Walter Benjamin and Political Theology - (Walter Benjamin Studies) by Brendan Moran & Paula Schwebel (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Tracing Walter Benjamin's convergences with, and divergences from, influential German theorist Carl Schmitt, this edited collection places his thinking in the context of broader 20th century political philosophy of his time, and examines the question of whether Benjamin presents the possibility for a distinctive political theology, mapping the coordinates of this question without collapsing the tensions internal to Benjamin's thought. This volume brings together a host of multifaceted contributions that explore why Benjamin has been a fertile source for thinking about political theology and the possibilities that this new perspective brings to light"--

Book Synopsis

Tracing Walter Benjamin's convergences with, and divergences from, influential German legal theorist Carl Schmitt, this edited collection contextualizes Benjamin's thinking in the intellectual currents of his time, while also placing him in dialogue with traditions and thinkers from antiquity to the present. At stake is whether Benjamin presents the possibility of a distinctive political theology-a question which the collection addresses without collapsing the tensions internal to Benjamin's thought.

Benjamin's thought has been a touchstone, explicitly or implicitly, in numerous efforts to conceive of a 'new' political theology that is not anchored in legitimizing and preserving power, but in justice and liberation. Benjamin interrogates the political-theological complex from what may be construed as a vantage point opposed to Schmitt. Whereas Schmitt excavates the theological elements in modernity in order to shore up liberalism's illiberal inheritance, Benjamin roots out these latent structures in order to dissolve them and liberate us from their oppressive legacy. This volume's multifaceted contributions explore why Benjamin has been such a fertile source for thinking about political theology beyond - and often against - Schmitt. Benjamin indicates how existing political theologies can be challenged or expanded. This book accordingly makes a wide range of relevant work available for study whilst also opening new perspectives on Benjamin's oeuvre.

Review Quotes

This volume persuasively shows us that political theology does not belong exclusively to authoritarian thinking, but also to its opposite. Those writings in which Benjamin departed from the authoritarian thinking of Schmitt have exercised a deep influence on contemporary political thought, and given the considerable challenges in accessing these texts, the work of these scholars helps to unearth a crucial vocabulary for the critique of authoritarianism in all its forms.
Nathan Ross, Assistant Teaching Professor of Philosophy, Adelphi University, USA

About the Author

Brendan Moran is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calgary, Canada.

Paula Schwebel is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada.