No Matter What - by Catherine Keller

Book Synopsis

A collection of essays that outline the recent work on ecology, political theology, religion, and philosophy by one of the leading theologians of our age

As we face relentless ecological destruction spiraling around a planet of unconstrained capitalism and democratic failure, what matters most? How do we get our bearings and direct our priorities in such a terrestrial scenario? Species, race, sex, politics, and economics will increasingly come tangled in the catastrophic trajectory of climate change. With a sense of urgency and of possibility, Catherine Keller's No Matter What reflects multiple trajectories of planetary crisis. They converge from a point of view formed of the political ecologies of a transdisciplinary theological pluralism. In its work an ancient symbolism of apocalypse deconstructs end-of-the-world narratives, Christian and secular, even as any notion of an all-controlling and good God collapses under the force of internal contradiction. In the place of a once-for-all incarnation, the materiality of unbounded intercarnation, of fragile yet animating relations of mattering earth-bodies, comes into focus.

The essays of No Matter What share the preoccupation with matter characteristic of the so-called new materialism. They also root in an older ecotheological tradition, one that has long struggled against the undead legacy of an earth-betraying theology that, with the aid of its white Christian right wing, invests the denigration of matter, its spirit of "no matter," in limitless commodi-fication. The fragile alternative Keller outlines here embraces--no matter what--the mattering of the life of the Earth and of all its spirited bodies. These essays, struggling against Christian and secular betrayals of the spirited matter of Earth, work to materialize the still possible planetary healing.

Review Quotes

Vintage Keller--brimming with vibrant justice-seeking theopoetic creativity, a testimony to and even a manifesto for theology's ongoing vitality. If you find yourself despairing that theology has died along with the God it proclaims, pick up and read. This is urgent and electric public theology--ecological, feminist, interreligious, political, and dialogical. This is theology done for a variety of communities, not just for whom the word "God" matters but also for communities for whom a living earth matters and multiracial and pluralistic democracy matters. Keller is at it again; her readers, old and new, will be delighted.---John J. Thatamanil, Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary, and author of Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity

A riveting collection by the leading theologian in the USA today, magisterial in scope, iridescent in style, Keller ranges over matters that matter, theological, ecological, and political, a tour de force on everything from process thought, postmodern theory, and feminism to climate change and the war in Ukraine. Everything we expect from Catherine Keller. This is exactly what theology should look like today.---John D. Caputo, Thomas J. Watson Professor Emeritus of Religion, Syracuse University, and author of What to Believe? Twelve Brief Lessons in Radical Theology

Catherine Keller is the most profound and creative theologian of our time. Taking seriously the many threats that loom large in politics, climate, and warring claims on God, like a divine magpie she draws out of disparate sources bright truths and teases ancient, sacred wisdoms toward a more just planetary vision of justice. This marvelous constellation of essays brings together key elements of her thought and is an essential guidebook for theologically minded seekers of the good.---Laurel C. Schneider, Vanderbilt University

Catherine Keller has done it again. In this latest installment of her groundbreaking and spiritually uplifting work, Keller carries us beyond nationalist, secular and Christian exclusionists toward an eco-earthy, "amorous agonism". Always infused with hope that catastrophe will be avoided, and thoughtful strategies to carry that task out. An exciting and indispensable book today.---William E. Connolly, author of Stormy Weather: Pagan Cosmologies, Christian Times, Climate Wreckage

God-language has been used to despoil the earth; could it help support planetary thriving? In this timely volume Catherine Keller tells the story of the deep entanglement of theological and ecological crises, tracing how dominating divine spirit and the eco-crisis were interwoven from the beginning. Gradually the reader begins to discern the emergence of a more immanent spirit, now liberated from dualistic and colonizing chains and reconnected with the earth--the pathway toward a genuine planetary theology.---Philip Clayton, compiler of The New Possible: Visions of our World beyond Crisis

There are few theologians who have such luminous insights and spirited sensibilities to capture the hidden possibilities of a vital Christianity for our unraveling world. With steadiness and tenacity Keller weaves a fresh language for future ecotheologians to develop further. Her contributions in these essays reside in the realm of penetrating originality and unparalleled brilliance.---Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology

Catherine Keller is a theologian who does not write about the prospects of Christianity or theology. She writes luminous, theopoetic, brilliantly astute essays and books about entanglement, eco-apocalypse, racial capitalism, divine weakness, and creative becoming. No Matter What is vintage Keller at her liveliest.---Gary Dorrien, author of In a Post-Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Idealistic Discontent

In one sense or another, all of Catherine Keller's books are about everything. The end of all things; the beginning of all things; the excess and entanglement of God, world, and everything that composes them. But even for those familiar with Keller's everything, No Matter What somehow gives us more: the climate, the quantum, surging nationalisms, Black life, Ukrainian persistence, and the interdetermining breath that makes another way still possible.---Mary-Jane Rubenstein, author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race

When Catherine Keller writes about the earth, love, power, politics, and more, it matters! Admittedly, it's tempting to believe doomsday scenarios will prevail. But Keller's process alternative--expressed in enticing prose--offers hope, meaning, and the Lure of Love. Read this book; it matters!---Thomas Jay Oord, author of The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence

About the Author

Catherine Keller is George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology in The Graduate Division of Religion, Drew University. She works amid the tangles of ecosocial, pluralist, feminist philosophy of religion and theology. Her books include Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming; On the Mystery; Cloud of the Impossible: Negative Theology and Planetary Entanglement; Political Theology of the Earth: Our Planetary Emergency and the Struggle for a New Public. She has co-edited several volumes of the Drew Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium, most recently Political Theology on Edge: Ruptures of Justice and Belief in the Anthropocene. Her latest monograph is Facing Apocalypse: Climate, Democracy, and Other Last Chances.