Love in Times of Empire: Theopolitics Today

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2008

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

Book description: This groundbreaking collection considers empire from a global perspective, exploring the role of evangelicals in political, social, and economic engagement at a time when empire is alternately denounced and embraced. It brings noted thinkers from a range of theological perspectives together to engage the most explosive and discussed theorists of empire in the first decade of the twenty-first century, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.

Literary theorist Hardt and political philosopher Negri, named "innovators to watch" by Time magazine, are coauthors of the provocative book Empire and its sequel, Multitude. In Empire they argued that nation-states are subordinated to the power of transnational, global capitalism. At the same time, they viewed empire in its very tendency toward de-centering as opening up new, creative possibilities for the "multitude" of ordinary folk to spread and practice democracy. In Multitude, they argued that their basic arguments on empire had not been disproved by 9/11 and its aftermath.

Using Hardt and Negri's work as a springboard, the contributors challenge evangelicalism's identification with right-wing politics and grapple with the natures of both empire and evangelicalism. The book includes a foreword by Nicholas Wolterstorff and an afterword by Hardt and Negri.

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