The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (Blackwell Companions to Religion)

Rating:
Summary: Best Collection on Political Theology Available
Review: In the contemporary theological scene, the political dimensions of theology have become a topic for much discussion and no little debate. From all over the theological spectrum, many theologians are becoming more and more caught up in striving to understand the political underpinnings and implications of theological claims. Moreover, the countless political-theological movements that have emerged throughout the twentieth century demonstrate that we indeed seeing a renaissance of sorts in "political theology." Editors Peter Scott and William Cavanaugh have offered a substantive contribution to this contemporary movement in this substantive companion to political theology. This volume offers the most extensive and exhaustive volume dealing with the multifaceted topic of political theology to date. Boasting over 500 pages of political-theological reflection from prominent theologians and political activists from The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Austria and South Africa, this book promises to become essential reading for those interesting the many and necessary connections between theology and politics.

Scott and Cavanaugh are two very different theologians with very different political views. Cavanaugh, being trained in theology and ethics has established himself distinctly within the radical ecclesial tradition that has become associated with the term "theological politics" while Scott remains far more committed to the long-standing tradition of "political theology." Cavanaugh's "theopolitical imagination" has led him to explore at length the political nature of the church, particularly centering on worship and the Eucharist as inherently political acts. Scott on the other hand has interacted in-depth with issues of ecotheology, arguing for theology's contribution to an ecological democracy in the "common realm" of God, humanity and nature. There are certainly keen differences between the theological and political views of the authors. However, both intimate in the foreword that they hope their "differences would make for a richer volume" (p. 3). This seems to indeed be the case in what follows.

The essays included in this volume are far to numerous and detailed to be examined in-depth. However, some general comments are in order. The book is structured into five different sections. The first deals with "traditioned resources." In particular, this section examines the political contribution of the Old and New Testaments, Augustine, Aquinas, Reformation thought and the Liturgy. The second section, forming the bulk of the book engages in a survey of political theologians and schools of political-theological thought. Theologians, Carl Schmitt, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Courtney Murray, William Temple, Reinhold Niebhur, Jürgen Moltmann, Johann Baptist Metz, Gustavo Gutiérrez and Stanley Hauerwas are all treated at length. In addition, this section also scrutinizes Eastern Orthodox political theology, northern and southern feminist theology, Asian political theology and black theology. The following section consists of essays in constructive political theology, each exploring the political implications of a major category of systematic theology. The doctrines of the Trinity, Creation, Christology, the Atonement, the Spirit, the Church and Eschatology are all treated. The fourth section consists of theological evaluations and engagements with different political and cultural structures and movements. Issues of the state and civil society, democracy, critical theory, postmodernism and globalization are treated here. Finally, the volume concludes with two responses to the volume from the perspective of the other two "Abrahamic faiths" (p. 3), Judaism and Islam. Islamic theologian, Bustami Mohamed Khir details an Islamic theology of liberation that seeks after socio-political justice that he believes shares certain commonalities with Christian liberation theology (pp. 515-516). Jewish theologian Peter Ochs, in his response articulates an "Abrahamic Theo-politics" (pp. 519-534). Interestingly, there seem to be several points of contact between Khir's and Scott's perspectives on liberation theology and Ochs's and Cavanaugh's conception of theological politics.

There are numerous comments, questions, excitements, anticipations and criticisms that this volume will doubtless elicit. Most of the questions that come to my mind largely concern what was omitted, rather than what was included. It is curious that given all the interaction which took place in the various essays with the work of Oliver O'Donovan, that his work did not merit an essay of its own. Also, it was a bit unfortunate that Calvin, Luther, Müntzer, and the Anabaptists were all condensed into one essay (with Zwingli not being treated at all), while Augustine and Aquinas received individual treatments. While Gustavo Gutiérrez receives treatment, it seems strange that Latin American liberation theology does not merit an essay of its own.

There are certainly other comments that could be made, particularly about the various political claims made by the contributors to the section on constructive political theology, but such discussions are beyond the bounds of this review. While there is certainly important material that is not treated in this volume (as with all edited volumes), this is beyond question the most exhaustive book of its kind, if indeed there are any other books of this kind. To date no compendium of essays in political theology of this caliber and diversity has been brought together to my knowledge. It will become required reading for all those interested in politics, theology and the intersection between them.