Political Theologies at the End of the World

Summary, in English

This article engages critically with one of the more original and thought-provoking efforts of recent years to respond philosophically to the current predicament of the world: Thomas Lynch’s 2019 study Apocalyptic Political Theology. While agreeing with Lynch that the urgency of our times calls for more radical approaches than cautious dialogue or reformist adaptation, it nonetheless argues that apocalyptic political theologies eventually fall short precisely in their lack of radicality. To respond philosophically to a “world in crisis,” we need instead to explore alternative traditions of radical thinking, including alternative conceptions of revolutionary temporality. Drawing on the Jewish Trotskyist thinker Daniel Bensaïd, the concluding part offers an endeavor in this direction. Given the urgency of the moment, it suggests, we need to shift focus away from the idea of radicality as negativity and disinvestment towards an idea of radicality as tenacity, persistence, and hope against all odds.

• Author: Jayne Svenungsson
• Department/s: Studies in Faith and World Views; Christianity and Nationalism; Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES); MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World; Systematic Theology
• Publishing year: 2024
• Language: English
• Pages: 1-23
• Publication/Series: Eco-Ethica
• Volume: 12
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/ecoethica202582067
• Document type: Journal article
• Topic: Religious Studies
• Status: Published
• Research group: Christianity and Nationalism
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 2186-4802