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Essays

What’s Faith Got to Do with Political Theory/Theology?

This essay reclaims the value and role of faith in Shulman’s political theology and shows why it is important for wrestling with our contemporary political realities.

Desire and Meaning in Augustine

Language and meaning originate not from a fullness trying to communicate itself but from a lack that strives after enjoyment.

The Seeds of World War III?

If we consider our own domestic troubles in the U.S., we will soon recognize that Americans, from both the right and the left, are tired of the age of American imperialism. This may be the one common ground issue that most of us have.

Remembering A. B. Yehoshua

The Israeli writer A. B. Yehoshua died on June 14. We invited scholars of Jewish studies, literature, and politics to reflect on Yehoshua’s significance and legacy.

What Does the Text Do? Contingency in Imaginative Writing

Who is this work being written for, what kind of critical stance does it take toward that imagined reader—challenging, comforting, prophetic, regressive? For me there is always something slightly transgressive about reading imaginative writing theologically.

Teologia politica 2022? Political Theology 2022? An International Symposium , June 22-24, 2022

Find details on the international symposium co-organized by Arthur Bradley and Elettra Stimilli, taking place 22-24 June 2022!

Freedom Shaped by Love

Freedom shaped by love is not a passive sentimental response to the world’s violence. It is the key to seeing clearly and moving beyond it. It disarms, dismantles, and disappears.

Nietzsche’s Prophet, Shulman’s Prophecy

I am responding to George Shulman’s letters on Nietzsche and on prophecy. I do so by offering some thoughts on Nietzsche’s prophet, Zarathustra. In addition to considering Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra in light of Shulman’s “Political Theology” seminar, I also take illumination from Shulman’s American Prophecy: Race and Redemption in American Political Culture (2008).

Contemplative Prayer, Desire, and the Problem of Other People

In its embrace of solitude, contemplative prayer opens up a space of tension around the social and embodied qualities of desire.

Ukraine: Separating Just Defence from Dangerous False Narratives

It should be uncontroversial that the Ukrainians have a right to defend their people and their land. However, some have argued that Pope Francis is spearheading a rejection of the just war tradition, replacing it with a thoroughgoing pacifism that would in principle deny this right to the Ukrainian defenders. As an analysis of the Pope’s position, I think this is mistaken.

Fearlessly Embracing Their God: Jezebel and Elijah

Jezebel embraces her gods just as Elijah does. When the prophets of her gods are mocked and killed in a most disrespectful way, Jezebel is angered. In the face of death, she remains fearless. Her fearlessness combined with her reverence to her gods in a foreign land makes her an example for contemporary women. 

Virtual Summer Workshop Series, starting June 15

Political Theology Network is offering a ‘Varieties of Political Theological Method’ summer workshop series. Every Wednesday from June 15. Contact Mary ([email protected]) or Kathy ([email protected]) for more details.