Religion and Political Thought

Michael Hoelzl is lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Manchester. Graham Ward is Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics at the University of Manchester.

• I Introduction; Essay on religion and political thought.; II Classical Texts; 1. Introduction to and overview of the Classical Material beginning with Aristotle's analysis of different political forms of governance; 2. The Body Metaphor in Christian Polity; Augustine, excerpt from 'City of God'; John of Salisbury, excerpt from 'Policratus'; Aquinas, excerpt from 'On Government'; Boniface VIII, 'Unam Sanctam'; 3. The Battle for Sovereignty in Early Modernity; Martin Luther, excerpt from 'An Address to German Noblemen'; Jean Bodin, excerpt from 'Six Books on the Commonwealth'; James I, excerpt from 'Basilicon Doron'; Thomas Hobbes, excerpt from 'Leviathan'; Enlightenment; a) Monarchy and Parliamentarism in Europe; Jean Jacques Rousseau, excerpt from 'The Social Contract'; Joseph de Maistre, excerpt from 'On Constitution'; The French Constitution of 1793; Immanuel Kant, 'What is Enlightenment?'; b) Democracy and Constitutionalism in the United States; Thomas Paine, excerpt from 'Common Sense'; Constitution of the United States 1787; Excerpts from The Federalist Papers; Alexis de Tocqueville, excerpt from 'Democracy in America'; 5. From Marx to Socialism; Karl Marx, 'Introduction to the Critique OF Hegel's Philosophy of Right'; Max Weber, excerpt from 'Prostestantism and the Spirit of Capitalism'; Simone Weil, excerpt from 'The need for roots'; 6. Totalitarian Seduction in Democracy; Carl Schmitt, excerpt from 'Political Theology'; Hannah Arendt, 'Banality of Evil'; Eric Voegelin, excerpt from 'Political Religion'; III Current Debates; Giorgio Agamben, excerpt from 'Homo Sacer'; Slavoj Zizek, excerpt from 'Did Anyone say Totalitarianism?'; Charles Taylor, excerpt from 'Secularism and Democracy'; Johann Baptist Metz, excerpt from 'New Political Theology'; Marcella Althaus Reid (commissioned essay on Liberation Theology and Gender Politics); John Zavos (commissioned essay on Hinduism and Nationalism); Francesca Tarrocco (commissioned essay on Buddhism and the New China); Andreas Christmann (commissioned essay on Islamic Fundamentalism).

'This timely anthology is more than just a rounding up of the usual suspects.  Although the indispensable classic texts in political theology are here, they are joined by both classic "secular" political voices and some provocative new contemporary voices who work on the edge of politics and religion.  The editors' introductions and the texts themselves blur the lines between the temporal and the spiritual in helpful ways.  If the world is not simply advancing toward greater secularization, it may be because the "secular" itself is a kind of "religion."  This book is a tremendous resource for exploring such a world.' William T. Cavanaugh, Associate Professor of Theology, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA