Political Theology on Edge

In Political Theology on Edge, the discourse of political theology is seen as situated on an edge—that is, on the edge of a world that is grappling with global warming, a brutal form of neoliberal capitalism, protests against racism and police brutality, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This edge is also a form of eschatology that forces us to imagine new ways of being religious and political in our cohabitation of a fragile and shared planet. Each of the essays in this volume attends to how climate change and our ecological crises intersect and interact with more traditional themes of political theology.

While the tradition of political theology is often associated with philosophical responses to the work of Carl Schmitt—and the critical attempts to disengage religion from his rightwing politics—the contributors to this volume are informed by Schmitt but not limited to his perspectives. They engage and transform political theology from the standpoint of climate change, the politics of race, and non-Christian political theologies including Islam and Sikhism. Important themes include the Anthropocene, ecology, capitalism, sovereignty, Black Lives Matter, affect theory, continental philosophy, destruction, and suicide. This book features world renowned scholars and emerging voices that together open up the tradition of political theology to new ideas and new ways of thinking.

Contributors: Gil Anidjar, Balbinder Singh Bhogal, J. Kameron Carter, William E. Connolly, Kelly Brown Douglas, Seth Gaiters, Lisa Gasson-Gardner, Winfred Goodwin, Lawrence Hillis, Mehmet Karabela, Michael Northcott, Austin Roberts, Noëlle Vahanian, Larry L. Welborn

Introduction: Political Theology on Edge
Catherine Keller and Clayton Crockett | 1

PART I : POLITICAL THEOLOGY AND THE ANTHROPOCENE
1. The Anthropocene as Planetary Machine
William E. Connolly | 19
2. Anthropocenic Journeys
Michael Northcott | 35
3. Resisting Geopower: Political Theologies of the Anthropocene
Austin Roberts | 57

PART II : DESTRUCTION AND SUICIDE
4. The Tradition of Destruction (Kaf ka’s Law)
Gil Anidjar | 79
5. Suicide Notes (In Remembrance of David Buckel)
Winfield Goodwin | 91
6. Catachresis in the Margins: Notes on Theologico-Political Method
Lawrence E. Hillis | 109

PART III : AFFECTIVE AND AXIOMATIC INTERVENTIONS
7. Doing Theology When Whiteness Stands Its Ground
Kelly Brown Douglas | 139
8. Paul between Protagoras and Rancière: “On the basis of equality, . . . that there may be equality”
Larry L. Welborn | 149
9. Listening for the Power of the People: A Political Theology of Affect
Lisa Gasson-Gardner | 165

PART IV : GLOBAL POLITICAL THEOLOGIES
10. Undressing Political Theology for an Animal-Saint Redress
Balbinder Singh Bhogal | 183
11. What Is Political about Political Islam?
Mehmet Karabela | 214

PART V : FROM GENOCIDE TOWARD A SACRED POLITICS
12. #BlackLivesMatter and Sacred Politics
Seth Gaiters | 237
13. Genocide and the Sin of Identity
Noëlle Vahanian | 254
14. Mystic S/Zong!
J. Kameron Carter | 272

Acknowledgments | 313
List of Contributors | 315