Of Prayers and Tears: Essays on Political Theology
Ebook
Eschatology is generally understood to be the doctrine of last things, but understood rigorously eschatology actually speaks of the inauguration of a new, redeemed world to come and of the coming of God himself. To speak of eschatology in this way is to speak of the very possibility of the future in the radical sense, the future that is not a mere attenuated variation of presence. Eschatology speaks of a coming that comes only to pass away into a past; rather it speaks of the coming of the Holy itself, which is the very origin of time and is thus the event par excellence. This book attempts to make manifest the question that eschatology itself poses: that eschaton has something essential to do with the beginning. This work intervenes in contemporary debates on "postsecularism" and "the return to religion." By introducing the question of eschatology anew, this book reintroduces the problem of transcendence that effectively calls into question the logic of sovereign power and rethinks the place of ''religion'' as an affirmation of what lies beyond, which does not function as the legitimizing principle of sovereignty in today's world of mass consumption.
“In Of Prayers and Tears, Saitya Brata Das presents a discourse on eschatology. A revelation of his thought over time, these essays are about a new, coming, redeemed world—a revelation toward the coming of God himself. This collection is needed especially at this historical moment that is rife with unsettling conflicts and melancholy because it provides an alternative vision—a revelation that announces an end of despair and a radical renewal of hope that awaits the coming of the ‘Holy itself.’”
—Annette Holba, professor of rhetoric, Plymouth State University
“Saitya Brata Das is one of the top philosophers of religion in the world today, and this book continues his powerful engagement with political theology. More significantly, these essays are animated with existential passions of life, love, sorrow, serenity, and joy. Read them, sit with them, and be transformed.”
—Clayton Crockett, professor of philosophy and religious studies, University of Central Arkansas
“Every book by Saitya Brata Das not only demands we think in new ways, but in his articulation of political theology as poetics, facilitates us to do so. Via his rare command of both deep thought and emancipatory language, in this latest offering we are confronted by what transformation can and does mean—if we are prepared to be accept it. This is a tremendous tour de force of thought and depth and insight.”
—Mike Grimshaw, associate professor of sociology, University of Canterbury
“Saitya Brata Das reminds us that the most radical thought facing political theology today is that of the end that does not return us to a beginning but inaugurates the unprethinkable new (the biblical eschaton) and the heterogenous politics of nonviolence which it promises. An important contribution to an already impressive oeuvre.”
—Sean J. McGrath, professor of philosophy, Memorial University
- Title: Of Prayers and Tears: Essays on Political Theology
- Author: Saitya Brata Das
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666784299, 9781666784275, 1666784273, 9781666784282, 1666784281, 166678429X
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666784299
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-10-24T02:57:19Z
Saitya Brata Das teaches literature and philosophy at the Centre for English Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He was postdoc fellow at UFR Philosophie at the University of Strasbourg (France) in 2006–2007 and a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, India, between 2009 and 2011. He is the author of Political Theology of Life (Pickwick Publications, 2023).