DOCSLIB.ORG

Reading Karl Barth in Myanmar: the Significance of His Political Theology for a Public Theology in Myanmar

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Reading Karl Barth in Myanmar: the Significance of His Political Theology for a Public Theology in Myanmar International Journal of Public Theology 12 (2018) 416–439 brill.com/ijpt Reading Karl Barth in Myanmar: The Significance of His Political Theology for a Public Theology in Myanmar David Thang Moe Ph.D Candidate, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY, USA [email protected] Abstract This article pays particular attention to the three themes in Barth’s macro-political theology and their contextual significance for a micro-political theology for Myanmar. First, I explore Barth’s renewed doctrine of political Lordship in response to the tradi- tional doctrine of two kingdoms. Second, I examine his hermeneutics of the dialectical relation between church and state and the ethical role of the church in the sociopo- litical situation in the light of his theological document of the Barmen Declaration against the evil of Nazism and the errors of the church. Finally, I seek to show how Barth’s political theology and liberation theology are convergent and divergent in their synthetic goals of transforming unjust rulers and liberating the oppressed, reforming and renewing the ethnic church, and establishing an embracive and reconciled com- munity in Myanmar. Keywords Barth – Myanmar militarism – Lordship – Political Theology – The oppressed 1 Introduction It is perhaps rather unusual to invoke the Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886– 1968) on behalf of a political and public theology that is relevant to contem- porary Myanmar. The most recent practice has been to concentrate on the differences between those who argue on the basis of a liberation theology and those who seek a way to nurture civil society in general. At face value Barth © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/15697320-12341554Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:27:14PM via free access Reading Karl Barth in Myanmar 417 seems to be an unlikely presence despite his being widely regarded as one of the fathers of contemporary political theology. The situation in life that confronted Barth was a world away from that of ethnic minorities wrestling with matters of identity and rights under a mili- tary regime where the overwhelming majority of citizens are Buddhists. The origins of his political thought are to be found his ten years of pastorate in the Safenwil village of less than 2,000 people (1911–1921).1 The formative years of his political theology was cast against a background of great upheavals tak- ing place on the other side of the world: World War I (1914–1918), the October Russian Revolution (1917), the General Strike in Switzerland (1918), and the rise of Nazism during the 1930s.2 In due course Barth would become the principal author of the Barmen Declaration and the Confessing Church in response to Nazism (1934). Of critical importance in the evolution of his thinking was his Commentary on Romans. First published in 1918 the second edition appeared in transla- tion in English in 1933. Nazism was coming to power. Barth now left behind an earlier reticence and argued that the problems facing Paul in the Roman Empire were similar to those confronting his contemporary Christians. Barth had begun to address explicitly the following kinds of questions: “what is the relation of theology to politics? What is the role of the church in politics? What is the relation of the Bible to culture or the newspaper? What is the preacher to preach?” Those same questions lie behind the task of a Christian witness and theol- ogy in Myanmar today. The military regimes continue to discriminate against the ethnic Christians, especially the Chins, Kachins and Karens because of their ethnic minority status and their religious identity as Christians in a Buddhist majority country.3 The argument is extended to include the common people—Pyithu-dukkha—who share an analogous experience. Pyithu-dukkha is a combination of two Burmese words. Pyithu refers to the 135 racial groups, whereas dukkha means suffering. When the words are com- bined pyithu pyitha then means all citizens of the country. When dukkha is placed alongside Pyithu, the meaning is implied exclusively to the non-ruling 1 Clifford Green, ed, Karl Barth: Theologian of Freedom (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1989), pp. 13–14. 2 George Hunsinger, ‘Toward a Radical Barth’, in George Hunsinger, ed, Karl Barth and Political Politics (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1972): pp. 181–234 at p. 224. Bruce L. McCormack, Karl Barth’s Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology: Its Genesis and Development 1909–1936 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 61, 184. 3 Kanbawza Win, ‘Are Christians Persecuted in Burma?’ in Asia Journal of Theology, 14:1 (April 2000): pp. 170–117. International Journal of Public Theology 12 (2018)Downloaded 416–439 from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:27:14PM via free access 418 Moe classes. Pyithu-dukkha refers to the suffering masses of people.4 Dukkha itself needs to be defined in two ways. First, the idea of dukkha as a cosmic reality is comparable to the Buddha’s first sermon on the Four Noble Truths. According to the first truth, dukkha is a cosmic reality of pain. It is similar in this respect to Paul’s use of sin as the cause of death (Rom. 5:12; 8:21–22). Dukkha is also a cause of evil. It possesses a moral sense. It is in this latter sense that the term dukkha will be employed. Just as Hitler causes suffering to the Jews, so the evil- regimes cause suffering to Pyithu-dukkha. According to the second Noble Truth, the cause of suffering is one’s desire.5 It is mistake to see the people’s suffering in Myanmar as a result of their vol- untary desires, however; their suffering is a consequence of the evil desires of the rulers. In Myanmar, a rich country blessed with natural resources, such as jades and minerals, the people’s poverty is the result of the rulers’ sin of omis- sion (the failure to do what they should do) and commission (they do what they should not do). They fail to promote the welfare of people; instead they exploit the Pyithu-dukkha.6 The socio-political oppression is so rampant in so- ciety that dukkha becomes a common spoken term for people to express their daily suffering. Melford Spiro rightly wrote that Dukkha is the most frequently used term in Burma; it is on everyone’s lips at work and on a trip. For Burmese, as for the rest of humankind, the notion that life involves suffering is not an article of faith; it is a datum of everyday experience.7 Pyithu-dukkha is the point of departure for an appropriate public theology. Its boundaries are set by three theological questions. What is the role of Christian community and other religious communities in the context of Pyithu-dukkha? How should a political-cum-public theology in Myanmar discern the relation- ship between divine authority and political authority? What is the public goal of political theology? Barth’s writings from another fraught context can here serve as a foil. It can do so in three ways. The first is by giving due attention to his renewed doctrine 4 For full account of definition of Pyithu-dukkha, see David Thang Moe, Pyithu-Dukkha Theology: A Paradigm for Doing Dialectical Theology of Divine Suffering and Human Suffering in the Asian-Burmese Context (Lexington, KY: Emeth, 2017), pp. 4–9. 5 Lynn A. De Silva, The Problem of the Self in Buddhism and Christianity (Colombo: The Center for Religion and Society, 1975), pp. 34–36. 6 Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear (New York: Penguin, 1991), p. 168. 7 Melford E. Spiro, Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vicissitudes (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1982), p. 74. International Journal of Public TheologyDownloaded 12from (2018) Brill.com09/26/2021 416–439 01:27:14PM via free access Reading Karl Barth in Myanmar 419 of the political Lordship as the ground for his hermeneutics of political theol- ogy. The second emerges out of his hermeneutics to do with the dialectical relationship between church and state and the role of the church in a politi- cal situation8 as shown in the Barmen Declaration. The third is by way of a comparison made with the liberation theologies of Gustavo Gutiérrez and its Asian expression through the work of Aloysius Pieris. How are Barth’s political theology and these liberation theologies interrelated in their common goals of liberating the oppressed and transforming the unjust rulers, reforming and renewing the ethnic church, and establishing an embracive community? 2 With Reference to Political Lordship Barth took the idea of Christ’s Lordship as an organizing principle for his politi- cal theology. It has been argued by Jürgen Moltmann (among others) that here he is indebted, by way of critique and appropriation, to Martin Luther. For the sake a theology relevant to the situation in Myanmar the difference between their renderings of the doctrine two kingdoms within which Lordship is em- bedded is critical. According to Luther “[t]here are two kingdoms—one is the kingdom of God, the other is the kingdom of the world.”9 His doctrine has its theological origin in a Jewish apocalyptic conflict between God and the devil, between Cain and Abel and between the righteous and unrighteous. Luther declared that “[w]e must divide Adam’s children and all people into two parts. The first those righteous belong to Christ and the rest unrighteous those who belong to the kingdom of the world.”10 His theory of the two kingdoms tended towards eschatology and lent itself to a separation between church and state. For Luther this doctrine of the two kingdoms provided for the spiritual rule of God and the secular rule of the world / devil.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Christian Realist Perspective: the Political Theology of Augustine
    The Christian Realist Perspective: The Political Theology of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Reinhold Niebuhr Tsoncho Tsonchev A Thesis in The Department of Theological Studies Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts (Theological Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada July 2015 © Tsoncho Tsonchev, 2015 ABSTRACT The Christian Realist Perspective: The Political Theology of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Reinhold Niebuhr Tsoncho Tsonchev Christian political theology deals with the problems of the ultimate questions: the existence of God and the application of His law in the realm of human relations. Through exploring the political theology of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Reinhold Niebuhr, this study discusses the great issues of war and peace, the character of human nature, the necessity of political responsibility, the importance of moral choices, the functions of authority, and the meaning of history and progress. It argues that Christian realism withstands the serious critiques leveled against it, provided that the complementary strengths and weaknesses of these three figures is taken into account. iii Acknowledgements I would not have been able to write this work, if I had not had the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge and erudition of the scholars at Concordia University Department of Theological Studies. In the past three years, their open to discussion and debate seminars introduced me to the great works of religious thought and gave me the audacity to express my views. The people who helped me most in this rewarding intellectual journey are Dr Jean-Michel Roessli, Dr Christine Jamieson, Dr Marie-France Dion, Dr Paul Allen, and Dr Lucian Turcescu.
    [Show full text]
  • “Politics and Beatitude”, Studies in Christian Ethics
    SCE0010.1177/0953946816684448Studies in Christian EthicsGregory 684448research-article2016 Article Studies in Christian Ethics 2017, Vol. 30(2) 199 –206 Politics and Beatitude © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0953946816684448 journals.sagepub.com/home/sce Eric Gregory Princeton University, USA Abstract The limits and secularity of political life have been signature themes of modern Augustinianism, often couched in non-theological language of realism and the role of religion in public life. In dialogue with Gilbert Meilaender, this article inverts and theologizes that interest by asking how Augustinian pilgrims might characterize the positive relation of political history to saving history and the ways in which political action in time might teach us something about the nature of salvation that comes to us from beyond history. This relation of continuity and discontinuity eludes dogmatic formulation, but the goal of the present article is to see where a shared Augustinianism and a shared commitment to aspects of the liberal political tradition might find illuminating disagreement. Keywords Meilaender, Augustine, Augustinianism, politics, eschatology, salvation I remember the anxiety in seeing Gilbert Meilaender raise his hand to ask the final ques- tion. It was one of my first conference presentations many years ago at the Society of Christian Ethics. I was a graduate student ruminating on the nature of desire and the relation of the love commands. Like the Israelites exploring Canaan, I felt like a grass- hopper among giants in the land. Meilaender’s frank question about my reconstruction of Augustine characteristically revealed basic issues about Christian tradition and human experience.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparative Political Theology
    Comparative Political Theology Author: Erich Kofmel Managing Director, Sussex Centre for the Individual and Society (SCIS) University of Sussex and Sciences Po/The Institute for Political Studies in Paris [email protected], [email protected] Fourth General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), Section "Political Theology as Political Theory", Panel "Political Theology and Theological Politics", University of Pisa, Italy, 6 September 2007 Abstract: For a research project I engaged in from 2004-2007, I gathered and analysed statements made by representatives of Islamist terrorist movements on the Internet and compared key themes of their ideology (such as "democracy", "capitalism", "globalization", "colonialism" and "underdevelopment") to the writings and ideology of authors in various traditions of Christian "political theology". In this paper, it is being established that there are clear similarities in the socio-political analysis advanced by Christian political and liberation theologians and representatives of Islamist terrorist movements and radical Islam, respectively. The paper also offers a short history and extended discussion of the concept of "political theology" and elaborates on radical Islam's understanding of theology and politics. Primary and secondary literature on Christian and Islamic political and liberation theologies and radical Islam are being reviewed (including the most recent writings on "political theology" emanating from, mainly leftist, theory circles in Europe and the US). In an attempt to expand the term "political theology" to cover the socio-political analysis, arguments, and ideology of radical Islam, anti-liberalism is revealed as the single most important factor underlying all political theology. The argument is made that being anti-liberal means being (at least potentially) anti-democratic as well.
