, Budapest); "The Interruption of Political Theology" (Lieven Boeve, Catholic University Leuven); "What is Radical Orthodoxy?" (Catherine Pickstock, Cambridge, read out in absentia); "Political Theology and its Discontents" (Michael Hoelzl, University of Manchester); "The Politics of Kant's Religion" (Tom Bailey, John Cabot University, Rome); "Separation Between State and Church and Unity Between Religion and Politics: A Contribution to the Current Debate from a Hegelian Perspective" (Peter Jonkers, Tilburg University); "Neutralizing and Politicizing of Religion: The Actuality of Carl Schmitt's Definition of the Problem" (Theo de Wit, Tilburg University); "Nature, Metaphysics, and Political Wisdom" (András Lánczi, Corvinus University); "Religion, Politics, and the Classroom Walls" (Domenico Melidoro, LUISS University); as well as a panel discussion on "Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Caritas in Veritate" with Lieven Boeve, Michael Hoelzl, and Peter Jonkers.
Contact: Péter Losonczi (University of West Hungary, Szombathely): lospeter@yahoo.com
The manifold developments that characterize the contemporary cultural, political, and religious scenery have recently engendered intensive attention concerning political theology – taking this term in the widest possible sense. New trends and traditional ideas equally colour these movements for reinventing and redefining the tasks of political theology in the current era. The conference's main purpose is to give a rich, though not exhaustive, overview of some contemporary theoretical approaches related to this topic in philosophy, theology, and political theory.
The conference starts at 8.45 am on 14 December and ends with lunch on 15 December.
Presentations (in five panels) include: "The Secular Sphere in Western Theology – A Historical Reconsideration" (Matthias Riedl, Central European University); "Liberation Theology in Latin America and its Theological Legacies" (David Tombs, Trinity College Dublin); "Metzean Categories for a Politics of Peace" (Péter Losonczi, University of West Hungary); "The Political Theology of Navayana Buddhism" (Aakash Singh, LUISS University, Rome); "Laestadianism: Political Theology and Civil Religion in Secularizing Finland" (Mika Luoma-aho, University of Lapland); "Active and Non-violent Resistance and the Jesus of Nazareth" (András Csepregi, Evangelical Lutheran Theological University, Budapest); "The Interruption of Political Theology" (Lieven Boeve, Catholic University Leuven); "What is Radical Orthodoxy?" (Catherine Pickstock, Cambridge, read out in absentia); "Political Theology and its Discontents" (Michael Hoelzl, University of Manchester); "The Politics of Kant's Religion" (Tom Bailey, John Cabot University, Rome); "Separation Between State and Church and Unity Between Religion and Politics: A Contribution to the Current Debate from a Hegelian Perspective" (Peter Jonkers, Tilburg University); "Neutralizing and Politicizing of Religion: The Actuality of Carl Schmitt's Definition of the Problem" (Theo de Wit, Tilburg University); "Nature, Metaphysics, and Political Wisdom" (András Lánczi, Corvinus University); "Religion, Politics, and the Classroom Walls" (Domenico Melidoro, LUISS University); as well as a panel discussion on "Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Caritas in Veritate" with Lieven Boeve, Michael Hoelzl, and Peter Jonkers.
Contact: Péter Losonczi (University of West Hungary, Szombathely): lospeter@yahoo.com
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