The Future of Illusion: Political Theology and Early Modern Texts

Synopsis

In recent years, the rise of fundamentalism and a related turn to religion in the humanities have led to a powerful resurgence of interest in the problem of political theology. In a critique of this contemporary fascination with the theological underpinnings of modern politics, Victoria Kahn proposes a return to secularismOCowhose origins she locates in the art, literature, and political theory of the early modern periodOCoand argues in defense of literature and art as a force for secular liberal culture. aKahn draws on theorists such as Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss, Walter Benjamin, and Hannah Arendt and their readings of Shakespeare, Hobbes, Machiavelli, and Spinoza to illustrate that the dialogue between these modern and early modern figures can help us rethink the contemporary problem of political theology. Twentieth-century critics, she shows, saw the early modern period as a break from the older form of political theology that entailed the theological legitimization of the state. Rather, the period signaled a new emphasis on a secular notion of human agency and a new preoccupation with the ways art and fiction intersected the terrain of religion. Reclaiming a role for the arts in contemporary debates about liberalism and political theology, a"The Future of Illusion"aarticulates a new defense of what Hans Blumenberg called OC the legitimacyOCO of our modern secular age. "

Copyright:

2014

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

256 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780226083902

Related ISBNs:

9780226083872

Publisher:

The University of Chicago Press

Date of Addition:

07/16/23

Copyrighted By:

The University of Chicago Press

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Literature and Fiction, Religion and Spirituality, Language Arts, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.