    [Show full text]
  • Theology, Politics, and Antimodernism in Nazi Germany: Problematizing Theological Rhetoric and Political Theology
    Butler University Digital Commons @ Butler University Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 3-10-2013 Theology, Politics, and Antimodernism in Nazi Germany: Problematizing Theological Rhetoric and Political Theology Brent A. R. Hege Butler University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers Part of the European History Commons, Political History Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Hege, Brent A.R. "Theology, Politics, And Antimodernism In Nazi Germany: Problematizing Theological Rhetoric And Political Theology." Politics and Religion 6.1 (2013): 195-204. Available from: http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers/302 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Featured Reviews 195 release of nineteen other captured Indians, or refusing to shoot the Indian, which the captain says will lead him to shoot the nineteen others (95). Fisher notes that philosophers disagree about what the botanist ought to do, which he takes as a weakness of absolutist theories. But the point of Williams’ example, which he offered in an exchange over utilitarian- ism, is that morality involves more than weighing and numbers, even of lives. It also involves agency, intention, and responsibility. Williams means for his reader to feel the pull of the notion that some things ought not to be done despite the consequences of not doing them.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Theology: an Introduction
    School of Continuing Studies Autumn 2015 Georgetown University LSHV 493-01 ______________________________________________________________________ POLITICAL THEOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION Mondays, 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM, White-Gravenor 206B September 2 – December 9 Course Description There is no question that we are witnessing a revival of political theology as an academic disci- pline; a theology that has, through the ages, adapted to exigencies like secularization, moderni- zation, globalization, et al. As an academic discipline, political theology addresses questions such as, the relationship between theology and politics; the relationship between Church and State; the role of religion in public life; and, to what extend religious belief might/should shape our political discourse. Introduction to Political Theology is a graduate course that will explore the historical roots of political theology, while examining the philosophical, theological, and sociological relationship between religious faith and political life in civil society. Class readings will highlight some of the primary sources that influenced religious and secular practices and the ordering of society through the ages. We will look at the first generation of political theologians (Johann Baptist Metz, who started it all) and the second generation of political theologians (Cavanaugh, Hau- erwas, Milbank, O’Donovan, Yoder). Our discussions will focus on the age-old tension between the transcendent and secular, the sacred and the profane, and how this on-going oscillation has shaped and continues to shape public discourse. Through classroom discussion, reading of primary sources and class presentations, the peda- gogy of this course is designed to bring students up to date in the growing field of political the- ology.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Ethical Problem of Tyrannicide
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2015 The olitP ical Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Ethical Problem of Tyrannicide Brian Kendall Watson Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Watson, Brian Kendall, "The oP litical Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Ethical Problem of Tyrannicide" (2015). LSU Master's Theses. 612. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/612 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE POLITICAL THEOLOGY OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER AND THE ETHICAL PROBLEM OF TYRANNICIDE A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in The Department of Political Science by Brian K. Watson B.A., Baylor University, 2011 August 2015 PREFACE Who am I? They often tell me I would step from my cell’s confinement calmly, cheerfully, firmly, like a squire from his country-house. Who am I? They often tell me I would talk to my warders freely and friendly and clearly, as though it were mine to command. Who am I? They also tell me I would bear the days of misfortune equably, smilingly, proudly, like one accustomed to win.
