Political Theology and Populist Conflict: Against Quietism and Theocracy

This presentation argues that political theology clarifies the problem of populist conflict, and it offers resources that can help us address it. I will focus my reflections on Justice and Love by Mary Zournazi and Rowan Williams (2021). Zournazi and Williams present a compelling case for the view that religion is a force for peace. In my reading, however, they underestimate the role of religious traditions in encouraging violence, and they overstate the value of civility. In response, I will argue that political theology can incorporate the commitment to political conflict described by feminist theorists such as Judith Butler, Bonnie Honig, and Joan Wallach Scott. In my view, medieval negative theology models a politics that is capacious enough to incorporate connection and conflict, sympathy and refusal, appreciation and anger.