A reassertion o fthe importance of theology to political action
that goes beyond both liberal democratic theory and
neoconservatism.
The essays in Theology and the Political-written by some of the
world's foremost theologians, philosophers, and literary
critics-analyze the ethics and consequences of 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
"Underlying all the very varied essays in this volume is a set
of issues about how we understand human action. And what the essays
have in common, I believe, is a conviction that the fundamental
requirement of a politics worth the name is that we have an account
of human action that decisively marks its distance from assumptions
about action as the successful assertion of will. If there is no
hinterland to human acting except the contest of private and
momentary desire, meaningful action is successful action, an event
in which a particular will has imprinted its agenda on the
'external' world. Or, in plainer terms, meaning is power .
. . and any discourse of justice is illusory."-Rowan Williams,
Archbishop of Canterbury, from the introduction
"Underlying all the very varied essays in this volume is a set of issues about how we understand human action. And what the essays have in common, I believe, is a conviction that the fundamental requirement of a politics worth the name is that we have an account of human action that decisively marks its distance from assumptions about action as the successful assertion of will. If there is no hinterland to human acting except the contest of private and momentary desire, meaningful action is successful action, an event in which a particular will has imprinted its agenda on the 'external' world. Or, in plainer terms, meaning is power ... and any discourse of justice is illusory."--Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, from the introduction "A patient reader will be rewarded with some intriguing perspectives and insights that take seriously the difficult challenge confronting political action in the context of global capitalism."--Christopher Craig Brittain, The Dalhousie Review "This book is another 'deliberate kick against the tide of the times.'" --Stephen Webb, Insights "Theology and the Political is a helpful book because it gathers in one volume a representative sample of very serious theologians..."--Stephen H. Webb, First Things "The new debate referenced in this rich, lengthy, and important collection is a desperately urgent debate... The work itself functions as a symphony, building between and among chapters to orchestrate a complex and fruitful investigation of some of the most crucial theoretical issues we face in our contemporary world and includes some of the most influential contemporary philosophers and theologians working today."-- Clayton Crockett, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "A collection of this caliber on such a timely subject is to be welcomed."-- D. W. Congdon, Princeton Theological Review
Creston Davis is a doctoral candidate in philosophical theology at the University of Virginia. John Milbank is a professor of religion, politics, and ethics at the University of Nottingham. His books include "Being Reconciled: Ontology and Pardon" and "Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason." Slavoj Zizek is a senior researcher at the Institute for Social Studies in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is the author of "Tarrying with the Negative: Kant, Hegel, and the Critique of Ideology," editor of "Cogito and the Unconscious: Kant, Hegel, and the Critique of Ideology," and coeditor of "Perversion and the Social Relation "and "Gaze and Voice as Love Objects," all also published by Duke University Press.