    [Show full text]
  • Martin Buber's Biblical Critique of Carl Schmitt
    American Political Science Review, Page 1 of 14 doi:10.1017/S0003055418000680 © American Political Science Association 2018 Theopolitics Contra Political Theology: Martin Buber’s Biblical Critique of Carl Schmitt CHARLES H. T. LESCH Vanderbilt University his article recovers Martin Buber’s important but neglected critique of Carl Schmitt’s political theology. Because Buber is known primarily as an ethicist and scholar of Judaism, his attack on T Schmitt has been largely overlooked. Yet as I reveal through a close reading of his Biblical commentaries, a concern about the dangers of political theology threads through decades of his work. Divine sovereignty, Buber argues, is absolute and inimitable; no human ruler can claim the legitimate power reserved to God. Buber’s response is to uncover what he sees as Judaism’s earliest political theory: a “theopolitics,” where human beings, mutually subject to divine kingship, practice non-domination. But Buber, I show, did not seek to directly revive this religious vision. Instead, he sought to incorporate the spirit https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055418000680 . of theopolitics, as embodied by Israel’s prophets, into modern society. The result is a new and significant perspective on liberal democracy and political theology. “Underneath the new forms of living of the people-become- democracies, significant questions have arisen over the settled, which plants fig trees, lays out vineyards, builds place of religious discourse in the public sphere (Audi towns, and learns to treasure the value of guaranteed security, 2011; Eberle 2002; March 2009; Rawls [1999] 2002; there persists the old, nomadicizing resistance against the Smith 2010; Stout 2004; Weithman 2006) and the fea- dependency of an autocratic man and his clan.” sibility of building social solidarity on purely secular and —Martin Buber, Kingship of God ([1936] 1967, 161) rational foundations (Habermas [2005] 2008; Lesch https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms 2018, forthcoming).
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a 'Trinitarian Political Theology'
    Towards a 'Trinitarian Political Theology' JOHN CORRIE Christian political commitment needs an adequate theology to sustain it, for political ethics which lack a sound theological framework will soon become unbiblical. It is the conviction expressed here that the doctrine of the Trinity provides such a framework for Christian politics. The Trinity is the touchstone of Christian truth. Political decisions can thus be tested for their Christian authenticity by the extent of their faithfulness to a balanced doctrine of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Theology and Politics I begin with some basic presuppositions which we do not have the space to elaborate, but can only state. First, the doctrine of the Trinity is funda­ mental to all Christian theology. 1 Only a Trinitarian understanding of God gives adequate justice to the totality of the divine revelation in Scripture. A second presupposition is the conviction that the Christian faith is rele­ vant to politics. This needs some qualifications: for example, we must not say that theology and politics are indivisible, as though it were impossible to think of any aspect of the faith without its political implications. That would be to reduce Christian theology to an exclusively political theology, and that in turn impoverishes our understanding of God. But neither are we saying that politics and theology can make do with a relationship 'on speaking terms' but no more. Christian faith has definite and unavoidable political consequences, and the two cannot be kept apart without resulting in a dualism between Christ and the world, which denies the Incarnation.J Besides the Incarnation, there are other Christian doctrines which support the view that what we believe about God is directly related to political decision-making.
    [Show full text]
  • Carl Schmitt's Political Theology*
    Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology* HUGO BALL I. Carl Schmitt ranks among the few German savants who are equal to the pro - fessional dangers of a teaching chair in the present era. I do not hesitate to suggest that he has taken and established for himself the type of the new German savant. If the writings of this remarkable professor (not to say confessor) served only towards the recognition and study of its author’s catholic (universal) physiog - nomy, that alone would be enough to assure him a preeminent status. In a fine essay, “On Ideals,” Chesterton says that the remediation of our confused and des - perate age in no way requires the great “practical man” who is clamored for the world over, but rather the great ideologist. “A practical man means a man accus - tomed to mere daily practice, to the way things commonly work. When things do not work, you must have the thinker, the man who has some doctrine about why they work at all. It is wrong to fiddle while Rome is burning; but it is quite right to study the theory of hydraulics while Rome is burning.” 1 Carl Schmitt belongs to those who “study the theory of hydraulics.” He is an ideologist of rare conviction, and indeed it’s safe to say that he will restore to this word a new prestige, which among Germans has carried a pejorative meaning since Bismarck. 2 * This essay first appeared in Hochland 21, issue 2 (April–September 1924), pp. 263–86. Reprinted in Der Fürst dieser Welt: Carl Schmitt und die Folgen , ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Orthodoxy and Political Theology
    ORTHODOXY AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY selides Orthocoxy.indd 1 6/13/12 1:35:35 PM Doxa & PraxiS Exploring Orthodox Theology Dr Pantelis Kalaitzidis, series editor In light of the current challenges faced by global Christianity, Doxa & Praxis, a collaborative effort of the Volos Academy and WCC Publications, invites creative and original reflection that reappraises, reappropriates and further develops the riches of Orthodox thought for a deep renewal of Orthodox Christianity and for the benefit of the whole oikoumene. Board of Editorial Consultants Metropolitan of Pergamon John Zizioulas, Ecumenical Patri archate Metropolitan of Mount-Lebanon Georges Khodr, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch Rev Dr Emmanuel Clapsis, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Boston Dr Tamara Grdzelidze, Program Executive, Faith and Order, WCC Dr Alexei Bodrov, Rector, St Andrews Biblical Theological Institute, Moscow Dr Angeliki Ziaka, Assistant Professor at the School of Theology, Thessaloniki University Dr Peter Bouteneff, Associate Professor, St Vladimir’s Theological Seminary, New York Dr Radu Preda, Associate Professor of Cluj-Napoca University, Director of the Romanian Institute for Inter-Orthodox, Inter-Confessional, Inter-Religious Studies (INTER) Julija Vidovic, MTh,Member of the Central Committee of the Conference of European Churches (Orthodox Serbian Church) Aikaterini Pekridou, MTh, Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College, Dublin, and The Academy for Theological Studies, Volos selides Orthocoxy.indd 2 6/13/12 1:35:35 PM PANTELIS KALAITZIDIS ORTHODOXY AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY selides Orthocoxy.indd 3 6/13/12 1:35:36 PM ORTHODOXY AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY Doxa & Praxis series Translated from the Greek by FR GRE G ORY EDWARDS Copyright © 2012 WCC Publications.
    [Show full text]
  • Neoliberalism's Demons
    NEOLIBERALISM’S DEMONS NEOLIBERALISM’S DEMONS On the Political Theology of Late Capital ADAM KOTSKO Stanford University Press Stanford, California Stanford University Press Stanford, California © 2018 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid- free, archival- quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Kotsko, Adam, author. Title: Neoliberalism’s demons : on the political theology of late capital / Adam Kotsko. Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018003014 (print) | LCCN 2018007386 (ebook) | ISBN 9781503607132 | ISBN 9781503604810 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781503607125 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Political theology. | Neoliberalism—Philosophy. | Economics—Philosophy. Classification: LCC BT83.59 (ebook) | LCC BT83.59 .K68 2018 (print) | DDC 320.51/3— dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018003014 Cover design: Rob Ehle Cover illustration: composite from iStock imagery by Rob Ehle CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. The oliticalP Theology of Late Capital 11 2. The oliticalP and the Economic 39 3. Neoliberalism’s Demons 69 4.
    [Show full text]
  • The Politics of Holiness
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Dissertations (1934 -) Projects Sanctification as Virtue and Mission: The Politics of Holiness Nathan Willowby Marquette University Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Willowby, Nathan, "Sanctification as Virtue and Mission: The Politics of Holiness" (2016). Dissertations (1934 -). 640. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/640 SANCTIFICATION AS VIRTUE AND MISSION: THE POLITICS OF HOLINESS by Nathan Willowby, B.A., M.Div. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2016 ABSTRACT SANCTIFICATION AS VIRTUE AND MISSION: THE POLITICS OF HOLINESS Nathan Willowby, B.A., M.Div. Marquette University, 2016 This dissertation considers the political implications of the doctrine of holiness. I proceed by demonstrating the neglect of holiness in political theology, the viability of the holiness movement as an embodied witness of the political implications of the doctrine of holiness, and a biblical trajectory in Leviticus that extends into the New Testament. I describe this scriptural holiness as vocation for all of God’s people through personal formation and outward societal action to extend God’s holiness. With attention to the approaches of political theology and formation, I demonstrate that the holiness movement of the nineteenth century offers an example of holiness in practice that addresses societal problems (e.g., urban housing crisis, intemperance, and slavery). I then propose three theological issues that undermined the political vision of the holiness movement in the twentieth century.
    [Show full text]