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From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological...
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From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological Knowledge and Religious Studies

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Theologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 10407

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alex Villas Boas

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Guest Editor
CITER - Research Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 1649-023 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: systematic theology; theological epistemology; theology and literature; ancient Christian authors and classical studies; complexity; common home issues; public theology; archaeology of theo-logical knowledge
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. João Duque

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
CITER - Research Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 1649-023 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: political theology; religion and political philosophy; postmodernity; religion and digital culture; religion and philosophical phenomenology
Prof. Dr. Isidro Lamelas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CITER - Research Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 1649-023 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: christianity and ancient world; patristics; early Christian literature; Christian origins; Saint Augustin; gnosticism; archeaolgy of theological knowledge

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The premise of the German jurist, Carl Schmitt, that modern political concepts are understood as a secularized expression of theology and his attempt of support the Nazi «total State» was directly related to Hitler's statement as: “I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator: By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work” (Mein Kampf, 1925). With the arrival of the Führer as the salvation from the Weimar Republic’s crisis, two perspectives prevail: the establishment of a state of exception as a kind of divine intervention to maintain the order; the formulation of a Sovereignty of the State as a secularization of papal infallibility in the Church, in which, in the face of the crisis, «uniformization» (Gleichschaltung) was necessary as a power structure that eliminate all types of dissonant expression. On the one hand, it does not seem to be a coincidence that groups with authoritarian discourses still claim such a divine mandate in contemporary times. Thus comes the perception of insufficiency of the secularization hermeneutics aiming to guarantee the noble ideal of secularism as protecting public order and safeguarding individual freedom of conscience, limiting them to the private sphere. However, within the framework of typical recomposition of post-secular societies, the scope of certain political projects get support through a religious self-referentiality explored as an immunizing element in the contexts of critical debate typical of the public sphere. The emergence of a “public religion”, in these circumstances, may not help to build a common project, shared by a pluralistic society, but becomes an instrument for the political strengthening of identity blocks. On the other hand, simultaneously, there is the emergence of counter-hegemonical plural political theological hermeneutics, committed to a public agenda within the religious traditions, such as the contextual theologies and currently some world religious leaders who have committed to the 2030 Agenda, to the point of being recognized by some UN analysts as a “spiritual” sector, viewed as a possible source of wisdom, valid for building consensus about life in common. Nonetheless, the incorporation of a public agenda in the religious realm by itself is still insufficient to contain the growth of extremist groups in democratic societies with religious support. To this end, this Special Issue aims to collect contributions from the interlocution of three archaeological projects, , namely those of Michel Foucault, Michel de Certeau and Giorgio Agamben, that focus on the tension between this theological self-referentiality and the emergence of an public rationality, as a way to: a) offering more complex analysis tools for the question of the reemerging of the political theological discourse in post-secular societies; b) establishing an epistemological critique of theological self-referentiality, mapping its modern forms; c) analyzing, using an expression by De Certeau, how the change of perspective in religious traditions operates like a Trojan horse that re-signifies theological structures from an ethical sensitivity to new dilemmas from a plurality of resistance tactics.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Alex Villas Boas
Prof. Dr. João Duque
Prof. Dr. Isidro Lamelas
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • archaeology of theological knowledge
  • Michel de Certeau
  • public theology
  • public rationality
  • Michel Foucault
  • Giorgio Agamben
  • religion and public agenda
  • public ethics
  • heterologies

