Description
Book SynopsisThomas Lynch is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Chichester, UK.
Trade ReviewThis exciting new book in the field of political theology provides a helpful reading of the often-denigrated figure of Hegel, the often-glossed figure of Taubes, and the work of Malabou—who has not—to my knowledge—been read as an aid to political theology. * Reading Religion *
This is the book political theology has been waiting for: a superb orientation in the field, which also sets out a compelling argument for the end of the world as we know it. -- Steven Shakespeare, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Liverpool Hope University, UK
Thomas Lynch is emerging as an original and creative voice in Continental Philosophy of Religion. In this book, he brilliantly situates Jacob Taubes between Hegel and Malabou to create an apocalyptic political theology. Anyone interested in these topics or figures has to read this book! -- Clayton Crockett, Professor and Director of Religious Studies, University of Central Arkansas, USA
Thomas Lynch conducts an orchestra of Continental philosophers and theorists in order to push forward discussions of political theology. With an expansive knowledge of the most exciting conversations in the field, Lynch clarifies the nettlesome concept of apocalypticism while also demonstrating its importance for getting political theology right. Lynch’s work will help us think more carefully about hope and pessimism, the end of the world and the start of new worlds. -- Vincent Lloyd, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Villanova University, USA
If the divisions of nature, capital, gender and race constitute this world, what does it mean to think the end of the world today? Lynch’s
Apocalyptic Political Theology offers important insights for a critique of the world as it is. His apocalyptic political theology is the conceptual tool to experiment with new possibilities. Thinking
with Hegel, Taubes and Malabou on the sense of the apocalyptic time rather than thinking
about each of their ideas is the most interesting challenge of the book. -- Elettra Stimilli, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Table of ContentsTable of Contents: Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. Philosophy, political theology and the end of the world What is political theology? What is this world that ends? Conflicts and antagonisms Imagining the end Questioning the apocalypse 2. Implicit Political Theology: Reading Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion Joachim, Hegel and the end of the world Representational thought: An outline of Hegel’s philosophy of religion Hegel’s implicit political theology Philosophy and the return to representation Conclusion 3. Spiritual disinvestment: Taubes, Hegel and apocalypticism An introduction to Taubes Taubes and the apocalyptic Hegel The problem of apocalypticism and history Taubes and Bloch Anti-liberal tendencies in Hegel, Taubes and Schmitt Transcendental materialist readings of Hegel: From Taubes to Malabou 4. Plastic Apocalypticism Malabou, Hegel and plasticity Plastic apocalypticism: Taubes and Malabou The problem of alterity and the rejection of the transcendent A Blochian supplement Contingency and plastic apocalypticism Conclusion 5. Pessimism and hope in apocalyptic living Living with the absence of alternatives Pessimism and surrender Living towards the end of the world The end Bibliography Index
