Between Politics and Apocalypse: Discerning the missio Dei in the Contemporary Global Crisis

Michael Kirwan

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Chapter 2 Between Politics and Apocalypse: Discerning the missio Dei in the Contemporary Global Crisis

In: Theology and the Political

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Michael Kirwan

Michael Kirwan
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 15–29

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004440746_003

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Abstract

As a result of the “apocalyptic turn” of his later thinking, René Girard has publicly asserted that “politics can no longer save us.” For some, this judgement is an echo of Martin Heidegger’s enigmatic declaration that “only a god can save us.” This essay will offer a critical overview of some current thinkers regarding the legitimacy crisis of liberal democracy as well as of its Enlightenment presuppositions regarding statehood and citizenship, assumptions which tacitly or explicitly bracket religious transcendence as a dimension of political reflection and action. The state can no longer “save.” I will ask about the appropriateness of following Girard in describing this post-secularist situation religiously, namely as “apocalyptic.” The advantage of such a usage, I argue, is that it allows for a unitary and cohesive account of specific crises and their interconnections: the dysfunction of the global financial system, the rise of violent religious extremism, world poverty, the migrant/refugee crisis, and anthropogenic climate change. The argument will be supported by critical readings of Giorgio Agamben, René Girard, and other contemporary “Augustinian” approaches to the contemporary political challenge.

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Theology and the Political

Theo-political Reflections on Contemporary Politics in Ecumenical Conversation

Series: Theology and Mission in World Christianity, Volume: 16

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004440746

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 23 Oct 2020

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Chapter 2 Between Politics and Apocalypse: Discerning the missio Dei in the Contemporary Global Crisis

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Citation Info

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Theology and the Political

Theo-political Reflections on Contemporary Politics in Ecumenical Conversation

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