Theology and Democratic Futures

Abstract

The essays in this special issue of Political Theology engage in a vigorous and wide-ranging conversation between theology and theologically inspired forms of critical thought and the possible futures of democracy as an idea(l) and as a political practice. This collection seeks to provide some key coordinates for thinking through the linkages and disjunctures between the theological and the political in formulating new conceptual frameworks that obtain a critical purchase for understanding the multiple meanings of democracy in the (post)modern world. By posing the question, "What is the fate of theology in a post-theological moment?" this introductory essay focuses our attention on the contemporary configurations of intellectual and political power that animates so much of our discourse on the interrelationships between theology and politics and proceeds to provide a brief rehearsal of the essays included in this special issue.