Theology And World Politics: Metaphysics, Genealogies, Political Theologies (international Political Theory)

Situated within the wider post-secular turn in politics and international relations, this volume focuses not on religion per se, but rather explicitly on theology. Contributions to this collection highlight the political theological foundations of international theory and world politics, recasting theology and politics as symbiotic discourses with all the risks, promises and open questions this relation may involve. The overarching claim the book makes is that all politics has theology embedded in it, both in the genealogical sense of carrying ineradicable traces of rival theological traditions, and also in the more ontological sense of being enacted by alternative configurations of the theologico-political. The book is unique in bringing together a diverse group of scholars, spanning knowledge areas as varied as IR, political theory, philosophy, theology, and history to investigate the complex interconnections between theology and world politics. It will be of interest to students and scholars of political theory, international relations, intellectual history, and political theology. Vassilios Paipais is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of St Andrews, UK. He is the author of Political Ontology and International Political Thought: Voiding a Pluralist World (2017) Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Notes on Contributors 11 Chapter 1: Introduction: Religion or Theology? (Re)introducing Political Theology into the Study of World Politics 15 The Thirty Years’ Detour 15 From Religion to Theology 18 The Aim of This Volume 21 Contributing Chapters 23 Metaphysics 24 Genealogies 27 Political Theologies 29 References 32 Part I: Metaphysics 37 Chapter 2: ‘Obligations Written in the Heart’: Burke’s Primacy of Association and the Renewal of Political Theology 38 Introduction 38 Burke’s Conception of Association 40 Elements of Political Theology in Burke’s Conception of the International 40 Burke’s Account of Association 45 How Burke’s ‘Associationist’ Approach Informed His Analyses and Actions 50 Burke’s Associationist Approach in Question 54 On the Fundamental Differences Between Grotius and Burke 54 On Essentialism and a Lack of Relevance 57 Concluding Reflection 60 References 62 Chapter 3: The Political Theology of Thomas Hobbes and the Theory of Interstate Society 66 Hobbes and Religion 68 Anarchy as a Reflection Theology 74 Interpreting Legacy 80 References 85 Chapter 4: A Matter of Faith: Derrida, Žižek, and the Fourth ‘Overcoming of Gnosis’ 87 Derrida: Investing in the Counterfeit Money 90 Žižek: Denouncing the Fake Spectacle 94 Politics: Voiding Versus Working 100 A Matter of Faith 103 References 114 Chapter 5: The Cosmology of Mādhyamaka Buddhism and Its World of Deep Relationalism 117 Introduction 117 The Context of Debate: Emptiness and the Axial Age 120 Nāgārjuna on Śūnyatā (Emptiness) and Pratı̄tyasamutpāda (Dependent Origination) 123 Lessons for International Relations? 135 References 138 Part II: Genealogies 141 Chapter 6: Between Transcendence and Necessity: Eric Voegelin, Martin Wight, and the Crisis of Modern International Relations 142 Introduction 142 Voegelin’s Intellectual Trajectory: The ‘Tensions of Existence’ and the Problem of Order4 145 Voegelin, Wight, and International Relations 149 The Ambiguities of Crisis in Voegelin and Wight 155 Conclusion 159 References 164 Chapter 7: Political Theology and Sovereignty: Sayyid Qutb in Our Times 167 Introduction 167 Politicizing the Divine 171 Hakimiyyah and Jahiliyya 173 Anomalies 181 Conclusion 184 References 187 Chapter 8: The Nation, the Nations, and the Third Nation: The Political Essence of Early Christianity 190 Introduction 190 Conclusion 210 References 216 Chapter 9: On a Stasis of Memory or Disrupting the Postliminium 219 Introduction 219 A Remote Scene 221 Law, Territoriality, History 222 Modes of Otherness 223 Postliminium 225 Spectral Entities 227 Fallmerayer’s Position 228 Fragments from a Travel 230 Enemies Within 232 Impossible Restorations 234 The Weak Power of the Fragments 235 Apocalypticism and Messianicity 237 A Cloudy Spot 238 Conclusion 239 References 240 Part III: Political Theologies 242 Chapter 10: Total War and Limited Government: The German Catholic Debate at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age 243 Political Theology, Liberal Democracy, and Nuclear Weapons 243 Ultimate Questions 245 German Catholics and the 1950s Debate over Nuclear Weapons 247 The Pope’s Voice? Gustav Gundlach and the Defense of the Divine Order 248 Nothing New in Papal Teaching on War 249 “Social Eudaemonism”: What’s Worth Dying for? 250 Intrinsically Evil Instruments? 252 Gundlach’s Critics: fiat iustitia, pereat mundus Is Not Catholic Doctrine 253 Gundlach’s Inventions, Not the Pope’s Teaching 254 The Destruction of Natural Law Just-war Doctrine 256 Apocalypse in God’s Good Time, Not Ours 257 Fallout: The Government Was Not Pleased 258 Who Decides? The Political Theology Question 258 References 266 Chapter 11: Love as a Practice of Peace: The Political Theologies of Tolstoy, Gandhi and King 270 Introduction 270 Leo Tolstoy’s Law of Love 272 Gandhi’s Ahimsa 278 King’s Dangerous Altruism 283 Conclusion 288 References 290 Chapter 12: Reading Kant in the Light of Political Theology 294 Kant’s International Relations Viewed Through the Political-Theological Prism 296 The Crooked Wood Problem: Radical Evil and the Insufficiency of Human Beings 299 Education’s Role in Mankind’s Salvation 300 The Necessity of Belief: God as Holy Lawgiver, Benevolent Ruler and Just Judge 302 Toward Perpetual Peace I: Sin, Infernal Arts and the Prospect of Apocalypse 303 Toward Perpetual Peace II: Apocatastasis and Soteriology 306 Salvation by Faith: Belief in Providence as the Necessary Condition for Perpetual Peace 309 Kant Contra ‘Kantianism’: The Genealogical Effect of Political Theology 312 Conclusion: ‘What May I Believe?’ 314 References 318 Chapter 13: Religiosity with/out Religion: Hans J. Morgenthau, Disenchantment and International Politics 320 Introduction 320 Morgenthau on Religion and Religiosity 321 The Trajectory of the Desire for Justice 327 The Trajectory as Oriented 327 The Moral Dualism of the Trajectory 329 The Slippage Toward Ontological Dualism in the Trajectory 334 Revisiting the Religion and Religiosity Distinction 342 References 345 Index 349