Paul, liturgy, and theopolitics

Posted on | October 8, 2009 | 2 Comments

Somehow I missed this post from Creston Davis back in August. Next year, Brazos will be releasing a book on St. Paul, liturgy, and political theology, co-authored by Milbank, Zizek, Pickstock, and Davis. Looks like a must read for anyone who loves or hates (is there any middle ground?) any of the above (not sure that Davis has any haters yet; but anyone who hangs out with Billy Collins and Zizek simultaneously is okay in my book).

This book’s basic thesis is that the Church (especially in the United States) has completely lost the radical edge of Christianity that both Jesus and St. Paul announced and in the wake of which the Church was founded by the work of the Holy Spirit. Instead, the Church has more and more appealed to an indifferent and consumeristic outlook that neutralizes a politics of the Event of Incarnation.  St. Paul’s view of the Cross and Resurrection, this book argues, keeps alive a “subject of the Incarnational Event” that lives faithfully into the cosmic irruption.  The logic of the Earth-Shattering Event is precisely what the Church has lost and replaces the radical politics of Love for the status quo.  Consequently, the Bible and Church teachings too have been held captive to this the politics of indifference premised on keeping the Church “clean” from the stranger and the sinner–making it feel more comfortable and materially empty.  So, in the final analysis this book re-focuses the Church’s need to resist a postmodern politics of indifference to the status quo and challenges the Church to embrace a politics of Love in the wake of the Incarnational Event of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Comments

2 Responses to “Paul, liturgy, and theopolitics”

  1. Caleb Roberts
    October 8th, 2009 @ 6:23 pm

    Mr. Henreckson,

    I agree with you wholeheartedly and will be keeping my eye out for that book. It is indeed true that the Church has largely lost an understanding of the objective reality of the Incarnation and its reflection in the Sacraments. Things mean things and though modernity seeks to bind the Church to a subset of therapeutic means, the Word in Flesh, the Body in Bread, and the Blood in Wine won’t allow it.

    Thanks for posting this

    Caleb

  2. spurs
    October 24th, 2009 @ 3:42 am

    Love your blog. Along similar lines but more of a Derridean take, you might be interested in a book which won a Lambda award a few years back: Qu(e)erying evangelism: growing a community from the outside in by Cheri DiNovo

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Theopolitical is the weblog of Davey Henreckson, a graduate student of theology at the University of Notre Dame. Topics of conversation are political and historical theology, with semi-frequent forays into literature, economics, localism, and the divine American sport -- baseball.

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