Please note that this seminar will take place at the earlier time of 10:00 BST, not our usual lunchtime slot.
An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr David Newheiser (CTPI Duncan Forrester Fellow 2022; Australian Catholic University)
Political Theology and the Limits of Peace: Theorising Refusal and Aspiration
Recent research in political theology has struggled to respond to the rise of right-wing populism. Some scholars draw upon religious reflection on nonviolence to recommend a politics of connection; on this view, a moral commitment to mutual understanding is necessary to overcome political polarisation. The difficulty is that, as recent experience has shown, racial resentment is a key driver of right wing movements in the US, the UK and elsewhere. When faced with unconscious prejudice, connection can intensify rather than address structural violence.
In response, I aim to develop a negative political theology that acknowledges the importance of conflict as well as connection. In their recent work, Judith Butler, Joan Wallach Scott, and Bonnie Honig each describe the importance of negativity. As they explain, such acts of refusal are often figured as violent by agents of the prevailing order, but it may be the rupture required for new forms of relationship to emerge. Crucially, however, this negative gesture needn’t preclude the development of a positive political program. They suggest that connection is ambivalent and nonviolence is a paradoxical ideal, but in my reading this points to a negative political theology that incorporates both refusal and aspiration.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81322391722
Passcode: Vr8f3ew2