(Source: OUP)
Oxford University Press is
publishing a new book on the influence of medieval theology and philosophy on modern
theories of international order.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Is contemporary international
order truly a secular arrangement? Theorists of international relations
typically adhere to a narrative that portrays the modern states system as the
product of a gradual process of secularization that transcended the religiosity
of medieval Christendom. William Bain challenges this narrative by arguing that
modern theories of international order reflect ideas that originate in medieval
theology. They are, in other words, worldly applications of a theological
pattern.
This ground-breaking book makes two key contributions to scholarship on international order. First, it provides a thorough intellectual history of medieval and early modern traditions of thought and the way in which they shape modern thinking about international order. It explores the ideas of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Martin Luther, and other theologians to rise above the sharp differentiation of medieval and modern that underpins most international thought. Uncovering this theological inheritance invites a fundamental reassessment of canonical figures, such as Hugo Grotius and Thomas Hobbes, and their contribution to theorizing international order. Second, this book shows how theological ideas continue to shape modern theories of international order by structuring the questions theorists ask as well as the answer they provide. It argues that the dominant vocabulary of international order, system and society, anarchy, balance of power, and constitutionalism, is mediated by the intellectual commitments of nominalist theology. It concludes by exploring the implications of thinking in terms of this theological inheritance, albeit in a world where God is only one of several possibilities that can called upon to secure the regularity of order.
This ground-breaking book makes two key contributions to scholarship on international order. First, it provides a thorough intellectual history of medieval and early modern traditions of thought and the way in which they shape modern thinking about international order. It explores the ideas of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Martin Luther, and other theologians to rise above the sharp differentiation of medieval and modern that underpins most international thought. Uncovering this theological inheritance invites a fundamental reassessment of canonical figures, such as Hugo Grotius and Thomas Hobbes, and their contribution to theorizing international order. Second, this book shows how theological ideas continue to shape modern theories of international order by structuring the questions theorists ask as well as the answer they provide. It argues that the dominant vocabulary of international order, system and society, anarchy, balance of power, and constitutionalism, is mediated by the intellectual commitments of nominalist theology. It concludes by exploring the implications of thinking in terms of this theological inheritance, albeit in a world where God is only one of several possibilities that can called upon to secure the regularity of order.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Bain, Associate
Professor of International Relations, National University of Singapore
William Bain is Associate
Professor of International Relations at National University of Singapore. He is
the author of Between Anarchy and Society: Trusteeship and the
Obligations of Power (OUP, 2003) and editor of, and contributor
to, Medieval Foundations of International Relations (Routledge,
2016) and The Empire of Security and the Safety of the People (Routledge,
2006). He has written widely on the theory of international society and the
history of international thought.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1:Order and Theology
Part I: Two Kinds of Order
2:Rival Conceptions of Order:
Immanent and Imposed
Part II: From Medieval to Modern
3:Renaissance, Reformation, and
the Road to Westphalia
4:Martin Luther and the Theology
of the Two Kingdoms
5:Hugo Grotius and the God of
International Society
6:Thomas Hobbes and the Divine
Politics of Anarchy
Part III: Modern International
Order as Medieval Theology
7:Political Theology I: System,
Anarchy, Balance of Power
8:Political Theology II: Society,
Law, Constitution
9:International Order Beneath and
Empty Sky
More info here
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