Peter Scott and William T. Cavanaugh, The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (Blackwell Companions to Religion). Wiley-Blackwell, 2006.
Refernced in: Christian Political Theory and Church-State Relations
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
For many in the missional and emergent conversations today, the relationship of Christianity and politics is a given. This perspective is not shared by all. For those who come from a tradition of non-involvement, someone needs to make the case for engagement. Scott and Cavanaugh’s Blackwell Companions to Political Theology introduces political theology as a helpful piece of that discussion.
At over 500 pages, this is an exhaustive introductory guide. The articles are weighty and technical. Readers may need more elementary introduction before diving in, perhaps through Beckwith’s Politics for Christians or other resources listed in the guide on Christian Political Theory.
In the introduction, the editors define political theology:
Political theology is…the analysis and criticism of political arrangements (including cultural-psychological, social and economic aspects) from the perspective of differing interpretations of God’s ways with the world. (1)
Each of the authors covers a specific dimension, with an intent to be fair, but not to feign neutrality. (2) The articles are written from a Christian perspective, though two chapters in the end provide Islamic and Jewish responses to the other essays.
From the Publisher
Written by a team of international experts, this Companion provides the first comprehensive survey and interpretation of contemporary Christian political theology. The Companion comprises 35 freshly-commissioned essays which embody the best current thinking in the field. These essays:
- Explore the political aspects of Christian sources such as scripture and liturgy.
- Consider the interface of theology with political ideologies, including the contribution of theology to feminist, ecological, black and pacifist movements.
- Assess the contribution of major political theologians and theological movements.
- Indicate how central Christian doctrines such as the Trinity and Christology have politics embedded within them. Show how theology impacts upon present-day political issues.
- Two concluding essays present Jewish and Muslim perspectives on political theology.
- The contributors are drawn from various traditions of political theology, but all of them demonstrate that Christian theology is inherently political, and that politics is properly illuminated by Christian perspectives.
About the Authors
Peter M. Scott is Senior Lecturer in Christian Social Thought and Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. He is the author of Theology, Ideology and Liberation (1994) and A Political Theology of Nature (2003). He is a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton and the Manchester Centre for Public Theology, and is a director of the Manchester Research Institute for Religion and Civil Society.
William T. Cavanaugh is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St Thomas in St Paul, Minnesota, USA. He is the author of Torture and Eucharist (Blackwell, 1998) and Theopolitical Imagination (2003).
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