Political Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty (Columbia Studies in Political Thought / Political History)
Paul W. Kahn is a distinguished political and legal theorist who has written many important books on the American political imagination before. Yet in this case, he directly engages a thinker with whom he has slowly discovered a philosophical kinship, the great German legal and political theorist Carl Schmitt. The encounter is providential. Quite apart from providing another version of Kahn's thinking about the nature of American political life, Kahn's new book offers an extremely original and insightful proposal about what to take away from Schmitt's project of 'political theology.' This is a very attractive and imaginative project, and it is executed with brilliance and provocation.(Samuel Moyn, Columbia University, author ofThe Last Utopia: Human Rights in Historyand coeditor ofDemocracy Past and Future)Magisterial.(Michael IgnatieffNew Republic)Kahn's work is engaging and prompts further considerations on the sacred nature of politics.(Choice)Kahn's book is fascinating, insightful, and a delight to read(Peter E. GordonImmanent Frame)In his masterful redefinition of Carl Schmitt's work within a democratic context, Kahn's book establishes the study of political theology as the key to understanding one of the most difficult yet urgent problems of American political life -- the relationship between law and popular will. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the roles of sovereignty and the sacred in the development of our national identity.(David Pan, University of California, Irvine)This is an important book, one that ought to be read by anyone interested in the relevance of Carl Schmitt's thought for contemporary democratic theory (and even more so those who believe it has none).(Adam ThurschwellLaw, Culture, and Humanities1900-01-00)Political Theologyoverflows with insights and productive provocations about politics, jurisprudence, and philosophy.(Mark S. WeinerTelos1900-01-00)