Political Theology and Law

The book explores the relationship between political theology and neoliberalism, arguing that the latter is a deeply anti-political form of political theology that forecloses modes of resistance. It clarifies misunderstandings about political theology and offers a reading of the analogic connection between juridico-political concepts and theological-metaphysical concepts. It is of interest to scholars, researchers, and advanced students in modern political and legal philosophy, as well as those researching the crisis of its legacy.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 194 pages
Publication date: 27 May 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Political theology is a complex and multifaceted concept that has been the subject of much debate and discussion. In this book, the author seeks to address two main questions: Can political theology be overcome? And, is what today – in referring to neoliberalism and its genealogy – many define as economic theology truly an alternative to political theology, as Foucault has claimed and as Agamben does today?

The book begins by clarifying various misunderstandings about the notion of political theology, in its multiple and even opposite meanings. It then focuses on a conceptualisation inaugurated by Carl Schmitt, which sees political theology as the eloquent matrix of modern politics: insofar as the latter produces and continuously re-elaborates an excess that does not belong to it, its core remains theological-political, although secularised.

The bulk of the book then pursues a reading of the analogic connection between juridico-political concepts and theological-metaphysical concepts. The author argues that, although the ‘turn to economic theology is indeed another form of political theology, it is a deeply anti-political one, which forecloses modes of resistance.

The book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and advanced students in the fields of modern political and legal philosophy and those researching the crisis of its legacy. In particular, it is addressed to those who study the relationship between theology (and its substitutes, such as hegemony and political myth) and politics, power and law, legitimacy and legality, in the perspective of secularization. In addition, the book offers a contribution to contemporary critical studies on the neoliberal state and the return of the state of exception in democracies, as well as a questioning of the moralization of law, which is an effect of globalist ideology and the humanitarian turn after 1989.

In conclusion, this book provides a valuable and insightful analysis of the relationship between political theology and neoliberalism. It challenges the notion that neoliberalism is an alternative to political theology and argues that it is, in fact, a deeply anti-political form of theology that forecloses modes of resistance. The book is well-written and accessible, and will be of interest to anyone interested in the relationship between religion, politics and law.

Weight: 312g
Dimension: 233 x 156 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032357249