Political Theology for a Plural Age

Political Theology for a Plural Age
Author: Michael Jon Kessler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2013-05-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199773041

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New challenges that emerged in the postwar era have given rise to ongoing debate about the place of religion in public life, in the United States and in other established democracies, and this debate has dramatically reshaped the way scholars, policymakers, and religious leaders think about political theology. Political Theology for a Plural Age examines historic and contemporary understandings of political engagement in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, engaging political theologies not merely as a set of theoretical concepts but as religious beliefs and principles that motivate specific political action. The essays in this volume, written by leading thinkers and practitioners within each tradition and their secular counterparts, examine a number of core issues at the intersection of religion and politics. They contest the definition of political theology, establish a common discourse across the three Abrahamic traditions, and closely examine how globalization, secularization, and pluralism affect the construction and plausibility of political theologies. Finally, they offer insight into how political theologies might adapt to the shared global challenges of the twenty-first century.

Political Theology for a Plural Age

Political Theology for a Plural Age
Author: Michael Jon Kessler
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2013-06-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199769273

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Political Theology for a Plural Age provides historic and contemporary understandings of political engagement in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, engaging political theologies not merely as a set of theoretical concepts but as religious beliefs and principles that motivate specific political action.

The Withholding Power

The Withholding Power
Author: Massimo Cacciari
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2018-02-22
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1472580508

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The first English translation of his work, The Withholding Power, offers a fascinating introduction to the thought of Italian philosopher Massimo Cacciari. Cacciari is a notoriously complex thinker but this title offers a starting point for entering into the very heart of his thinking. The Witholding Power provides a comprehensive and synthetic insight into his interpretation of Christian political theology and leftist Italian political theory more generally. The theme of katechon - originally a biblical concept which has been developed into a political concept - has been absolutely central to the work of Italian philosophers such as Agamben and Eposito for nearly twenty years. In The Withholding Power, Cacciari sets forth his startlingly original perspective on the influence the theological-political questions have traditionally exerted upon ideas of power, sovereignty and the relationship between political and religious authority. With an introduction by Howard Caygill contextualizing the work within the history of Italian thought, this title will offer those coming to Cacciari for the first time a searing insight into his political, theological and philosophical milieu.

Reading Scripture as a Political Act

Reading Scripture as a Political Act
Author: Matthew A. Tapie
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2015-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 150640149X

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Although scholars increasingly understand Scripture to contain political dimensions and implications, the interpretation of Scripture is often marginalized in most scholarly discussions of political theology. Reading Scripture as a Political Act takes a step toward remedying this situation by exploring some of the ways the church has read Scripture politically. In particular, this volume examines the political character of premodern and modern theologians’ readings of Scripture with attention to how their readings relate to or address political challenges in their particular social and historical settings. The essays attempt to illuminate the ways that the theological interpretation of Scripture shaped the theopolitical imaginations of Augustine, Basil of Caesarea, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Bartolome de las Casas, John Wesley, Karl Barth, Henri de Lubac, and John Howard Yoder, among others. Several essays in the volume also take constructive steps and suggest how these models of reading Scripture can inform the contemporary task of reading Scripture in political contexts. The volume covers the earliest Christian centuries to the late modern era, and considers carefully the close coordination between Scripture, theology, and social and political concerns. As a whole, the collection provides a robust survey of Christian theopolitical interpretation of the Bible.

Rethinking Religion and Politics in a Plural World

Rethinking Religion and Politics in a Plural World
Author: Julia Berger
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2021-01-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1350130346

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In this book, Julia Berger examines internal meaning-making structures and processes driving NGO behavior, identifying constructs from within a religious tradition that forge new ways of pursuing social change. She evaluates the operation of a distinct rationality, arguing that action is guided not simply by beliefs and values, but also by a combination of elements so intrinsic as to constitute an “organizational DNA.” These hidden structures and rationalities manifest themselves in new modes of engagement and agency; they help us to see the pivotal role of religion in shaping notions of peace, progress, and modernity. To demonstrate the operation and salience of such a rationality, Berger draws on the example of the worldwide Baha'i community. Emerging in 19th century Iran, the community's theological engagement with questions of justice, the unity of humankind, and the emerging global order, constitute one of the most distinct and compelling, yet least-researched examples of religious engagement with the pressing questions of our time. Analyzing events spanning a 75-year period from 1945-2020, this book provides a unique historical and contemporary perspective on the evolving role of religion and civil society in the modern world.

The Reign of God

The Reign of God
Author: Jonathan Cole
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2022-07-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567707490

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The Reign of God constitutes the first detailed and systematic critical engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's political theology. It argues that O'Donovan's theological account of political authority is not tenable on the basis of exegetical and methodological problems. The book goes on to demonstrate a way to refine O'Donovan's theology of political authority by incorporating insights from his earlier work in moral theology. This can provide a cogent basis for thinking that the Christ-event redeems the natural political authority embedded in the created order and inaugurates its new historical bene esse in the form of Christian liberalism.

T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology

T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology
Author: Rubén Rosario Rodríguez
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 608
Release: 2019-10-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567670406

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The T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology is a comprehensive reference resource informed by serious theological scholarship in the three Abrahamic traditions. The engaging and original contributions within this collection represent the epitome of contemporary scholarship in theology, religion, philosophy, history, law, and political science, from leading scholars in their area of specialization. Comprised of five sections that illuminate the rise and relevance of political theology, this handbook begins with the birth of contemporary “political theology,” and is followed by discussions of historical resources and past examples of interaction between theology and politics from all three Abrahamic traditions. The third section surveys the leading figures and movements that have had an impact on the discipline of political theology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; and the contributors then build on previously discussed historical resources and methods to engage with contemporary issues and challenges, emphasizing interreligious dialogue, even while addressing concerns of relevance to a particular faith tradition. The volume concludes with three essays that look at the future of political theology from the perspective of each Abrahamic religion. Complete with select bibliographies for each topic, this companion features the most current overview of political theology that will reach a broader, global audience of students and scholars

The Promise of Martin Luther's Political Theology

The Promise of Martin Luther's Political Theology
Author: Michael Richard Laffin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2016-10-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567669912

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Michael Laffin demonstrates the promise of Martin Luther's thought for contemporary political theology by showing how Luther has been over-determined in standard genealogies of modernity which frequently deafen us to his unique contribution. Laffin argues that contemporary theologians have typically followed a narrative derived from the work of a previous generation of political historians and philosophers, which tend to screen out or distort the Reformers' contribution to political theory. Common to these narratives are charges against Luther for his perceived univocal and nominal ontology resulting in a privatized and spiritualized Christianity, thus falsely dividing the world into autonomous spheres. Additionally, the narratives claim that Luther follows in the wake of voluntarism, leading to an insistence on human passivity that leaves no room for pagan virtue. Thus, politics is reduced to an authoritarian imposition of order. In contrast to the dominant narratives of political modernity, Laffin re-examines these narratives by focusing on the political significance of areas in Luther's corpus often neglected in contemporary accounts of his political thought, especially his commentaries on Scripture and writings on the sacraments. Attention to these writings brings forth the crucial themes of the two ecclesiae and the three institutions. Constructively, these themes are deployed in critical engagement with contemporary political theology, particularly as represented in Radical Orthodoxy and the new-Augustinianism.

Politics, Religion and Political Theology

Politics, Religion and Political Theology
Author: C. Allen Speight
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2017-06-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9402410821

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This new volume gives discursive shape to several key facets of the relationship among politics, theology and religious thought. Powerfully relevant to a wealth of further academic disciplines including history, law and the humanities, it sharpens the contours of our understanding in a live and evolving field. It charts the mechanisms by which, contrary to the avowed secularism of many of today’s polities, theology and religion have often, and sometimes profoundly, shaped political discourse. By augmenting this broader analysis with a selection of authoritative papers focusing on the prominent sub-field of political theology, the anthology offsets a startling academic lacuna. Alongside focused analysis of subjects such as conscience, secularism and religious tolerance, the discussion of political theology examines the tradition’s critical moments, including developments during the post-World War I Weimar republic in Germany and the epistemological imprint the theory has left behind in works by political thinkers influenced by the three major monotheistic traditions.

Postcolonial Politics and Theology

Postcolonial Politics and Theology
Author: Kwok Pui-lan
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1646982304

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Postcolonial Politics and Theology seeks to reform and reimagine the field of political theology—uprooting it from the colonial soil—using the comparative lenses of postcolonial politics and theology to bring attention to the realities of the Global South. Kwok Pui-lan traces the history of the political impacts of Western theological development, especially developments in the U.S. context, and the need to shift these interlocking fields toward non-Western traditions in theory and practice. A special focus of the book is on the changing sociopolitical realities of American Empire and Sino-American competition, illustrated in Donald Trump's slogan of "Make America Great Again" and Xi Jinping’s hope for a “China Dream.” The shifting of U.S. and Asian relationships highlights the need to move our theological and political categories away from a vision of strongman domination and toward a postmodern, postcolonial, and transnational world, especially exemplified in the Asia Pacific context. Throughout, Kwok overturns the idea of centering one cultural framework and marginalizing others in favor of living into a multiplicity of deeply contextual theologies. She explores how these theologies are being developed in global, postcolonial contexts, through struggles for democracy and civil disobedience in Hong Kong, by efforts to reclaim selfhood and sexual identity from exploitative colonial desire, through the work of interreligious solidarity and peacebuilding, and in the practice of earth care in the face of ecological crisis.