The book addresses the question of the extent to which theological discourse has been and is relevant to the origins of the meanings, symbols, and realities of some instituted political practices. This relevance has historically manifested itself in the hybridisation of theological and political concepts, images, gestures, and rituals. Indeed, some divine traces could be seen as embedded in institutionalised political practices. Theopolitical figures, then, are other names for God - in the sense of negative theology - that we find in instituted practices within the political realm. The book considers five theopolitical figures: scripture, prophecy, oath, charisma, and hospitality. In the symbolic meaning of these figures, we discern some central questions for contemporary societies, among them: the unconditional character of justice, the unfeasibility of historical expectation, the stability of the given word, the idea of power as a gift, and openness to the coming other as an ethical-political imperative.
Examines the meaning of five theopolitical figures scripture, prophecy, oath, charisma and hospitality in contemporary philosophical-political discourse
AcknowledgementsIntroduction: The Theological Turn In Political PhilosophyChapter
1. Scripture Or The Un-Conditional Character Of JusticeChapter
2. Prophecy Or The De-Construction Of Historical ExpectationChapter
3. Oath Or The Given WordChapter
4. Charisma Or The Power As GiftChapter
5. Hospitality Or The Limits Of The Political CommunityEpilogueBibliography
Montserrat Herrero is Professor of Political Philosophy and Principal Investigator of the Research Group Religion and Civil Society at the Institute Culture and Society (ICS) at the University of Navarra (Spain). She is the director of the Journal Anuario Filosofico. She is widely published in topics related to the political philosophy, in particular, on Hegel, Hobbes, Locke and Spinoza. She is the author of Le Sacre et la Parole. Le Serment au Moyen Age, with M. Aurell and J. Aurell (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2018); Political Theology in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Discourses, Rites and Representations with Aurell, J., Miceli, A. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017) and The Political Discourse of Carl Schmitt. A Mystic of Order (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
