Critical Problems in Shakespeare Studies: Political Theology

Catalog description

The seminar focuses on one of the most complex and pressing problems of our time: political theology. Political theology articulates the link between faith and reason in an attempt to ground political community in a language of legitimacy. First articulated in classical antiquity by Marcus Varro in Rome and later by Augustine, political theology is a way of naming and understanding the complex problem of authority. As distinct from religion, political theology is an (ongoing) social, political and cultural discourse of power over people's real lives. Whether (in modern terms) that governmental power has to do with abortion or gay marriage, political theological arguments always need to harness and synthesize these two sources. Early modern literature plays a crucial rule in this history of articulations.