Overview

A critical reflection on the limitations of Carl Schmitt's political theology, reconsidered in light of the current crisis of the liberal democratic order. Recent events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, the rise of right-wing populism, the growing economic inequality and political instability, and the climate emergency, are indicative of the decomposition of the global liberal democratic order. Order, Crisis, and Redemption is a critical reflection on the limitations of Carl Schmitt's political theology, an attempt to think, with and beyond Schmitt, about the parameters of this crisis. Through a sustained critical engagement, ranging over Schmittian texts, including the lesser known, from the 1920s to the 1970s, the book elaborates three main themes that preoccupied Schmitt: order, crisis, and redemption. In times of crisis, as with the one we are currently experiencing, we are faced with the dilemma of either shoring up the current political and legal order-through ever more authoritarian measures-or radically transforming it. Redemption, in the full theological sense of the word, thus implies the possibility of a new understanding of ethics and politics, aimed at creating a more just world.

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9781438493442

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Reviews

Order, Crisis, and Redemption uses an original and scholarly reevaluation of Carl Schmitt's political theology as a springboard for addressing key political issues of the day, such as climate change and the Anthropocene, Neoliberalism, populism, and the decline of the nation-state as a viable political structure for taking humanity into the foreseeable future. It also engages, in a masterful and enlightening fashion, with commentaries on Schmitt (Agamben, Boeckenforde). Particularly insightful is the way the work invokes Schmitt's catholic background and catholic theology as a way of clarifying the rationale for Schmitt's approach to a range of issues, but especially the notions of sovereignty and democracy. -John Lechte, author of The Human: Bare Life and Ways of Life

"""Order, Crisis, and Redemption uses an original and scholarly reevaluation of Carl Schmitt's political theology as a springboard for addressing key political issues of the day, such as climate change and the Anthropocene, Neoliberalism, populism, and the decline of the nation-state as a viable political structure for taking humanity into the foreseeable future. It also engages, in a masterful and enlightening fashion, with commentaries on Schmitt (Agamben, Böckenforde). Particularly insightful is the way the work invokes Schmitt's catholic background and catholic theology as a way of clarifying the rationale for Schmitt's approach to a range of issues, but especially the notions of sovereignty and democracy.""—John Lechte, author of The Human: Bare Life and Ways of Life"

Author Information

Peter Langford is Senior Lecturer in Law at Edge Hill University in England. His many books include Roberto Esposito: Law, Community and the Political. Saul Newman is Professor of Politics at Goldsmiths University of London. He is the author of many books, including Political Theology: A Critical Introduction.

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