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“We Can Do This!” : Tackling the Political Theology of Populism

Schmiedel, Ulrich LU orcid (2018) In Religion and Global Migrations p.205-244
Abstract
Throughout Europe, the populist protests of PEGIDA (Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes) have stirred up controversy during the current refugee crisis. Applying the political philosophy of Judith Butler to these protests, Ulrich Schmiedel analyzes the political performances as well as the political propositions of Pegida, arguing that a tacit political theology underpins their populism: Pegida conceptualizes “Christianity” in a way which allows the protesters to claim that “we” and “only we” are “the people.” In response to Pegida’s populism, Schmiedel advocates for a weak theology à la John D. Caputo. Such a theology, he argues, “weakens” the identity of Christianity so as to provoke the public and political... (More)
Throughout Europe, the populist protests of PEGIDA (Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes) have stirred up controversy during the current refugee crisis. Applying the political philosophy of Judith Butler to these protests, Ulrich Schmiedel analyzes the political performances as well as the political propositions of Pegida, arguing that a tacit political theology underpins their populism: Pegida conceptualizes “Christianity” in a way which allows the protesters to claim that “we” and “only we” are “the people.” In response to Pegida’s populism, Schmiedel advocates for a weak theology à la John D. Caputo. Such a theology, he argues, “weakens” the identity of Christianity so as to provoke the public and political controversies necessary to put a politics of livable life into practice. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Religion in the European Refugee Crisis
series title
Religion and Global Migrations
editor
Schmiedel, Ulrich and Smith, Graeme
pages
205 - 244
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
ISSN
2945-6398
2945-6401
ISBN
978-3-319-67960-0
978-3-319-67961-7
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-67961-7_11
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
0be60d66-f2c1-4e5b-8923-adfcbb9489e9
date added to LUP
2024-02-25 14:52:34
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:40:30
@inbook{0be60d66-f2c1-4e5b-8923-adfcbb9489e9,
  abstract     = {{Throughout Europe, the populist protests of PEGIDA (Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes) have stirred up controversy during the current refugee crisis. Applying the political philosophy of Judith Butler to these protests, Ulrich Schmiedel analyzes the political performances as well as the political propositions of Pegida, arguing that a tacit political theology underpins their populism: Pegida conceptualizes “Christianity” in a way which allows the protesters to claim that “we” and “only we” are “the people.” In response to Pegida’s populism, Schmiedel advocates for a weak theology à la John D. Caputo. Such a theology, he argues, “weakens” the identity of Christianity so as to provoke the public and political controversies necessary to put a politics of livable life into practice.}},
  author       = {{Schmiedel, Ulrich}},
  booktitle    = {{Religion in the European Refugee Crisis}},
  editor       = {{Schmiedel, Ulrich and Smith, Graeme}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-319-67960-0}},
  issn         = {{2945-6398}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{205--244}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  series       = {{Religion and Global Migrations}},
  title        = {{“We Can Do This!” : Tackling the Political Theology of Populism}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67961-7_11}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-319-67961-7_11}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}