Nothing absolute : German idealism and the question of political theology

Featuring scholars at the forefront of contemporary political theology and the study of German Idealism, Nothing Absolute explores the intersection of these two flourishing fields. Against traditional approaches that view German Idealism as a secularizing movement, this volume revisits it as the first fundamentally philosophical articulation of the political-theological problematic in the aftermath of the Enlightenment and the advent of secularity. Nothing Absolute reclaims German Idealism as a political-theological trajectory. Across the volume’s contributions, German thought from Kant to Marx emerges as crucial for the genealogy of political theology and for the ongoing reassessment of modernity and the secular. By investigating anew such concepts as immanence, utopia, sovereignty, theodicy, the Earth, and the world, as well as the concept of political theology itself, this volume not only rethinks German Idealism and its aftermath from a political-theological perspective but also demonstrates what can be done with (or against) German Idealism using the conceptual resources of political theology today. Contributors: Joseph Albernaz, Daniel Colucciello Barber, Agata Bielik-Robson, Kirill Chepurin, S. D. Chrostowska, Saitya Brata Das, Alex Dubilet, Vincent Lloyd, Thomas Lynch, James Martel, Steven Shakespeare, Oxana Timofeeva, Daniel Whistler Intro Series Page Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction: Immanence, Genealogy, Delegitimation 1. Knot of the World: German Idealism between Annihilation and Construction 2. Utopia and Political Theology in the "Oldest Systematic Program of German Idealism" 3. Relational Division 4. Otherwise Than Terror: Ten Theses on the Modernist Secular 5. Kant's Unexpected Materialism: How the Object Saves Kant (and Us) from the Moral Law 6. Earth Unbounded: Division and Inseparability in Hölderlin and Günderrode 7. Kant with Sade with Hegel: The Death of God and the Joy of Reason 8. A Political Theology of Tolerance: Universalism and the Tragic Position of the Religious Minority 9. Hegel, Blackness, Sovereignty 10. Political Theology of the Death of God: Hegel and Derrida 11. Exception without Sovereignty: The Kenotic Eschatology of Schelling 12. Once More, from Below: The Concept of Reduplication and the Immanence of Political Theology 13. On the General Secular Contradiction: Secularization, Christianity, and Political Theology List of Contributors Index Series List Cover Nothing Absolute Title Copyright Contents Introduction: Immanence, Genealogy, Delegitimation 1 Knot of the World: German Idealism between Annihilation and Construction 2 Utopia and Political Theology in the “Oldest Systematic Program of German Idealism” 3 Relational Division 4 Otherwise Than Terror: Ten Theses on the Modernist Secular 5 Kant’s Unexpected Materialism: How the Object Saves Kant (and Us) from the Moral Law 6 Earth Unbounded: Division and Inseparability in Hölderlin and Günderrode 7 Kant with Sade with Hegel: The Death of God and the Joy of Reason 8 A Political Theology of Tolerance: Universalism and the Tragic Position of the Religious Minority 9 Hegel, Blackness, Sovereignty 10 Political Theology of the Death of God: Hegel and Derrida 11 Exception without Sovereignty: The Kenotic Eschatology of Schelling 12 Once More, from Below: The Concept of Reduplication and the Immanence of Political Theology 13 On the General Secular Contradiction: Secularization, Christianity, and Political Theology List of Contributors Index