Political theology and the conflicts of democracy / Nicholas Norman-Krause.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Norman-Krause, Nicholas, author.

Series:

New Cambridge studies in religion and critical thought.

New Cambridge studies in religion and critical thought

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political theology.

Christianity and politics.

Democracy--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 361 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

Nicholas Norman-Krause argues, in this authoritative and sophisticated new treatment of conflict, that contestation is a basic - potentially regenerative - aspect of any flourishing democratic politics. In developing a distinctive 'agonistic theology,' and relating the political theory of agonism to social and democratic life, the author demonstrates that the conflicts of democracy may have a beneficial significance and depend at least in part on faith traditions and communities for their successful negotiation. In making his case, he deftly examines a rich range of religious and secular literatures, whether from the thought of Augustine, Aquinas, and Stanley Cavell or from less familiar voices such as early modern jurist and political thinker Johannes Althusius and twentieth-century Catholic social philosopher Yves Simon. Liberationists including Gustavo Gutiérrez and Martin Luther King, Jr. are similarly recruited for a theological account of conflict read not just as concomitant to, but also as constitutive of, democratic living.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Reviews

Series page

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Democracy in Conflict

Democracy in Conflict

Agonistic Political Theology

Democracy, Religion, and Pluralism

Sovereignty and the Politics of Creaturehood

A Note on Terms: Conflict and Political Theology

The Argument at a Glance

1 Augustinianisms and Liberalisms: Political Theology and the Problem of Difference

1.1 Postliberal Augustinianism and the Aesthetics of Difference

1.1.1 The Speculative Task: Difference and an "Ontology of Peace"

1.1.2 The Practical Task: Postliberal Socialism and the Management of Difference

1.1.3 Sociality, Creaturely and Divine

1.2 Augustinian Civic Liberalism and the Ascetics of Difference

1.2.1 The New Augustinians: Civic Liberalism and Republican Citizenship

1.2.2 Political Ontology: Saeculum and Sacramental Pluralism

1.2.3 Pilgrim Politics: Ascesis and the Order of Love

1.2.4 Conflict and the Limits of Liberalism

1.3 Conclusion: Politics and Difference Beyond Augustine?

2 Radical Democracy and Agonistic Theology

2.1 Agonistic Democracy and the Politics of Difference

2.1.1 Antagonism: Conflict and Social Ontology

2.1.2 Agonism: Radical Democracy and Pluralist Politics

2.1.3 Community: Fugitivity, Assemblage, Societas

2.2 Agonistic Politics and Radical Political Theology

3 Being in Conflict: A Political-Theological Anthropology

3.1 Multitudo, Creaturely and Divine

3.2 Agonistic Creatures: Finitude, Contingency, Embodiment

3.2.1 Finitude

3.2.2 Contingency

3.2.3 Embodiment

3.3 Ordinary Conflict: A (Very) Brief Phenomenology

3.4 Conclusion

4 Judging in Conflict: Agonistic Political Community

4.1 Creaturely Politics: Johannes Althusius and Yves Simon.

4.1.1 Consociatio and the Politics of Creaturely Association

4.1.2 Democratic Community and the Politics of Common Action

4.2 Judgment and Agonistic Community

4.2.1 Political Judgment

4.2.2 A Democratic Theory of Judgment

4.2.3 Judgment and Sensus Communis

4.2.4 Judgment and Conflict

4.2.5 Judgment and Dissent

4.3 Agonistic Community: The Industrial Areas Foundation

4.3.1 Seeing: Affective Attunement and Bringing an Object into View

4.3.2 Judging: Framing and Assembling

4.3.3 Acting: Common Action and the Public Use of Conflict

4.4 Conclusion

5 Loving in Conflict: Theological Agonistics

5.1 Loving Things

5.2 Loving Friends

5.3 Loving Enemies

5.4 Conclusion

Epilogue: Agonistic Democracy in Neoliberal Times

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 24 Mar 2025).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781009603836

1009603833

9781009603874

1009603876

9781009603829

1009603825

OCLC:

1512301378