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 New Men by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Lyric Apocalypse by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Is Critique Secular? by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Reconstruction in a Globalizing World by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Europe and Empire by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book All Ears by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Musically Sublime by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book The Underside of Politics by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Communications Research in Action by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Transcendence and the Concrete by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Divine Multiplicity by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Scare Tactics by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Lessons in Secular Criticism by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Trauma and Transcendence by Nicholas Heron
Cover of the book Being-in-Creation 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