In 1922, German jurist, political theorist and member of the Nazi party Carl Schmitt famously asserted: ”all significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts”. This quote, as well as the book from which it is taken (Politisiche Theologie. Vier Kapitel zur Lehre von der Souveränität) are pivotal for what has, in recent years, developed into a stratified research field, called political theology. The notion of ”secularization” in Schmitt’s analysis proved exceptionally fertile, due to its capacity to highlight the ambivalent nature of the process assumed to liberate politics from religious patterns of authority and belief. Thinkers such as Max Weber, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, Johann Baptist Metz, Hans Blumenberg, Jacob Taubes and Giorgio Agamben have given important contributions to this line of thought. In light of the most recent development on the global political arena – full-scale wars, a dramatic political polarization and a pending ecological collapse – the critical examination of hidden paradigms of thought and structures of beliefs influencing today’s political decision-making, is more relevant than ever.

But the question of how we should understand the presence or absence of religious and/or Christian theological structures of thought in contemporary society, more broadly speaking, would benefit by being illuminated from a wider variety of perspectives. In this Workshop, scholars in Ancient Greek, Bible studies, History of Religion, Law and Literature will present their work – of political, feminist, historical, esthetic or religious relevance – alongside theologians and philosophers conducting research within different sectors of the field political theology. By creating this unique opportunity for a cross-disciplinary conversation about urgent political and theological issues, the hope is to challenge, complement and vitalize the contemporary discussion on political theology.

Conference Programm:

Wednesday, 26.03.2025: Dean’s Office, Main Building (Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna, Staircase 8, 2nd floor)

• 13:30 Meeting at the entrance of the main building
• 14:00-14:15 Welcome / Introductory speech
• Session 1:
  • 14:15-14:55 Kurt Appel: After Metz: The Biblical Language of the Impossible and the Creation of Alternative Worlds
  • 15:00-15:40, Jayne Svenungsson: Prophetic Political Theology: Daniel Bensaïd’s Alternative Radicality
• 15:40-16:10 Coffe break
• Session 2:
  • 16:15-16:55 Peter Jackson Rova: Superterrestrial Polities. Or: The Subterranean Poetics of Politics
  • 17:00-17:40 Daniel Kuran: Tales of Divine Sovereignty. Niobe and Korah (read by Walter Benjamin)
• 19:30 Dinner at Heurigen

Thursday, 27.03.2025: Dean’s Office, Main Building (Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna, Staircase 8, 2nd floor)

• 9:00-9:15 Introduction
• Session 1:
  • 9:15-9:55 Sandra Lehman: Politics and the Hyperbolé of Being
  • 10:00-10:40 Eric Cullhed: Why Is Weeping a “Mystery”?
• 10:40-11:10 Coffee break
• Session 2:
  • 11:15-11:55 Mattias Martinson: The Sound and Silence of Trumpism. Music, Politics and Theology
  • 12:00-12:40 Tormod Otter Johansen: The Secular Apocalypse of Nuclear Sovereignty
• 12:40-14:15 Lunch break
• Session 3:
  • 14:20-15:00 Katerina Koci: Wielding Patriarchy’s Tools: Sarah, Hagar, and Atwood’s Dystopian Women
  • 15:05-15:45 Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed: Philomela and the unspeakable
• 15:45-16:15 Coffee break
• Session 4:
  • 16:20-17:00 Anna Sjöberg: Ivan Illich as a political theologian: A close reading of selected passages from The Rivers North of the Future: The Testament of Ivan Illich as told to David Cayley
• 19:30 Lunch

Friday, 28.03.2025: Seminar Room 5, Schenkenstraße (Schenkenstraße 8-10, 1010 Vienna)

• 9:00-9:15 Introduction
• Session 1:
  • 9:15-09:55 Isabella Bruckner: Micropolitics of the Gospel: practices of every day subversion in Michel de Certeau
  • 10:00-10:40 Ulrika Björk: Hannah Arendt’s Non-Secular Secularism: The Case of Abraham
• 10:40-11:10 Coffee break
• Session 2:
  • 11:15-11:55 Mårten Björk: A Social Interpretation of Nature: Hans Kelsen’s Critique of Political Theology and Gustav Radbruch's Metaphysics of Fleas
  • 12:00-12:40 Ida Simonsson: A theological-historical analysis of the relationship between power and value
• 12:40-14:00 Lunch
• Session 3:
  • 14:05-14:45: Jakob Deibl: The 'prince'(‘Fürst’) as a political-theological category in Hölderlin?
  • 14:45-15:30: Summary and Discussion

Abstracts:

To view the abstracts for all presentations, click here.

Registration:

If you are interested in participating, please register via e-mail at marian.weingartshofer@univie.ac.at by March 25, 2025.