Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture
Slavoj Zizek, Clayton Crockett, Creston Davis, Jeffrey W. Robbins, Editors
[Editor: Creston Davis, the editor of the Insurrections series, is looking for material that covers Buddhist insurrectionist theory and critique. I have submitted my work “Outcastes as Activists: A Tantric Approach to Engaged Buddhism” for this series.]
The intersection of religion, politics, and culture is one of the most discussed areas in theory today. It also has the deepest and most wide-ranging impact on the world. Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture will bring the tools of philosophy and critical theory to the political implications of the religious turn. The series will address a range of religious traditions and political viewpoints in theUnited States, Europe, and other parts of the world. Without advocating any specific religious or theological stance, the series aims nonetheless to be faithful to the radical emancipatory potential of religion.
Clayton Crockett on The Conception of Insurrections; An Editorial and Ontological Insurrection, by Santiago Zabala; Read interviews with the series editors Creston Davis and Jeffrey Robbins; Visit the Insurrections page on Pinterest
What is Insurrectionist Theology?
Jeff and I come out of a tradition of American radical theology, including Death of God theology and postmodern theology. We both studied theology at Syracuse University with Charles E. Winquist, who was succeeded there by John D. Caputo. Creston studied theology at the University of Virginia with John Milbank, and engaged the political critiques of Radical Orthodoxy, which drove him deep into the philosophies of Žižek and Badiou. Slavoj affirmed his solidarity with Thomas J. J. Altizer’s understanding of the death of God at a conference in Montreal in 2009. So the Insurrections series represents a radical theoretical vision on religion, politics and culture that we all share. As a way to name this and elaborate our perspective more explicitly, we are working on a manifesto-type book that would explain what we mean by Insurrectionist Theology. Insurrectionist Theology affirms the tradition of radical theology in the United States, including the death of God, although that can be understood in different ways. Insurrectionist Theology refuses political neutrality, and works not only to critique contemporary corporate capitalism, but to offer ways of thinking and possibilities of living beyond capitalism. We refuse any simple opposition between the religious and the secular, and we argue that both are implicated in the world we live in as well as harbor potential to transform it in important ways. We are dedicated to a kind of experimental testing that exceeds instrumentalism, because there is no fixed identity for ourselves or our objects of study; we are always in process, or en procès (on trial). We affirm a materiality of existence which is neither a crude reductionist atomism nor a consumerist materialism, but a materialism based on energy transformation. And this materialism does not preclude the profound importance of vital ideas. Finally, we share a commitment to the Real, defined in broadly Lacanian terms. Insurrectionist Theology is an insurrection with and against theology itself. As Carl Schmitt declared in a letter to Armin Mohler, “today everything is theology, except what the theologians declare to be such.” We attend to Schmitt’s powerful critique, but we ultimately oppose his reactionary vision of political theology. The book will include an Introduction laying out what we mean by Insurrectionist Theology, along with four sections or “gospels” based loosely on Heidegger’s Fourfold. So there will be a section on Earth, a section on Sky, a section on Gods, and a section on Mortals. The goal is to set out more explicitly what we mean by Insurrectionist Theology, and lay out a vision for thinking about religion and the political today.
