Description
In order to challenge prevalent narratives downplaying the presence of religion on the international stage, IR discussions over the past twenty years have flagged the extent to which religious actors shape and reshape the international realm (Petito and Hatzopolous 2003; Fox and Sandler 2004; Thomas 2005; Hurd 2008). Recent explorations of the political theology of the international (Molloy 2017; JIRD 2019; Paipais 2020; Bain 2020) go a step further by deliberately shifting the focus away from religion as a socio-political object of study towards the manner in which secular international political thought is itself shot through with theological motifs. This panel extends the political theological conversation, and it does so in two important respects. First, the panel emphasizes embodiment and socio-political practices out of a recognition that the IR political theological conversation has thus far largely unfolded at the level of the history of ideas. This sole focus on ideas is problematic to the extent that it reinforces a reductive notion of religion and theology as pertaining to the level of belief. Second, the panel brings together political theological conversations within the western tradition with the burgeoning exploration in IR of the political theological import of non-western traditions.
