Political Theology: Religion and Politics from Aeschylus to Derrida

Morse Academic Program Course: Conversations with the West

Silver 206 / Tuesday-Thursday 4:55-6:10 (plus recitations)
Professor: Stefanos Geroulanos, Department of History
TA/TAs: Matt Watkins / Tom Fleischman

Course Description
Why do we believe that the past two centuries brought forth a process of secularization? Is politics
always religious? Is religion ever apolitical? How have philosophers and theologians thought the
civic and its relation to the divine? In what way have they linked monotheism and religious
experience to sovereignty and violence? Do we live in a post-secular time? In what way can we call
religion modern? How has secular modernity re-thought its religious past?
Following from the recent resurgence of discussions of religions role in the public sphere,
the aim of this course is to provide undergraduates with an overview of links between politics,
literature, and theology since Classical Greece. We will read some of the major texts that address the
politics of religion and the religious ground of political questions (including Aeschylus, St.Paul,
Augustine, Shakespeare, Pascal, Kant, Marx, Weber, Schmitt, Levinas, Derrida). Overarching themes
that will be addressed at different times in the course include: the reconfiguration and modern
experience of the religious past; questions of violence and sovereignty; the limitations of atheist
humanism; and the force and role of ethics amidst religious ambivalence.

Requirements
The course is structured around two lectures and one recitation per week. Generally, the Tuesday
lecture concerns the background, central concepts, and overall significance of the thinker or text
under consideration, while the Thursday lecture will involve close reading of the text at hand. One
absence is fine, but further absences will adversely affect your grade. Every absence from a recitation
will count against your grade. You are expected to write short response papers and post them on the
discussion section of blackboard by 5pm the evening before your recitation; each of these response
papers should consist of three questions, each of them about a paragraph-long. You are also
expected to write two 3-page midterms, due on October 8 and November 17 respectively. A 6-page
final paper will be due on December 8, and there will be a final exam, as organized by the MAP
office, on December 22. Questions for all three papers will be handed out a week in advance by the
instructors.

Recitations: Fleischman: Monday 8:00-9:15 & 9:30-10:45
Watkins: Friday 8:00-9:15 & 9:30-10:45

Office Hours
All three of us will hold office hours for you to make use as you see fitto be able to discuss the
material with us one on one when you wish to, to discuss the midterm and final papers, and
especially should you feel you are having problems with the class.

Geroulanos Tue. 1-3, Thurs. 1-2 53 Wash. Square South, #419 sg127@nyu.edu
Fleischman Thurs. 14:45-16:45 53 Wash. Square South, 5W tjf252@nyu.edu
Watkins Thurs. 14:45-16:45 53 Wash. Square South, 5W matthew.watkins@nyu.edu


Week-by-Week Breakdown
1. Introduction: Course of the Course Sept. 8
2. Definitions of Political Theology, Secularization, etc Sept. 10
Talal Asad, The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category, in
Genealogies of Religion (on blackboard)
Jos Casanova, Public Religions Revisited in de Vries, Religion: Beyond a Concept (on
blackboard)
3. Tragedy and Religion in Classical Greece Sept. 15
Aeschylus, Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers
4. Tragedy and Religion in Classical Greece Sept. 17
Aeschylus, The Eumenides
5. Saint Paul Sept. 22
Epistle to the Romans
Epistle to the Galatians
6. Saint Paul Redux Sept. 24
Epistle to the Romans (ctd.)
First Epistle to the Corinthians
7. Stoicism (and Romes Sacred Man) Sept. 29
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, selections
Agamben, Homo Sacer, 71-74, 81-90.
8. Augustine Oct. 1
Augustine, Confessions, selections.
9. Augustine Reloaded Oct. 6
Augustine, Confessions, selections.
10. The Passage from Late Medieval to Early Modern Europe Oct. 8
William Shakespeare, Richard the Second
11. Shakespeare Oct. 13
Shakespeare, Richard the Second
Guest Lecture, Nicole Jerr (Johns Hopkins University)
12. Pascal: God and Man Oct. 15
Pascal, Penses, short selections
13. Spinoza and Miracles Oct. 20
Benedict de Spinoza, Theologico-Political Treatise: preface, 1,2,4,6
14. Spinoza on the State Oct. 22
Spinoza, Theologico-Political Treatise: 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20
15. Rousseau Oct. 27
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract
16. Kant and Reason Oct. 29
Immanuel Kant, Religion Within the Limits of Mere Reason, selection
17. Kant, part II Nov. 3
Kant, Religion Within the Limits of Mere Reason, selection
18. Atheism and the Question of Rights Nov. 5
Declaration of the Rights of Man (1793)
Karl Marx, On the Jewish Question
19. Nietzsche Nov. 10
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ
20. Modern Political Theology I Nov. 12
Weber, The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism: authors intro, chs.2,3,4A-B.
21. Modern Political Theology II Nov. 17
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, ch.5.
Carl Schmitt, Political Theology, 1-15.
22. Modern Political Theology III Nov. 19
Schmitt, Political Theology, 16-52.
23. What do we talk about when we talk about the Other: Emmanuel Levinas Nov. 24
Emmanuel Levinas, A Religion for Adults in Difficult Freedom, 11-24
Levinas, Interview, in Hent de Vries, ed. Religion: Beyond a Concept
24. Ethics and the Other Dec.1
Levinas, Ethics and the Face in Totality and Infinity, 194-219.
25. Deconstruction, Politics and Religion Dec.3
Jacques Derrida, Rogues, selections.
26. Rogues, Democracies, and the Reason of the Strongest Dec.8
Jacques Derrida, Rogues, selections
27. A Politics of Life Itself Dec.10
Agamben, Homo Sacer, 1-29, 136-180.
28. Conclusion Dec.15

Grade Breakdown
Midterm Paper 1 (due Oct. 8) : 10%
Midterm Paper 2 (due Nov.17) : 15%
Final Paper (due Dec. 10) : 20%
In-Class Participation Grade : 20%
Response Papers : 15%
Final Exam : 20%

Books to purchase.
Aeschylus, The Oresteia (Penguin Classics)
Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer (Stanford Univ. Press)
Augustine, Confessions (Oxford University Press 2009 edition)
Derrida, Rogues (Stanford University Press)
Kant, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (Cambridge University Press 1999 edition)
Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ (Penguin)
Schmitt, Political Theology (University of Minnessota Press)
Shakespeare, Richard the Second (New Cambridge Shakespeare Series)
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (Dover 2003)

and also (just ordered): Spinoza, Theologico-Political Treateise (Hachette)