Liturgical Power

Between Economic and Political Theology

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Political, Theology, Christianity
Cover of the book Liturgical Power by Nicholas Heron, Fordham University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Nicholas Heron ISBN: 9780823278701
Publisher: Fordham University Press Publication: November 28, 2017
Imprint: Modern Language Initiative Language: English
Author: Nicholas Heron
ISBN: 9780823278701
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Publication: November 28, 2017
Imprint: Modern Language Initiative
Language: English

Is Christianity exclusively a religious phenomenon, which must separate itself from all things political, or do its concepts actually underpin secular politics? To this question, which animated the twentieth-century debate on political theology, Liturgical Power advances a third alternative. Christian anti-politics, Heron contends, entails its own distinct conception of politics. Yet this politics, he argues, assumes the form of what today we call “administration,” but which the ancients termed “economics.” The book’s principal aim is thus genealogical: it seeks to understand our current conception of government in light of an important but rarely acknowledged transformation in the idea of politics brought about by Christianity.

This transformation in the idea of politics precipitates in turn a concurrent shift in the organization of power; an organization whose determining principle, Heron contends, is liturgy—understood in the broad sense as “public service.” Whereas until now only liturgy’s acclamatory dimension has made the concept available for political theory, Heron positions it more broadly as a technique of governance. What Christianity has bequeathed to political thought and forms, he argues, is thus a paradoxical technology of power that is grounded uniquely in service.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Is Christianity exclusively a religious phenomenon, which must separate itself from all things political, or do its concepts actually underpin secular politics? To this question, which animated the twentieth-century debate on political theology, Liturgical Power advances a third alternative. Christian anti-politics, Heron contends, entails its own distinct conception of politics. Yet this politics, he argues, assumes the form of what today we call “administration,” but which the ancients termed “economics.” The book’s principal aim is thus genealogical: it seeks to understand our current conception of government in light of an important but rarely acknowledged transformation in the idea of politics brought about by Christianity.

This transformation in the idea of politics precipitates in turn a concurrent shift in the organization of power; an organization whose determining principle, Heron contends, is liturgy—understood in the broad sense as “public service.” Whereas until now only liturgy’s acclamatory dimension has made the concept available for political theory, Heron positions it more broadly as a technique of governance. What Christianity has bequeathed to political thought and forms, he argues, is thus a paradoxical technology of power that is grounded uniquely in service.

More books from Fordham University Press

Cover of the book Sexual Disorientations by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Hating Empire Properly by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Bound by Conflict by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book The Cruelest of All Mothers by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Delirious Naples by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Systems of Life by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book American Metempsychosis by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Sovereignty and Its Other by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book A Common Strangeness by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Voices of Italian America by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Questioning the Human by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Ghost-Watching American Modernity by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Plato and the Invention of Life by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book New Perspectives on the Union War by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Deconstructing the Death Penalty by Nicholas Heron
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy