Since the 1970s, Buber has often been suspected of being a Volkish thinker. This essay reconsiders the affinity of Buber’s late writings with Volkish ideology. It examines the allegations against ...Buber’s Volkish thought in light of his later biblical and Hasidic writings. By illuminating the ideological affinity between these two modes of thought, the essay explains how Buber aims to depart from the dangers of myth without rejecting myth as such. I argue that Buber’s relationship to myth can help us to explain his critique of nationalism. My basic argument is that in his struggle with hyper-nationalism, Buber follows the Baal Shem Tov and his struggle against Sabbateanism. Like the Besht, Buber does not reject myth, but seeks instead to repair it from within. Whereas hyper-nationalism uses myth to advance its political goals, Buber seeks to reposition ethics within a mythic framework. I view Buber’s exegesis and commentaries on biblical and Hasidic myths as myth-activism.
Almost at Home in South Sudan Kaler, Amy; Parkins, John; Willey, Robin
Canadian journal of sociology,
03/2019, Letnik:
44, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In this study, we examine the experience of international Christian humanitarian aid workers and who work in South Sudan. From interviews with thirty people in east Africa and north America, we ...derive a relationship between Christianity as our participants understand it, and their modalities of encountering “the other” – the people of South Sudan, who may seem different and unfamiliar, yet who must be met as part of religiously motivated life and work. In terrain of South Sudan, we argue that our participants enact a theopolitics of recognition, in which their emotional and practical connections to the people they serve are triangulated through God. This theopolitics operates almost entirely at the individual level, as personal encounters and work are mediated by the assumption of a shared relationship to God. The people of South Sudan are recognized as both familiar and strange, because they share a posited connection to the divine with humanitarians from the global north. We argue that this recognition is different from other ways of encountering the other found in literature ranging from feminist theory to international development. This study thus adds to scholarly knowledge of faith-based organizations and global humanitarianism. We also argue that while the theopolitical modality makes possible certain kinds of ethical action, it may close off other forms of action based in broader political critiques of global relations of power.
Dans cette étude, nous examinons l’expérience des travailleurs humanitaires chrétiens étrangers qui travaillent au Soudan du Sud. À partir d’entretiens avec une trentaine de personnes en Afrique de l’Est et en Amérique du Nord, nous formulons une relation entre le christianisme tel que nos participants le comprennent et leurs modalités de rencontre avec « l’autre », c’est-à-dire le peuple du Soudan du Sud, qui peut sembler différent et peu familier et qu’ils rencontrent dans le cadre d’une vie et d’un travail motivés par la religion. Au Soudan du Sud, nous soutenons que nos participants adoptent une théopolitique de la reconnaissance, dans laquelle leurs liens émotionnels et pratiques avec les gens qu’ils servent sont triangulés par Dieu. Cette théopolitique fonctionne presque entièrement au niveau individuel, car les rencontres personnelles et le travail sont médiatisés par l’hypothèse d’une relation commune à Dieu. Le peuple du Soudan du Sud est reconnu à la fois comme familier et étranger, parce qu’il partage un lien posé avec le divin avec les humanitaires du Nord. Nous soutenons que cette reconnaissance est différente des autres façons de rencontrer l’autre que l’on trouve dans la littérature allant de la théorie féministe au développement international. Cette étude s’ajoute ainsi à la connaissance savante des organisations confessionnelles et de l’humanitarisme mondial. Nous soutenons également que si la modalité théopolitique rend possible certains types d’action éthique, elle peut fermer d’autres formes d’action fondées sur des critiques politiques plus larges des relations globales de pouvoir.
The current article revisits the tenuous relationship between Martin Buber’s conception of divine rule on earth (theopolitics) with Carl Schmitt’s famous notion of political theology, by underscoring ...their shared, though diametrically opposed interest in Gnostic ideas. Based on a reading of Buber’s heretofore unpublished lectures on Judaism and Christianity, the study outlines the nexus between the German tradition of scientific research, religious ideology and political visions, in order to show that Buber’s treatment of Gnosticism in the lectures is belied by an implicit critique of Schmitt’s dualistic distinction between friend and foe that legitimizes the subversion of liberal democracy. The Gnostic canon that Buber identifies in certain parts of the New Testament is shown to be based on the very same scientific research that fed Schmitt’s fascination with Gnostic teachings.
The Rise of Theopolitics TAKAHASHI, Sanami
Studies in THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION,
2024/03/31, Letnik:
41
Journal Article
Odprti dostop
This paper delves into the concept of theopolitics, which was originally coined to depict ecclesiastical geopolitics within the Eastern Orthodox Church. Through an exploration of its historical roots ...and theoretical foundations, the study reevaluates the Russo-Ukraine conflict from a diachronic perspective, focusing on the inter national balance of power within the Orthodox Church. This paper scrutinizes the antecedents of the conflict in the following manner. First, the local church system of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Canon Law are summarized. Second, the dialogic efforts among the local churches to convene a Pan-Orthodox Council during the 20th century are examined.In the context of evolving global relations, the dynamics of power politics among autocephalous churches, defined as theopolitics, are undergoing a serious reassessment. The 2018 excommunication by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, acknowledged as the highest authority (primus inter pares) in the Eastern Or thodox world, and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, boasting the largest Orthodox population, underscored the theological tensions surrounding the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. This paper attempts to examine the maintenance of diversity and pursuit of a unified faith in the Orthodox Church during times of crises.
