The irony of American populism is that the very anti-authoritarianism and community building that contributed much to American vibrancy and that are bequeathed to evangelicals by history and doctrine may under distress turn to self-protective, us-them defense.
This symposium celebrates George Shulman’s work on political theology by continuing the conversation that formally concluded when Shulman’s “Political Theology” seminar met for the last time in the spring of 2021.
Although its aim is to provide a snapshot of our research and thinking on the topic of desire, this symposium hints at aspects of ourselves as desiring subjects, as people who bring differing social and sexual identities to their work, and who inhabit religious and secular worlds in diverse ways.
“Christianity redounds to its own political economy, first by making economy a general feature of creaturely existence and second by relating the kingdom of God to the economy of God, speaking of God’s reign as God’s grace. Racism and racial capitalism—epitomized but not exhausted by white supremacist Christian religion—are distortions of God’s kingdom and economy, rejections of divine rule and divine desire” (Asian Americans and the Spirit of Capitalism, 15).