Political Theology for a Plural Age - Tapa dura

How often do we talk about religion's enormous impact on politics without ever stopping to ponder the insights and challenges of political theology? Thanks to Michael Kessler's extraordinary collection, there will be no excuses for this mistake any longer. Gathered here are some of the very finest thinkers in the field, representing a breathtaking range of traditions and viewpoints. This exciting book deserves a very broad audience. (E. J. Dionne Jr, University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture, Georgetown University)

Political theology has traditionally explored the legitimization of political authority on the basis of divine revelation and of natural reason informed by religious authority, texts, and traditions. New challenges emerging in the postwar era gave rise to ongoing debate about the place of religion in public life, in the United States and in other established democracies, and this debate has dramatically reshaped the way scholars, policymakers, and religious leaders think about political theology.

Political Theology for a Plural Age provides historic and contemporary understandings of political engagement in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, engaging political theologies not merely as a set of theoretical concepts but as religious beliefs and principles that motivate specific political action. The essays in this volume, written by leading thinkers and practitioners within each tradition and their secular counterparts, examine a number of core issues at the intersection of religion and politics. They contest the definition of political theology, establish a common discourse across the three Abrahamic traditions, and closely examine how globalization, secularization, and pluralism affect the construction and plausibility of political theologies. Finally, the essays offer insight into how political theologies might adapt to the shared global challenges of the twenty-first century.