Monotheism, Intolerance, and the Path to Pluralistic Politics
Monotheism, Intolerance, and the Path to Pluralistic Politics
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USDDiscussions of monotheism often consider its bigotry toward other gods as a source of conflict, or emphasize its universality as a source of peaceful tolerance. Both approaches, however, ignore the combined danger and liberation in monotheism's 'intolerance.' In this volume, Christopher Haw reframes this important argument. He demonstrates the value of rejecting paradigms of inclusivity in favor of an agonistic pluralism and intolerance of absolutism. Haw proposes a model that retains liberal, pluralistic principles while acknowledging their limitations, and he relates them to theologies latent in political ideas. His volume offers a nuanced, evolutionary, and historical understanding of the biblical tradition's emergence and its political consequences with respect to violence. It suggests how we can mediate impasses between liberal and conservative views in culture wars; between liberal inclusivity and conservative decisionism; and, on the religious front, between apologetics for exclusive monotheism and critiques of its intolerance.
- Demonstrates the value of rejecting paradigms of inclusivity in favor of a model of liberal agonistic pluralism and intolerance of absolutism
- Introduces Girard's mimetic theory and puts it into critical contact with scholarship of the ancient near east
- Offers a nuanced understanding of the biblical tradition's political emergence and suggests how we can mediate between opposing views and intolerance
Reviews & endorsements
'Working out the manifold implications of René Girard's biblical anthropology, Chris Haw breaks new ground where he integrates the foundational research in ancient Near East culture of the eminent Egyptologist Jan Assman and Chantal Mouffe's internal critique of modern liberal democracy. He challenges us to rethink what we understand by covenant, idolatry, myth, hegemony and consensus, and much more besides. As a result, our commonplace notions of Israel's monotheistic revolution are on reset, as are the embroiled relations between religion and politics.' Andrew McKenna, Loyola University Chicago
'In his wide-ranging and deeply illuminative study, Christopher Haw boldly confronts the paradoxes surrounding intolerance today both within monotheistic religious faiths and within the pluralistic societies in which such traditionally exclusive faiths are often immersed. Taking up monotheism's rigid distinctions between true and false, the righteous and the wicked, Haw demonstrates how the true path to non-dualistic thinking lies not in removing dualities, but in seeing them differently, thereby suspending their potential for violence. If, as he claims, repentance is 'scapegoating in reverse', then the sacramental nature of our world is perceivable anew through a theological lens which does not simply enforce strict dualisms, but sees God's very body as itself divided. Not only does this view offer humanity another way to envision the legacy of monotheism, but it also ends the divinization of politics as we know it.' Colby Dickinson, Loyola University Chicago
'In this brilliantly argued book, Chris Haw moves us beyond stale attacks on - and defenses of - monotheism, showing that the biblical exclusivity is both potentially violent and potentially liberating in its separation of God from the political powers that be. Through a nuanced re-reading of ancient history and modern theory, Haw points the way forward to a politics beyond sovereignty and uniformity.' William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University
Product details
September 2022Paperback
9781108810296
286 pages
230 × 150 × 16 mm
0.43kg
Not yet published - available from May 2025
Table of Contents
- 1. Pluralism's requisite intolerance
- 2. Girard's mimetic theory and monotheism's ambivalent effects
- 3. Monotheism and the monopoly on violence: Freud and Girard
- 4. Containing violence and two entirely different kinds of religion
- 5. Polytheism and the victim in Ancient Eqypt
- 6. A political theology of the mosaic distinction: the development of apophatic intolerance
- 7. Jesus Christ and intolerance: toward revelation without rivalry
- 8. Conclusion: how to be intolerant.