This article first argues that the thinking behind different theories of collective self-constitution – normative political and reflexive – is commonly restricted by the particularly occidental ...metaphysics of medieval natural theology which rendered transcendence immanent and domesticated and absolutized God’s unlimited power. The article then shows how this “defective immanence” of constitutional thinking functions ideologically through retroactively colonizing other forms of “theo-politics” in non-occidental monotheistic socio-political organizations.
The question of Hebrew, the conditions and possibilities of its "renaissance" and its rebirth as a secular language and a source of modern national discourse, was one of the central concerns of the ...Zionist enterprise around 1900. In his famous letter of December 1926 dedicated to Franz Rosenzweig and titled "Bekenntnis über unsere Sprache," Gershom Scholem expressed his anxiety with the Zionist project and reveals his apocalyptic view of the future of the New Hebrew. The author of this essay attempts to reconstruct the historical, metaphysical, and philological context of Scholem's letter. The author discusses the letter's theological background (the Kabbalistic theory of God's names, the figure of the "demon") and its political implications and considers Scholem's dialogue with Rosenzweig and Bialik as an additional context for the understanding of its complexities. The author also provides a model of cultural criticism that explores the dialectic of Jewish secularization and exposes the paradoxes of theopolitics and modernism in Zionist thinking.
La "Faith-based" diplomatie américaine et les ambiguïtés du plan Marshall : le cas de la France dans l’après-guerre. Le Président Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) affirme dès 1946 que les E.U. doivent ...s’armer d'une « diplomatie fondée sur la foi » pour encourager la reconstruction spirituelle d'une Europe « déchristianisée » face au communisme. Pour faire barrage au marxisme de l’Union Soviétique, il fallait commencer par la France, vue comme la pierre de voûte spirituelle. Plus que toute autre nation, elle bénéficie avec le plan Marshall d'un puissant soutien financier militaire, économique et d'une conquête des cœurs et des esprits. De multiples agences interviennent dans cette période alors que les Églises américaines redécouvrent cette terre de mission. Généralement articulées autour de la conviction religieuse des Présidents, les initiatives sont relayées sur le terrain par l’engagement d’acteurs privés. Officialisée en 1998 par le président Clinton dans la promulgation de l’Acte international sur la liberté religieuse, cette approche a justifié la ténacité des missionnaires de 1945 à nos jours dans une France catholique religieusement peu diverse. Encouragées par le quatrième Réveil la plupart des missions américaines, églises protestantes historiques, nouvelles religions ou NMR (mormons, adventistes, témoins de Jéhovah etc...) et Évangéliques ont bien accueilli cette opportunité, phase d’introduction pour certaines ou de redémarrage pour d’autres déjà présentes dès le 19ème siècle. Bien que l'entreprise de « nation building » économique et culturelle de la France ait été perçue par l’opinion américaine de l’époque comme l'une des plus décevantes de l’après-guerre, les résultats de la transformation de la société française sont apparus avec un décalage dans le temps. Pouvons-nous alors retracer les sources des mutations transatlantiques des religions d'origine américaine et l’évolution du paysage religieux français aux activités gouvernementales et missionnaires en ce début de la Guerre froide ?
President Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) claims in 1946 that the U.S. should advance a "faith-based" diplomacy to encourage the spiritual reconstruction of a “dechristianized” Europe .To stand in the way of a Marxist and Godless Soviet Union, it has to begin with France, seen as the spiritual stone arch. More than in any other nation, the Marshall Plan brings a financial, economic and military support, willing to conquer hearts and minds. Many key governmental agencies are involved in this time period, while American churches engaged in aid relief are rediscovering France as a new mission territory. Usually strongly influenced by the religious conviction of the Presidents, "Faith-based policies” supporting Foreign policies are reinforced on the ground by the engagement of private voluntary organizations (PVOs). Formalized in 1998 by President Clinton as a tool in Foreign policy in the enactment of the Act on International Religious Freedom, this approach justifies the tenacity of missionaries from 1945 to the present day in a secular and catholic France. Encouraged by the Fourth Awakening, most American missions, mainstream Protestant churches, new religions like NRM (Mormonism, Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc...) and Evangelicals, welcome this mixed opportunity: a comeback for a few denominations already presents in the 19th century and for others a chance for a fresh beginning. Although the business of "nation building”, the reshaping of the economic and cultural life of France, is perceived by the American public opinion as one of the most disappointing of the post-war, a deeply transformed French society will later emerge. The overlapping of American public and private organizations, of American churches and missionaries lay the groundwork for the radical transformation of a French monolithic religious landscape. Without doubt this can be traced to this short and critical experimental period of the Early Cold War.
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