Political Theology after Metaphysics

In Political Theology after Metaphysics, Derek Brown argues that theologians and religious believers should pursue a revolutionary political theology that can address racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression in practical ways, rather than following the sorts of metaphysical theologies that have dominated theological discourse since at least the scholastic period. Relying primarily on Marxist and deconstructive critiques of the ideological function of metaphysics, the book engages a wide range of classical and contemporary figures, including Karl Marx, Sren Kierkegaard, Carl Schmitt, Jacques Derrida, James Cone, Chantal Mouffe, Cornel West, Martin Hgglund, and Karl Ove Knausgrd. These engagements are attentive not only to the ways in which these figures critique or defend metaphysics, but also to the ways in which they perform political theologies responsive to those critiques. While the so-called postmodern critique of metaphysicswhich Brown problematizes as insufficiently critical of political ideologyis often read as a challenge to religion, Browns readings suggest that the deconstructive and Marxist critiques of metaphysics present an opportunity for the reemergence of a historical and politically engaged form of religion.