What Is Political Theology?

Political theology is widely discussed but little understood. Across the humanities and critical social sciences, even in popular discussion of current events, it has become a buzzword. Yet there is no consensus about its very definition.

This field-changing interdisciplinary book brings together three of the leading voices in political theology--a Christian theologian, a critical theorist, and an anthropologist--to offer new entry points to understand religion and politics. They explore similarities and differences in their approaches, guiding readers through scholarship in their own fields while also advancing a shared vision that speaks to crucial questions of justice in the contemporary world.

Rejecting the notion that political theology is a closed field with an established canon, the authors show it to be an open-ended, lively conversation that welcomes new participants. They demonstrate how voices and approaches from decolonial theory, Black studies, feminist and queer theory, new materialism, and ethnography, both in the Global North and in the Global South, are transforming the field.

This book addresses concerns about political theology’s ties to authoritarian and antidemocratic movements, demonstrating that an engaged political theology sheds critical light on volatile topics such as populism, racism, and ethnoreligious nationalism. At once accessible to students and groundbreaking for scholars, What Is Political Theology? provides a state-of-the-art global understanding.

Luke Bretherton is Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford University. His books include Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy (2019).

Vincent Lloyd is professor of theology and religious studies and director of the Center for Political Theology at Villanova University. His books include Black Dignity: The Struggle Against Domination (2022), and he is an editor of the journal Political Theology.

Valentina Napolitano is a professor and Connaught Scholar in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her books include Migrant Hearts and the Atlantic Return: Transnationalism and the Roman Catholic Church (2016).