“Benjamin’s Concept of History As A Source of Arendt’s Idea of Judgment” by Ronald Beiner is published in two parts during successive weeks. The following is the second portion. The first installment can be found here. Universal history (the culmination of historicism)15 is based on the flow of thoughts. Materialistic historiography is based on the […]
Political Theology
Benjamin’s Concept of History As A Source of Arendt’s Idea of Judgment – Part 1 (Ronald Beiner)
“Benjamin’s Concept of History As A Source of Arendt’s Idea of Judgment” by Ronald Beiner is published in two parts during successive weeks. The following is the first portion. “ich kehrte gern zurück.”– Gershom Scholem That there is an intimate bond between the last thoughts of Walter Benjamin and the last thoughts of his friend […]
Force in Religious Thought – Carl Raschke and Victoria Kahn in Dialogue, Part 3 (Roger Green)
The following is the last of a three-part series. The first part was published on May 31, 2016. The second part was published on June 17. Carl Raschke and Force Carl Raschke’s most recent book, Force of God, seeks to address tendencies toward de-historicizing by returning to an idea of force. He does so through […]
Biopolitics and Vajrayana Buddhism, Part 3 (Padraic Fitzgerald)
The following is the third and final installment in a three-part series. The first installment was published on May 27, 2016 and can be found here. The second installment was published on June 13. Despite the longstanding presence of the Dhamra in the Vajrayana cultural area, in particular Tibet, belief in what could be compared […]
Force in Religious Thought – Carl Raschke and Victoria Kahn in Dialogue, Part 2 (Roger Green)
The following is the second of a three-part series. The first part was published on May 31, 2016. Heidegger, Kant, and the Political It is especially significant that Heidegger’s attention to the early modern during Weimar Germany’s liberal democratic crisis lands his larger project in the ancient world. He famously developed his emphasis on ontology […]
Biopolitics and Vajrayana Buddhism, Part 2 (Padraic Fitzgerald)
The following is the second installment in a three-part series. The first installment was published on May 27, 2016 and can be found here. Chod, the Rite of Severance Chod, translated from Tibetan as meaning “severance”, is a ritual that focuses on interaction with supernatural entities. As such, one may postulate that Chod is a […]
Force in Religious Thought – Carl Raschke and Victoria Kahn in Dialogue, Part 1 (Roger Green)
The following is the first of a three-part series. The term “political theology” is currently used in a variety of ways in current debate over the place of liberalism amid world crises in politics and globalization. The most common version of the term rests on Carl Schmitt’s argument that all significant political concepts are secularized […]
Biopolitics and Vajrayana Buddhism, Part 1 (Padraic Fitzgerald)
The following is the first of a 3-part series. Biopolitics, as Michel Foucault argued, views populations through an economic lens, as capital to be preserved and multiplied to keep the nation or tradition afloat and strong. In the secular sphere, this concerns keeping the population healthy, numerous, and reproducing, largely through the promotion of an […]