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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12 pages, 231 KiB  
Article
The Importance of the Nicean Creed for Christian Identity: A Theological–Pastoral Reading from the Philosophy of Austin and Lakatos
by Susana Vilas Boas
Religions 2024, 15(4), 447; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040447 - 1 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1314
Abstract
The act of believing implies an inner assent, but it is neither limited to a blind acceptance of certain arguments nor to an empty repetition, without practical consequences, of a set of concepts that one claims to defend. This article, allied with the [...] Read more.
The act of believing implies an inner assent, but it is neither limited to a blind acceptance of certain arguments nor to an empty repetition, without practical consequences, of a set of concepts that one claims to defend. This article, allied with the philosophy of language (Austin) and the philosophy of science (Lakatos) will aim, on the one hand, to present a philosophical–theological reading of believing and, on the other hand, an understanding of the implications of the assent of faith regarding the Nicean Creed for Christian identity. The research briefly presented here will refer to the firm core of Christianity, as well as the arguments that aid its defence and understanding vis-à-vis believers and non-believers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological Knowledge and Religious Studies)
15 pages, 283 KiB  
Article
Debt: A Political–Theological Device Acting in Favor of the Neoliberal Ethos
by Douglas Ferreira Barros and Glauco Barsalini
Religions 2024, 15(3), 285; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15030285 - 26 Feb 2024
Viewed by 938
Abstract
This article intends to examine debt as a basilar political–theological device acting in favor of the neoliberal ethos. The Papal Encyclical Laudato Si affirms in paragraph 52 that debt today serves the control over the poor peoples in the world. In this [...] Read more.
This article intends to examine debt as a basilar political–theological device acting in favor of the neoliberal ethos. The Papal Encyclical Laudato Si affirms in paragraph 52 that debt today serves the control over the poor peoples in the world. In this article we demonstrate how debt can be seen as a political–theological device that works as an instrument of this specific ethos, aligned with neoliberal principles. We intend to show how these elements are related using three analytical movements. In the first, we present how we understand political theology as a critical reflection about the forms of political power. We observe that power, in its form and in the way it operates, replicates the theological–political power status prior to modernity, operating an excluding inclusion machinery. In the second movement, we analyze the political theology machinery that impacts individuals in the operation of an “excluding inclusion”. Under the political–theological machinery, individuals, groups, or populations are considered as a part of the machinery; they are included because they are incorporated in the new organism as they are excluded from their original content—language, ethos, culture, and their constitution as subjects. Then, in the third, we present the notion of the device, explicitly, a device constituted by a web of odd components and flexible relations that, when isolated as independent elements, act in the subject’s formation. In these terms, debt as a device of the political–theological machinery works to form individuals; it is a device that operates the excluding inclusion to make subjects more and more adapted to the market rules and habits. The very sense of debt in the post-productive era is challenged. We present how the possible exits from this machinery involve not only the debate on the forgiveness of foreign debts, but also how they are intrinsically linked to the creation of a new ethos, new ways of life created by relations outside the orbit of debt control. The conclusion intends to show how necessary it is to restore to people new forms of control over a way of life that is not regulated and ruled by debt. The methodology employed analyzes arguments that originated from works and articles concerning this theme. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological Knowledge and Religious Studies)
13 pages, 241 KiB  
Article
Metamorphoses of Friendship: Jacques Derrida and Saint Augustine
by Jacques Julien
Religions 2024, 15(1), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010089 - 10 Jan 2024
Viewed by 2142
Abstract
In his Circumfession, Jacques Derrida journeys at length with Saint Augustine. The angle adopted is somewhat autobiographical, its philosophy staying as close as possible to the body, to the intimate, to the family. In Politics of Friendship, the Bishop of Hippo [...] Read more.
In his Circumfession, Jacques Derrida journeys at length with Saint Augustine. The angle adopted is somewhat autobiographical, its philosophy staying as close as possible to the body, to the intimate, to the family. In Politics of Friendship, the Bishop of Hippo is one interlocutor among others. Once again, the autobiographical vein is kept alive, this time by book IV of Augustine’s Confessions. The episode of private life, the dear friend’s death, opens now onto political dimensions. Saint Augustine plays a pivotal role in what Derrida calls the infinitization of friendship. Over time, links were put in place, and the contemporary society cannot ignore or get rid of them. Our work here goes back to the traces left in the writings of Saint Augustine by the most classic canons of friendship incorporated into Christian theology. In our conclusion, we will see that Derrida puts this tradition in tension with fraternity, family, and community—all elements that the philosopher considers the most problematic in our current situation, and even more so for a democracy to come. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological Knowledge and Religious Studies)
15 pages, 285 KiB  
Article
Biopolitics, Immunity, and Religion: A Brief Critical Reading of Roberto Esposito
by João Manuel Duque
Religions 2024, 15(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010018 - 21 Dec 2023
Viewed by 2034
Abstract
In Western culture, it is possible to trace an archeology of the political as an effect of theological-political devices (essentially Christian-inspired). If we add to this the evolution of politics, in modern times, towards biopolitics, then this relationship focuses on very concrete topics. [...] Read more.
In Western culture, it is possible to trace an archeology of the political as an effect of theological-political devices (essentially Christian-inspired). If we add to this the evolution of politics, in modern times, towards biopolitics, then this relationship focuses on very concrete topics. This is the case of the immunological process—from a personal, social, and philosophical perspective—thoroughly analyzed by the Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito. In the context of his philosophical immunology, the place of religion is mainly archaeological and is interpreted critically: either as an immunization mechanism that results in self-immunization, destroying what it intends to defend; or in another way, from a perspective closer to the Christian tradition, as a “theological–political machine”, based on the “person” device, which ends up giving rise to binarisms that dissolve themselves into the One, by the domain of one of the poles. This article aims to critically analyze his position on both aspects, proposing a reading close to his thought but which is, at the same time, somewhat different. This proposal is directly inspired by neither a binarian nor an immunological, but rather a “ternary” trinitarian theology. The originality of the article lies in evaluating the place of religion within Esposito’s philosophical immunology—which has not been worked on—as well as in a critical discussion on his interpretation either of religion or of some theological–political devices; this critical approach is based on an alternative reading of the same topics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological Knowledge and Religious Studies)
8 pages, 219 KiB  
Article
Archaeology and Hauntology: An Ongoing, Stalled Conversation
by Colby Dickinson
Religions 2023, 14(10), 1286; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14101286 - 12 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1090
Abstract
It is certainly possible that we might learn to better acknowledge the spirits of our ancestors who came before us, as well as to recognize them in such ways that we also learn to embrace the ‘woven density’ of our own lives, our [...] Read more.
It is certainly possible that we might learn to better acknowledge the spirits of our ancestors who came before us, as well as to recognize them in such ways that we also learn to embrace the ‘woven density’ of our own lives, our histories and our communities. By doing so, we might begin to discover that the spirits we had thought were removed from our modern, secularized world never fully left us, just as the irrationality of our humanity cannot be fully tamed via a reductive, rational and scientific outlook on life. There are, as Bruno Latour had frequently argued, many modes of human existence that interact in complex networks of relations. To fall back on any one particular mode as if it could dominate over others would only grant us a mistaken impression of our own humanity, even though this is what has been practiced for centuries in order to legitimate a particular, sovereign configuration of power. It is to the credit of archaeologists and hauntologists alike that we are more able than ever to take account of the complexity of ourselves in ways that we had previously ignored or repressed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological Knowledge and Religious Studies)

