Lund University Publications
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Lund University Lund University Publications2000-01-01T00:00+00:001daily"Take Up Your Cross" : Public Theology Between Populism and Pluralism in the Post-Migrant Context
https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/5aaf43bf-1637-4d87-b51f-83be36ce6ae9
Schmiedel, Ulrich2019As of 1 June 2018, the symbol of the cross has to be shown in all state offices of Bavaria in Germany. In order to chart the churches’ reaction, I return to a conversation that Robert N. Bellah and Martin E. Marty had during the 1960s and the 1970s. Drawing on the core concepts of this conversation, I analyze and assess today’s cross controversy as a case of what I call the ‘populist predicament’. I argue that Marty’s programme of public theology provides a path out of the populist predicament because it combines the celebration and the critique of identity. Ultimately, I advocate for a pluralist position of public theology in the post-migrant context.https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5aaf43bf-1637-4d87-b51f-83be36ce6ae9http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697320-12341569scopus:85069158558engInternational Journal of Public Theology; 13(2), pp 140-162 (2019)ISSN: 1872-5171Religious Studies"Take Up Your Cross" : Public Theology Between Populism and Pluralism in the Post-Migrant Contextcontributiontojournal/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articletextThe Politics of Europeanism : "God" in Ernst Troeltsch's War and Post-War Writings
https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/b20e6341-27fa-4a3b-bc70-98032e82b5ff
Schmiedel, Ulrich2016For theologians such as Karl Barth the support for Germany’s militaristic ambitions and actions voiced in the manifesto "An die Kulturwelt", published in 1914, was a consequence of the historicization of theology. Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923), whose interdisciplinary thinking revolved around the significance of history for theology, was labeled the theologian of historicism. Although he had not signed the manifesto, it continues to throw a smokescreen over Troeltsch’s theology. Examining a selection of both his war writings and his post-war writings, I argue that Troeltsch conceptualized a political theology which led him to turn from a clash of cultures to a conversation of cultures. Troeltsch’s historicization of the concept of God allowed him to resist cultural relativism as well as cultural absolutism. Culminating in the concept of "Europeanism (Europäismus)", Troeltsch’s political theology is instructive for a variety of intra- and inter-cultural conversations in Europe today. But in order to unlock its potential, the smokescreen which the manifesto has thrown over Troeltsch’s theology needs to be lifted.https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b20e6341-27fa-4a3b-bc70-98032e82b5ffhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1515/znth-2016-0004engZeitschrift für Neuere Theologiegeschichte / Journal for the History of Modern Theology; 22(2), pp 231-249 (2016)ISSN: 1612-9776Religious StudiesThe Politics of Europeanism : "God" in Ernst Troeltsch's War and Post-War Writingscontributiontojournal/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articletextTranscendence - Taxis - Trust : Richard Kearney and Jacques Derrida
https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/995dc6e4-f2ad-4bbe-8204-07a9df7e2993
Schmiedel, Ulrich2017Whatever else it takes to drive a taxi, it takes trust. Day after day, the driver has to decide whether the other is or is not trustworthy. I take the taxi as a test case to analyze and assess Richard Kearney’s diacritical hermeneutics of the other. I argue that Kearney functionalizes the concept of transcendence in order to connect the transcendence of the finite other to the transcendence of the infinite other. However, in his central critique of the deconstructionists following Jacques Derrida, Kearney counters his connection. While Kearney’s critique of Derrida’s account of absolute alterity is correct and compelling, I argue that Derrida’s critique of a distinction between the trustworthy other and the non-trustworthy other might be more crucial than Kearney contends. Insisting on openness to the other’s otherness, Derrida provokes any hermeneutic of the other to trust in transcendence. The taxi is taken as a test to illustrate the implications which diacritical and deconstructive drivers might have for evaluating the entanglement of ethics and eschatology—inside and outside the taxi.https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/995dc6e4-f2ad-4bbe-8204-07a9df7e2993http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel8030037scopus:85015436816engReligions; 8(3) (2017)ISSN: 2077-1444Religious StudiesTranscendence - Taxis - Trust : Richard Kearney and Jacques Derridacontributiontojournal/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articletextCoalition - Creation - Church : In Pursuit of a Political Ecclesiology
https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/3519bc1f-e078-4863-ab7e-a1d8b72e5ae8
