RELI 330 - Religion, Critical Theory, and Politics

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

Advanced study in selected aspects of religion and contemporary philosophical and political theory. May be taken more than once for credit when content changes. Michael Walsh.

Topic for 2023/24a: Restless Empire: China, Religion, and the Nation-State. (Same as ASIA 330) This seminar takes as its starting point a question posed by one of China’s most eminent scholars, Wang Hui, who asks: “What is the nature of the historical emergence or construction of modern Chinese identity, ideas of geography, and senses of sovereignty?” Within the mechanics of the nation-state there is a structural connection between texts (constitutions, legal codes, national histories), ostensibly universal and normative categories (race, religion, citizen, freedom, human rights), and territoriality (the integrity of sovereignty and the claim and control over resources and people). These are three foundational components of the nation-state, but a fourth binds them together: the sacred, or more specifically, a process of sacralization. Further examining this process allows us to think about new ways of understanding China’s approach to legality, control of the populace, religious freedom, human rights, and the structuring of international relations. In doing so we raise existential questions about the fundamental nature of the nation-state. Michael Walsh.

Topic for 2023/24b: Race and Political Theology. (Same as AFRS 330) In recent years, “political theology” has emerged as a crucial notion in the humanities. Most narrowly, political theology refers to Carl Schmitt’s claim that all “significant political concepts” of the modern nation-state have theological and religious roots. Until very recently, theorists of political theology have ignored the ways in which race functions as a significant political concept of the state. This seminar explores the intersection between race and political theology. We examine multiple conceptions of political theology. And we ask most centrally: In what ways are constructions of race rooted in theological concepts and histories? We ask this question both from the perspective of the state as well as from accounts of African American experience in historical and literary texts. We consider writings by Carl Schmitt, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, Albert Raboteau, and Toni Morrison. Jonathon Kahn.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS