Weird John Brown

Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Theology
Cover of the book Weird John Brown by Ted A. Smith, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ted A. Smith ISBN: 9780804793452
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: November 26, 2014
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Ted A. Smith
ISBN: 9780804793452
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: November 26, 2014
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

Conventional wisdom holds that attempts to combine religion and politics will produce unlimited violence. Concepts such as jihad, crusade, and sacrifice need to be rooted out, the story goes, for the sake of more bounded and secular understandings of violence. Ted Smith upends this dominant view, drawing on Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben, and others to trace the ways that seemingly secular politics produce their own forms of violence without limit. He brings this argument to life—and digs deep into the American political imagination—through a string of surprising reflections on John Brown, the nineteenth-century abolitionist who took up arms against the state in the name of a higher law. Smith argues that the key to limiting violence is not its separation from religion, but its connection to richer and more critical modes of religious reflection. Weird John Brown develops a negative political theology that challenges both the ways we remember American history and the ways we think about the nature, meaning, and exercise of violence.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Conventional wisdom holds that attempts to combine religion and politics will produce unlimited violence. Concepts such as jihad, crusade, and sacrifice need to be rooted out, the story goes, for the sake of more bounded and secular understandings of violence. Ted Smith upends this dominant view, drawing on Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben, and others to trace the ways that seemingly secular politics produce their own forms of violence without limit. He brings this argument to life—and digs deep into the American political imagination—through a string of surprising reflections on John Brown, the nineteenth-century abolitionist who took up arms against the state in the name of a higher law. Smith argues that the key to limiting violence is not its separation from religion, but its connection to richer and more critical modes of religious reflection. Weird John Brown develops a negative political theology that challenges both the ways we remember American history and the ways we think about the nature, meaning, and exercise of violence.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book The Lebanese Connection by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book The Gist of Reading by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Negotiating China's Destiny in World War II by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Pricing and Revenue Optimization by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Law as Punishment / Law as Regulation by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Choosing Daughters by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Squandered Opportunity by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Ethnic Europe by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Law and the Stranger by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book No Billionaire Left Behind by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Memos from the Besieged City by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Democracy and Political Ignorance by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Divine Variations by Ted A. Smith
Cover of the book Monsters by Trade by Ted A. Smith
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy