Political Theology and its Discontents

The essays in this collection revitalise political theology through the lens of psychoanalysis, unlocking its emancipatory potential and providing new ways to think about the political. They are united by a conviction that there is something in political theology worth fighting for. Banishing the misconception of political theology as reactionary or paradoxical, they push the discipline forward by drawing on the insights of psychoanalysis and a re-engagement with theology.

While Sigmund Freud was at times dismissive of religion, he also used his inquiry into it to completely re-theorize the political in a way that this book’s team of leading scholars bring to the fore. Each chapter uses psychoanalysis as a point of departure for serious engagement with political theology, eliciting the radical potential at the nexus of the political and the theological. This powerfully productive approach unearths new strands of political theology and refreshing perspectives on established concepts like universality, ideology, law, authority, the neighbor. Covering ideas from libidinal politics to the political economy of laziness, Political Theology and its Discontents demonstrates that a deep and sincere engagement with theology can give us a new view of the political.