Occupy Wall St. – Žižek’s Act or Badiou’s Event?
I was downtown talking with people at Occupy Chicago last Monday, and I met a man named Les, who I mistook for the leader of the movement. I’m sure you all know that OWS is leaderless, but I’ve always assumed this is reall just code for Leader-Les, who happened to be a 67 year old man, retired and concerned about the future (or lack of) we are leaving for the future generations. Anyway,... Read More
Philosophy Is What It Eats
It is tough to still think, a hundred years into the linguistic turn, that philosophy is much in charge of anything: growing the food, overseeing the menu, preparing the meal, or even serving it up. But philosophy can still help us chew on things. It can be a second stomach that helps digest the kinds of ideas we’re growing, the kinds of machines we’re building, the... Read More
Genealogy, Memory, and the Danger in Political Theology
This guest post by David Horstkoetter and the previous post come from the recent panel discussion hosted by the new Political Theologies Seminar at Marquette University. The seminar is interested in theologies that intersect with contemporary political, social, economic, and cultural life. Participating faculty are Dr. D. Stephen Long and Emeritus Fr. Thomas Hughson and the... Read More
Against ‘Political’ Theology
This and the following post come from the recent panel discussion hosted by the new Political Theologies Seminar at Marquette University. The seminar is interested in theologies that intersect with contemporary political, social, economic, and cultural life. Participating faculty are Dr. D. Stephen Long and Emeritus Fr. Thomas Hughson and the coordinator is David Horstkoetter. ... Read More
Being Relevant: Confronting the latest sacred
by Rachel K. Ward The spectacle presents itself as a vast inaccessible reality that can never be questioned. Its sole message is: “What appears is good; what is good appears.” Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle, 1968 Relevance is the exact opposite of countercultural, the unintended consequences are significant. Gabe Lyons, The Next Christians, 2010 In the contemporary... Read More
An Interview on Approaching Texts as Philosophical Improvisations
For those interested, I was interviewed recently by a colleague and fellow philosopher, J. Douglas Macready, who blogs at The Relative Absolute. In the interview, we discuss informally, what I have called in the past, an “improvisational” approach to texts. You can access the interview here. The prelude to the interview reads: “Every philosopher eventually... Read More
Review of ‘Political Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty’
Paul Kahn’s new work Political Theology: Four new chapters on the concept of sovereignty is not an immediate choice for a Brit like me to pay attention to. For its immediate focus and concern is an examination of how the imagination for American political life is funded by ideas of revolution before notions of social contract (constitution). So for all non Americans... Read More
The Liturgical Turn: Toward a Theology of Birth / An Advent Meditation
Joseph. I’ve always found him extremely fascinating. I guess that’s partly due to the fact that we’re told so little about him. We know he was incredibly obedient to God. He was present for Mary’s pregnancy, Jesus’ birth and childhood, but once Jesus grows up, he’s strangely absent. The traditional reason is that he simply passed away. ... Read More
Home Waters: Soul as Watershed
Spurred by George Handley’s eco-theological reflections in Home Waters: A Year of Recompenses on the Provo River, I’ve been reading Wallace Stegner. Like Handley, Stegner is interested in the tight twine of body, place, and genealogy that makes a life. On my account, Handley and Stegner share the same thesis: if the body is a river, then the soul is a watershed. Like a... Read More
Towards a New Missional Mapping?
Jason Clark will be presenting this recent digest of missional theology later in November at 'Seek the Welfare of the City'. We thought that it would be helpful for you all to engage it here. Is there any pointing mapping the missional church? Is there a future for Evangelicalism? Let us know. Towards a New Missional Mapping? Read More