Schmiedel, Ulrich2019Taking the recent UN Report about extreme poverty in the UK as a point of departure, this article analyses and assesses William Cavanaugh’s political ecclesiology. Drawing on the interpretation of Martin Luther’s concept of creation in Scandinavian Creation Theology, I argue that creation destabilises the distinction Cavanaugh draws between what he considers to be church and what he considers not to be church. I account for creation as a web of vulnerability in which all creatures are vulnerable to both creature and creator. In contrast to Cavanaugh’s strong and stable church, I advocate for what I call “coalitional church”: a church that can enter into coalitions with Christians and non-Christians in order to call for conditions under which vulnerable life is liveable. The public and political task of churches is not necessarily to fight the state, but to hold the state accountable to its citizens, whether they are Christian or non-Christian.https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3519bc1f-e078-4863-ab7e-a1d8b72e5ae8http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0039338X.2019.1667431scopus:85073932719engStudia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology; 73(2), pp 154-178 (2019)ISSN: 1502-7791Religious StudiesCoalition - Creation - Church : In Pursuit of a Political Ecclesiologycontributiontojournal/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articletextMourning the Un-Mournable? Political Theology Between Refugees and Religion
https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/6e157a89-6461-47a1-96ae-e366efb1a356
Schmiedel, Ulrich2017Since the arrival, or the attempted arrival, of millions of refugees in Europe, the performances of the Center for Political Beauty – a Berlin-based collective of artists and activists – have had a huge impact on public and political debates about Germany's migration policies. In this paper, I analyze the performance “The Dead Are Coming” in which the artists buried refugees who drowned in their attempt to enter the European Union. Drawing on Judith Butler's political philosophy of performativity, I assess “The Dead Are Coming” as a “doing” rather than a “describing” of dignity. I argue that the integration of God into the practices of mourning enables both the activists and the audience to resist the differential distribution of dignity in Europe's migration policy. Ultimately, I advocate a re-thinking of political theology in which art learns from theology and theology learns from art in order to promote dignity under de-dignifying conditions.https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/6e157a89-6461-47a1-96ae-e366efb1a356http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2017.1291399scopus:85013633568engPolitical Theology; 18(7), pp 612-627 (2017)ISSN: 1462-317XReligious StudiesMourning the Un-Mournable? Political Theology Between Refugees and Religioncontributiontojournal/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articletextThe Theopolitics of the Migrant : Toward a Coalitional and Comparative Political Theology
https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/6a0d11e5-19af-4497-a187-fd0a0ebe3b54
Allard, Silas W.Heyer, KristinNadella, RajSchmiedel, Ulrich2021Migration challenges democracies characterized by the assumption that the citizens who are affected by the law are also its authors and that the citizens who are its authors are also affected by the law. Taking the “hijab affair” in France as a point of departure, this chapter aims to confront the constitution of the law in decisionist political theology and dialectical political theology with the figure of the migrant. The chapter argues that the migrant can be characterized as a theopolitical figure that resists the separation of citizen and noncitizen implied in the concept of strong and stable state sovereignty. Drawing on Seyla Benhabib’s account of democratic iterations, the chapter sketches the contours of a coalitional and comparative political theology in order to provide a theological reflection and a theological rationale for the theopolitics of the migrant already practiced across Europe.https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/6a0d11e5-19af-4497-a187-fd0a0ebe3b54http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003042198-15ISBN: 9781003042198ISBN: 9780367486693ISBN: 9781032049526scopus:85117219091engReligious StudiesInternational Migration and Ethnic RelationsThe Theopolitics of the Migrant : Toward a Coalitional and Comparative Political Theologycontributiontobookanthology/chapterinfo:eu-repo/semantics/bookParttext"No More Deaths" : Religious Liberty as a Defense for Providing Sanctuary for Immigrants
https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/19e5c8be-51e7-4962-a062-7d1d7a1cc1c7
Allard, SilasHeyer, KristinNadella, RajCuison Villazor, RoseSchmiedel, Ulrich2021https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/19e5c8be-51e7-4962-a062-7d1d7a1cc1c7ISBN: 9781003042198ISBN: 9780367486693scopus:85117209636engLaw and Religion; pp 251-275 (2021)Religious Studies"No More Deaths" : Religious Liberty as a Defense for Providing Sanctuary for Immigrantscontributiontobookanthology/chapterinfo:eu-repo/semantics/bookParttext