By some of the world's foremost theologians, philosophers, and literary critics, the essays in Theology and the Political analyze human action. They explore the spiritual dimensions of ontology, considering the relationship between ontology and the political in light of the thought of figures ranging from Plato to Marx, Levinas to Derrida, and Augustine to Lacan. Together, the contributors challenge the belief that meaningful action is simply the successful assertion of will, that politics is ultimately reducible to "might makes right." From a variety of perspectives, they suggest that grounding human action and politics in materialist critique offers revolutionary possibilities that transcend the nihilism inherent in both contemporary liberal democratic theory and neoconservative ideology.
Contributors. Anthony Baker, Daniel M. Bell Jr., Phillip Blond, Simon Critchley, Conor Cunningham, Creston Davis, Hent de Vries, William Desmond, Terry Eagleton, Rocco Gangle, Philip Goodchild, Karl Hefty, Eleanor Kaufman, Tom McCarthy, John Milbank, Antonio Negri, Catherine Pickstock, Patrick Aaron Riches, Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Regina Schwartz, Kenneth Surin, Graham Ward, Rowan Williams, Slavoj Zizek
SIC A Series Edited by Slavoj Zizek
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Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Fantastic Collection:
This is a solid contribution to the burgeoning intersection of the religious and the secular (post-Marxist) especially as it relates to the reemergence of political theology (after communism) and the reexamination of St. Paul in continental theory (Agamben, Badiou, Taubes, Zizek, Graham Ward et al). This volume does not ring as a manifesto--there is not enough agreement among the essays to forge such a possibility. However, insofar as atheists (Zizek/Surin/Goodchild/Critchley/Eagleton/de Vries?) join in the... more info
