Monotheism, intolerance, and the path to pluralistic politics / Christopher A. Haw, University of Scranton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haw, Christopher A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Monotheism.

Religion and politics.

Religious tolerance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 272 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

Discussions of monotheism often consider its bigotry toward other gods as a source of conflict, or emphasize its universality as a source of peaceful tolerance. Both approaches, however, ignore the combined danger and liberation in monotheism's 'intolerance.' In this volume, Christopher Haw reframes this important argument. He demonstrates the value of rejecting paradigms of inclusivity in favor of an agonistic pluralism and intolerance of absolutism. Haw proposes a model that retains liberal, pluralistic principles while acknowledging their limitations, and he relates them to theologies latent in political ideas. His volume offers a nuanced, evolutionary, and historical understanding of the biblical tradition's emergence and its political consequences with respect to violence. It suggests how we can mediate impasses between liberal and conservative views in culture wars; between liberal inclusivity and conservative decisionism; and, on the religious front, between apologetics for exclusive monotheism and critiques of its intolerance.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title page

Copyright information

Contents

Preface

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Monotheism and Pluralism

Introducing René Girard, Jan Assmann, and Chantal Mouffe

Chapter Outline

1 Pluralism's Requisite Intolerance

A. How Tolerance Contains Intolerance

B. Reason Is No Escape from Exclusion

C. Maintaining the Incompatibility through Refusing Illusions of Unity

D. Us versus Them

E. Monotheism and Intolerance

2 Girard's Mimetic Theory and Monotheism's Ambivalent Effects

A. Mimesis and Divinizing Others

B. Mimesis Evolved: The Victimage Mechanism As a God-Machine and Basis of Culture

i. Gods

ii. Myths

iii. Taboos and Rituals

iv. Politics and the Scapegoat Mechanism

v. Religion Domesticated Humanity

C. Truth and Biblical Revelation

i. Biblical Monotheism and Siding with Victims

ii. Polytheism and Monotheism

D. History Deprived of Gods

E. Conclusion

3 Monotheism and the Monopoly on Violence: Freud and Girard

A. Finding Monotheism in Egypt?

B. Freud's Moses, the Aten-Worshipping Egyptian

C. The Even Deeper Aims: The Historical Truth of Religion

D. Restoring the Primal Father

E. What to Do with Moses and Monotheism?

4 Containing Violence and Two Entirely Different Kinds of Religion

A. Different Kinds of Religion

i. Primary and Secondary Religions

ii. Translatability and Political Theology

B. Different Kinds of Violence

5 Polytheism and the Victim in Ancient Egypt

A. The God-King Compaction: A Case Study in Egyptian Political Theology

i. Osiris and Seth: Gods Who Contain Violence

ii. Was Seth Translatable in Israel?

B. Akhenaton's Borderline Case: Nontranslatable, but Still Compacted God-King

C. After Akhenaton in Egypt: A Middle-Way Compromise.

6 A Political Theology of the Mosaic Distinction: The Development of Apophatic Intolerance

A. Israel As Originally Polytheistic

B. Exodus and the No Other Gods Movement

C. A Covenanted People

D. Prophetic Critique

E. King Josiah's Reforms toward Sovereignty under Assyrian Rule

F. Royalty Disappears

G. Ban on Images and Political Representation

H. Exile, Memory, and the Birth of a Canon

I. Post Exile

J. Zeal, Active and Passive

K. Conclusion: Monotheism Is Worth the Price of Its Intolerance

7 Jesus Christ and Intolerance: Toward Revelation without Rivalry

A. Axial Theory: Not Escape but Reconfiguration

B. Girard on the Transition from Primary to Secondary Religion

C. Trial: Judgment in Reverse

D. The Cross: Coronation in Reverse

E. Resurrection: Sovereignty in Reverse

F. The Land As the Body of a Victim: Paganism in Reverse

G. The Mosaic Distinction and Christian Intolerance

8 Conclusion: How to Be Intolerant

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 04 Jun 2021).

ISBN:

1-108-89634-0

1-108-89741-X

1-108-88891-7

OCLC:

1196821656