The Theological and the Political: On the Weight of the World
Princeton's Mark Lewis Taylor has always worked at the intersection of the political and theological. Now, in this intense and exciting work, he explores in a systematic way how those two dimensions of human reality can be conceived anew and together.
Taylor argues that the decline of political discourse, the justification of torture and preemptive war, mass incarceration, the misuse of religion to justify atrocity, and most especially the sheer weight of suffering in the world—all these developments urge us to reconceive theology itself.
In conjunction with the latest insights of political theory, decolonial thought, and spectral theories in contemporary philosophy, Taylor suggests that the political is the context of the theological and a realm in which we can discern, beyond simple categories of transcendence and immanence, a transimmanence that is theologically illuminative and politically liberating.
- Publisher Fortress Press
- Format Hardcover
- ISBN 9780800697891
- eBook ISBN 9781451413915
- Dimensions 6 x 9
- Pages 256
- Publication Date January 15, 2011
Endorsements
"In this haunted, haunting journey through poetry, philosophy, and political theory, Mark Taylor reimagines 'the theological' as a practice irreducibly concerned with human suffering. A much–needed negotiation of political, liberationist, and philosophical strategies, this book operates in the 'ruins of transcendence,' where thinking is embodiment and interpretation survival—perhaps even transformation."
—Mary–Jane Rubenstein
Assistant Professor of Religion
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
The Theological and The Political is strikingly original, theoretically robust, ethically sensitive, and politically resonant in a moment when so many forces are working to erode the possibilities of human flourishing. Mark L. Taylor has effected nothing less than a wholesale transformation of the discourse of theology—in deep solidarity with those who struggle with courage and dignity for a more righteous world.
—Corey D. B. Walker
Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Brown University
"Mark Lewis Taylor at his best! The Princeton professor of theology and culture offers here to his readers a deep, pathbreaking essay on our reflective relation to the divine amid the painful, perilous resistance to the earthly powers that be. A must–read for all concerned with the survival of humankind in the contemporary predicament of our planet."
—Otto Maduro
Professor of World Christianity
Drew University
"Intriguing, well–written, and well–researched, Mark Taylor's new project is also challenging. He introduces new categories to find a way beyond the binaries of transcendence and immanence in the search for 'the theological' in the political."
—Peter C. Hodgson
Charles G. Finney Professor of Theology Emeritus
Divinity School, Vanderbilt University
—Mary–Jane Rubenstein
Assistant Professor of Religion
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
The Theological and The Political is strikingly original, theoretically robust, ethically sensitive, and politically resonant in a moment when so many forces are working to erode the possibilities of human flourishing. Mark L. Taylor has effected nothing less than a wholesale transformation of the discourse of theology—in deep solidarity with those who struggle with courage and dignity for a more righteous world.
—Corey D. B. Walker
Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Brown University
"Mark Lewis Taylor at his best! The Princeton professor of theology and culture offers here to his readers a deep, pathbreaking essay on our reflective relation to the divine amid the painful, perilous resistance to the earthly powers that be. A must–read for all concerned with the survival of humankind in the contemporary predicament of our planet."
—Otto Maduro
Professor of World Christianity
Drew University
"Intriguing, well–written, and well–researched, Mark Taylor's new project is also challenging. He introduces new categories to find a way beyond the binaries of transcendence and immanence in the search for 'the theological' in the political."
—Peter C. Hodgson
Charles G. Finney Professor of Theology Emeritus
Divinity School, Vanderbilt University
Interview
Blog from Mark Lewis Taylor, "But Is That Theological?"
Fortress interviews Mark Lewis Taylor
Samples require Adobe Acrobat Reader
Having trouble downloading and viewing PDF samples?
Fortress interviews Mark Lewis Taylor
Samples require Adobe Acrobat Reader
Having trouble downloading and viewing PDF samples?