Abstract
This chapter introduces the extent to which critical theology is related to political theology and its ethical orientation in the aftermath of the Enlightenment. Rousseau and his social contract theory are chosen to be one of the important examples in critiquing the Enlightenment, as seen later in Weber’s critical analysis of purpose rationality and then critical theory of dialectic of Enlightenment (Horkheimer and Adorno). Given the critique of Enlightenment, progress, and colonialism, ethical theology within the context of political theology can be constructed along with critical theory. Political theology in this regard is best understood as a theological, ethical, philosophical, and sociological endeavor in dealing with the church’s engagement with public issues in a wider spectrum. For this direction, it is substantial to incorporate philosophical hermeneutics (hermeneutical realism) and critical theory of historical materialist inquiry into developing political discourse ethics. Critical theory is allied with political theology, and such a correlation is advanced in phenomenological theory of lifeworld and archeological theory of interpretation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Rousseau, The First and Second Discourses, 34.
- 2.
Ibid., 51.
- 3.
The Second Discourse, ibid., 172.
- 4.
Habermas, “Modernity: An Unfinished Project,” in Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity, 45.
- 5.
Westhelle, After Heresy, xviii.
- 6.
Duchrow and Hinkelammert, Transcending Greedy Money, 107.
- 7.
Ibid., xvi.
- 8.
Weber, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 182.
- 9.
Milbank, Theology and Social Theory, 92.
- 10.
Weber, “Religious Directions of the World and Their Directions,” in From Max Weber, 330.
- 11.
Habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action I, 247.
- 12.
Weber, “Science as a Vocation,” in From Max Weber, 148–9.
- 13.
Weber, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 182.
- 14.
Horkheimer and Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1. (DE).
- 15.
DE 138.
- 16.
McCarthy, Race, Empire, and the Idea of Human Development, 1.
- 17.
Ibid., 2.
- 18.
Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe.
- 19.
Taylor, “Two Theories of Modernity,” in Alternative Modernities, 183.
- 20.
Moltmann, God for a Secular Society, 43.
- 21.
Rendtorff, Ethics I, 3.
- 22.
Ibid., 4.
- 23.
McMaken, Our God Loves Justice, 81.
- 24.
Barth, Church Dogmatics (CD), IV.2: §66.
- 25.
CD IV/3.1: §71.
- 26.
CD III/4: 14, 31.
- 27.
CD III/4: 44.
- 28.
Troeltsch, “My Books (1922),” in Religion in History, 369.
- 29.
Chapman, Ernst Troeltsch and Liberal Theology, 152.
- 30.
Troeltsch, “My Books (1922),” in Religion in History, 369.
- 31.
Husserl, “Elements of a Science of the Life-World,” in The Essential Husserl, ed. Donn Welton, 373–4.
- 32.
Gustafson, Ethics I, 158.
- 33.
Ibid., 130.
- 34.
Geertz, Interpretation of Cultures, 12. 14.
- 35.
Ibid., 452–53.
- 36.
Foucault, The Order of Things, 328.
- 37.
Ibid., 308.
- 38.
Chung, Postcolonial Imagination, 17.
- 39.
DE 215.
- 40.
Gollwitzer, “Historischer Materialismus und Theologie,” in Gollwitzer, Auch das Denken darf dienen, 1, 73.
- 41.
Ibid., 92–3.
- 42.
Foucault, Fearless Speech.
- 43.
Marx, “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” in Karl Marx Selected Writings, 69.
- 44.
Benjamin, Illuminations, 255.
- 45.
Spivak’s preface to Of Grammatology by Jacques Derrida, trans. Gayatri Spivak, xxvii.
- 46.
Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison, 17.
- 47.
Barber, Ethical Hermeneutics, 50–1
- 48.
Levinas, “God and Philosophy,” in Emmanuel Levinas Basic Philosophical Writings, 147.
- 49.
CD 1/1: 55.
- 50.
Bonhoeffer, Ethics, 359.
- 51.
Ibid., 104.
Bibliography
Barber, Michael D. Ethical Hermeneutics: Rationalism in Enrique Düssel’s Philosophy of Liberation. New York: Fordham University Press, 1998.
Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics, eds. Geoffrey Bromiley and Thomas F. Torrance. Trans. G. T. Thomson. London and New York: T. & T. Clark, 2004.
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations: Essays and Reflections, ed. Hannah Arendt, trans. Harry Zohn. New York: Schocken, 1968.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters & Papers from Prison, ed. Eberhard Bethge. New York: Macmillan, 1971.
_______. Ethics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton University Press, 2000.
Chapman, Mark D. Ernst Troeltsch and Liberal Theology: Religion and Cultural Synthesis in Wilhelmine Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Chung, Paul S. Postcolonial Imagination: Archeological Hermeneutics and Comparative Religious Theology. Hong Kong: Christian Study on Chinese Religion & Culture, 2004.
Derrida, Jacques. Trans. Gayatri Spivak. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1998
Duchrow, Ulrich and Franz J. Hinkelammert, Transcending Greedy Money: Interreligious Solidarity for Just Relations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Random House-Pantheon, 1970.
_______. Fearless Speech. Los Angeles: Semiotexte, 2001.
Gaonkar, D. P. ed. Alternative Modernities, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
Geertz, Clifford. Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
Gollwitzer, Helmut. Auch das Denken darf dienen: Aufsätze zu Theologie und Geistesgeschichte, 1, ed. F. W. Marquardt. Munich: Chr. Kaiser, 1988.
Gustafson, James M. Ethics from a Theocentric Perspective, I: Theology and Ethics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1981.
Habermas, Jürgen. “Modernity: An Unfinished Project,” in Maurizio P. d’Entrèves and Seyla Benhabib, eds. Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity: Critical Essays on The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997.
_______. The Theory of Communicative Action, I: Reason and the Rationalization of Society, trans. Thomas McCarthy. Boston: Beacon, 1984.
Horkheimer Max and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. Matthew J. O’ Connell and Others. New York: Seabury, 1972.
Husserl, Edmund. The Essential Husserl: Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology, ed. Donn Welton. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Levinas, Emmanuel. Emmanuel Levinas Basic Philosophical Writings, eds. Adrian T. Peperzak, Simon Critchley, and Robert Bernasconi. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996.
Marx, Karl. Karl Marx Selected Writings, ed. David McLellan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
McCarthy, Thomas. Race, Empire, and the Idea of Human Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
McMaken W. Travis. Our God Loves Justice: An Introduction to Helmut Gollwitzer. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017.
Milbank, John. Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. Oxford, UK & Cambridge, USA, 2000.
Moltmann, Jürgen. God for a Secular Society: The Public Relevance of Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999.
Rendtorff, Trutz. Ethics I: Basic Elements and Methodology in an Ethical Theology, trans. Keith Crim. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986.
Rousseau, J. J. The First and Second Discourses, ed. Roger D. Masters, trans. Roger D. and Judith R. Masters. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1964.
Troeltsch, Ernst. Religion in History: Ernst Troeltsch, trans, James L. Adams and Walter F. Bense. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991,
Weber, Max. Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons. New York: Dover, 1958.
______. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, eds. H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Westhelle, Vítor. After Heresy: Colonial Practices and Post-Colonial Theologies. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade, 2010.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chung, P.S. (2019). Introduction. In: Critical Theory and Political Theology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17172-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17172-8_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17171-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17172-8
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)