Economic Theology, Governance and Neoliberalism: Lessons of the Kingdom and The Glory
Economic Theology, Governance and Neoliberalism: Lessons of the Kingdom and The Glory

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine Agamben’s engagement with economic theology in order to underscore its relevance for the critique of contemporary neoliberal politics. In the first part, I offer a summary of the central arguments of The Kingdom and the Glory. In particular, I focus on both the treatment of the notion of oikonomia in the early Christian discussions on the divine trinity and its relation to the providential paradigm of government. I then show how this genealogy of oikonomia is useful for a political analysis of the present. In doing so, I respond to some of the criticisms leveled against Agamben’s The Kingdom and the Glory by Alberto Toscano. Finally, I will conclude by showing how Agamben’s work is of particular importance for the study of neoliberal political rationality.

• Details
• Contents