The Mystical As Political

Theosis, or the principle of divine-human communion, sparks the theological imagination of Orthodox Christians and has been historically important to questions of political theology. In The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy, Aristotle Papanikolaou argues that a political theology grounded in the principle of divine-human communion must be one that unequivocally endorses a political community that is democratic in a way that structures itself around the modern liberal principles of freedom of religion, the protection of human rights, and church-state separation. Papanikolaou hopes to forge a non-radical Orthodox political theology that extends beyond a reflexive opposition to the West and a nostalgic return to a Byzantine-like unified political-religious culture. His exploration is prompted by two trends: the fall of communism in traditionally Orthodox countries has revealed an unpreparedness on the part of Orthodox Christianity to address the question of political theology in a way that is consistent with its core axiom of theosis; and recent Christian political theology, some of it evoking the notion of “deification,” has been critical of liberal democracy, implying a mutual incompatibility between a Christian worldview and that of modern liberal democracy. The first comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy, Papanikolaou’s is an affirmation that Orthodox support for liberal forms of democracy is justified within the framework of Orthodox understandings of God and the human person. His overtly theological approach shows that the basic principles of liberal democracy are not tied exclusively to the language and categories of Enlightenment philosophy and, so, are not inherently secular.

A collection of Metz's writings of the last fifteen years, never before published in English, on the subject of the church in the world.

Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ provides a close and historically sensitive reading of Julian's Revelation of Love that addresses the question of the relationship between our understanding of God and our vision of human community. By examining Julian's images of Christ's body, this book seeks to discern the "political" meaning of her theology. Locating these images within the context of late medieval debates over the nature and extent of divine power, the book argues that Julian presents an alternative account of divine power in which the crucified body of Christ becomes the focus and shape of divine omnipotence. This account of divine power serves as the norm of all human exercise of power, rendering the possibility of the "mystical body politic of Christ" as the exemplary form of human community. In this reading, the theological is irreducibly political and the political is irreducibly theological. As such, Julian is presented as both a theologian of the first rank and one who "imagines the political."

Between the Politics of Mysticism and the Mysticism of Politics traces the dialectic of 'the mystical' and the political' from both a theological and an historical perspective. It presents the dialectic as a hermeneutic for the rise of the new ecclesial communities within the Roman Catholic Tradition and suggests it as the framework by which a trajectory for Christian holiness might emerge in the 21st century.

Annotation In a text innovative in both form and substance, Kahn forces an engagement with Schmitt's four chapters, offering a new version of each that is responsive to the American political imaginary.

This is not just another book, so much as a new way of seeing the world and our way of being in it. Groundbreaking, and profoundly optimistic, this is the only book to investigate how mysticism can inspire cultural and political renewal. At heart, _The Mystical State_ looks toward the future, toward what is possible on the other side of the difficult times that confront us, and how we can envision and encourage cultural emergence. In _The Mystical State_, Arthur Versluis delves into the origins of modernity and what led to the crises of our time. But he also looks to the future, and in particular, to how spirituality can inform cultural and political life in new and illuminating ways. "Arthur Versluis s _The Mystical State: Politics, Gnosis and Emergent Cultures_, asks a question long overdue in the study of mysticism: what are the political implications of direct mystical experience and thinking? His analysis ranges freely over both ancient and modern thought and experience. His focus on Western thought, ancient and modern, is a welcome respite from the tendency to focus on Eastern meditation and philosophy among scholars of mysticism. His exploration of the marginalized is especially important. And by focusing on the road not taken when Gnosticism was repudiated long ago, he dares to imagine what a new culture and state that s centered on the mystical might look like: the end of gigantism, the re-framing of life and value, and a form of political authority centered in value. It is a courageous and thought provoking book, and should open the door to a series of questions important in our struggling world." Robert K. C. Forman, author of _Mysticism, Mind, Consciousness_ and numerous other books on mysticism. It's simply amazing Each page is a feast to both my mind and soul Miguel Conner, editor of _Voices of Gnosticism_ A wonderful book . . . fascinating I highly recommend that people buy it and read it as soon as possible. I can t say enough about it. William Kennedy, Sphinx Radio Praise for Other Works by Arthur Versluis: "At a time when the religions of the world are meeting on a spiritual level and in a global context, it is crucial that the Christian West rediscover its often forgotten inner or esoteric wisdom. Arthur Versluis skillfully guides the reader to recover the wide range of this rich heritage." Ewart Cousins, general editor, _World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest_ "A collection of very precious clues to the sources of the Western spiritual tradition, pointing to the hidden currents both in history and in our own selves." Jacob Needleman, author of _The American Soul_ and _The Heart of Philosophy_

Carl Schmitt is a key figure in modern political thought, but discussion of his work often focuses upon specific elements or themes within his texts. This book provides a wide-ranging discussion of Carl Schmitt’s discourse and provides a new perspective on his contribution, presenting the idea of Nomos of the Earth as the key idea that organizes his political and legal discourse This book creates a ‘reverse genealogy’ of Schmitt’s theoretical system, starting from his legal and political concept of nomos so as to reconstruct his understanding of order. It connects the different topics the Carl Schmitt developed along his intellectual trajectory, which have generally been approached in separate ways by scholars: the legal theory, the concept of the political, the theory of international relations and political theology. The text considers the whole of Carl Schmitt’s work including writings that have been previously unknown to the English speaking academy; old journals with just three or four pages, newspaper articles, manuscripts of conferences, and Festschrifts.Itprovides a balanced examination of the whole complex of Carl Schmitt’s political discourse.

In The Relevance of Bernard Lonergan's Notion of Self-Appropriation to a Mystical-Political Theology, Ian Bell takes on the issue of the separation of the interior and exterior lives that has come to dominate mystical theology over the years. The mystical life, he claims, is necessarily involved in the establishment of social structures and institutions that govern human living, and the work of Bernard Lonergan on the human subject provides a means by which the connection between the interior and exterior lives may be established. Because human persons operate in a consistent pattern regardless of a given moment's particularities, mystical experience is no longer relegated to so-called spiritual matters, and the insights of mystics may be applied to the Christian call to live as agents of love. With this connection in place, mystical theology and political theology come together in a theology that is both mystical and political.