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15 pages, 297 KiB  
Essay
Doing What, by Whom, for Whom and How?: An Essay on Interests, Modes, Methods and Other Dynamics in “Theology” and/or “Religious Studies”
by Paul Gareth Weller
Religions 2023, 14(9), 1142; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091142 - 6 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1477
Abstract
The essay begins with a methodological exploration of aspects of the continuing contested relationship between modes of engaging in the study of religion, which are often described in English as “Theology” or “Religious Studies” and more sharply differentiated in the German language as [...] Read more.
The essay begins with a methodological exploration of aspects of the continuing contested relationship between modes of engaging in the study of religion, which are often described in English as “Theology” or “Religious Studies” and more sharply differentiated in the German language as Theologie and Religionswissenschaft. By reference to the example of some of the conflicts that emerged around the formation of the European Academy of Religion, the essay shows how these two modes can solidify into opposing scholarly camps. While acknowledging the economic pragmatics that can come to the fore in institutional settings, it notes that the primacy of “Theology” was rooted in a Christendom social, religious and legal inheritance, while the emergence of Religious Studies and Religionswissenschaft represented an Enlightenment aspiration towards freedom from such. However, the purpose of this essay is neither to take sides between these broad camps, nor to argue that the differences between them are unimportant. Rather, it is centrally concerned with critiquing both modes for having too often proceeded without a sufficiently self-conscious embrace of the contextual impact upon them of social, political and economic frameworks, interests and/or the individual positionalities taken in relation to these. To support its arguments, the essay deploys aspects of the theological and socio-political legacies of the Czech and German theologians Josef Hromádka and Dorothee Soelle, alongside methodological insights and arguments from the British Religious Studies scholars Richard King and Malory Nye. In conclusion, drawing on Ninian Smart’s call for “axioanalysis” in the study of religion, the essay sets out a series of questions to both “Theology” and/or “Religious Studies” which it posits could help to facilitate an important and needed transformation in both “Theology” and “Religious Studies”. Within such a transformation, if socio-political contextuality and positionality are embraced and embedded as necessary (but not exhaustive or exclusive) for both critical and constructive scholarship in “Theology” and “Religious Studies”, then an “engaged” approach to the study of religion might prove able to facilitate a fruitful “shared borderland” between the “hinterland territories” claimed by these otherwise often broadly differential modes of study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Dogmatism to a Public Theology: An Archeology of Theological Knowledge and Religious Studies)
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