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9781623561284

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The gauntlet of God is yet again thrown down against the idolization of the state. A worthy challenge to any IR theorist -- Iver B. Neumann,Director of Research, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs Going beyond Carl Schmitt's argument that all significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts the author traces the process by which sovereign states became the latest embodiment of the Christian corpus mysticism and a centerpiece of the academic discipline of International Relations. In this major contribution to the emerging political theology of International Relations, the author sheds light on the profound worldwide moral crisis and explains why the discipline is paralyzed when handling some of today's key issues. -Dr. Vendulka Kubalkova, Professor of International Studies, University of Miami, Florida In this fresh and provocative study, Mika Luoma-aho is not content with merely contributing to skepticism concerning the secular narrative about the Westphalian order or with reconfiguring the dilemmas concerning the scientific versus political character of international relations...This book goes beyond the simple acknowledgment of the relevance of religion for the discipline of international relations, and aims at unveiling the religious nature of international relations itself...This deeply theologised rethinking of international relations is intellectually refreshing and exciting, and in a way is much more realistic than the mainstream program of social and political science backed by an alleged 'methodological atheism'. -- Peter Losonczi

The gauntlet of God is yet again thrown down against the idolization of the state. A worthy challenge to any IR theorist -- Iver B. Neumann,Director of Research, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs Going beyond Carl Schmitt's argument that all significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts the author traces the process by which sovereign states became the latest embodiment of the Christian corpus mysticism and a centerpiece of the academic discipline of International Relations. In this major contribution to the emerging political theology of International Relations, the author sheds light on the profound worldwide moral crisis and explains why the discipline is paralyzed when handling some of today's key issues. -Dr. Vendulka Kubalkova, Professor of International Studies, University of Miami, Florida In this fresh and provocative study, Mika Luoma-aho is not content with merely contributing to skepticism concerning the secular narrative about the Westphalian order or with reconfiguring the dilemmas concerning the scientific versus political character of international relations...This book goes beyond the simple acknowledgment of the relevance of religion for the discipline of international relations, and aims at unveiling the religious nature of international relations itself...This deeply theologised rethinking of international relations is intellectually refreshing and exciting, and in a way is much more realistic than the mainstream program of social and political science backed by an alleged 'methodological atheism'. Peter Losonczi, PoliticalTheology.com, July 2012 This is an iconoclastic book. The need for this radical thinking is great when the dangers of extreme nationalism and state isolationism are threatening global solidarity. James Walters, LSE Review of Books, October 2012

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Mika Luoma-aho is Head of the Department of Social Studies and a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Lapland, Finland. He serves on the Editorial Board of Kosmopolis and is the author of four books, including Europe as a Living Organism: Organicist Symbolism and Political Subjectivity in the New Europe (2002).

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