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Valk, J.H. (2024)

Desire and the political theology of the international

Part of book or chapter of book
Political theological explorations of the international have mounted an important challenge to standard secularization narratives by drawing attention to the manner in which modern international political thought has taken up and refashioned theological notions. However, there exists a certain danger of reducing the political theological move to the level of intellectualism. Explorations would benefit from attention to theology understood as an embodied form of understanding, as a way of life, and more specifically to the manner in which desire shapes understanding of and action within the world of international politics. This chapter details the intellectualist danger in two prominent, recent interjections regarding the political theology of the international, those of Seán Molloy and William Bain. Next it flags how two key critics of the political theological move, Mark Lilla and Hans Blumenberg, actually recognize the centrality of desire in human thought and action, while...Show morePolitical theological explorations of the international have mounted an important challenge to standard secularization narratives by drawing attention to the manner in which modern international political thought has taken up and refashioned theological notions. However, there exists a certain danger of reducing the political theological move to the level of intellectualism. Explorations would benefit from attention to theology understood as an embodied form of understanding, as a way of life, and more specifically to the manner in which desire shapes understanding of and action within the world of international politics. This chapter details the intellectualist danger in two prominent, recent interjections regarding the political theology of the international, those of Seán Molloy and William Bain. Next it flags how two key critics of the political theological move, Mark Lilla and Hans Blumenberg, actually recognize the centrality of desire in human thought and action, while also noting the inadequacies of their accounts. It then highlights how the work of Charles Taylor and Talal Asad might inspire a political theology of the international that avoids the intellectualist danger by giving attention to desire.
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All authors
Valk, J.H.
Editor(s)
Williams, H.; Boucher, D.; Sutch, P.; Reidy, D.; Koutsoukis, A.
Date
2024-06-06
Title of host publication
The Palgrave Handbook of international political theory
Pages
249 - 268
ISBN (print)
9783031522420
ISBN (electronic)
9783031522437
DOI
doi:10.1007/978-3-031-52243-7_13