Challenging Theocracy : : Ancient Lessons for Global Politics / / David Tabachnick, Toivo Koivukoski, Herminio Meireles Teixeira.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press Pilot 2018
• HerausgeberIn: Koivukoski, Toivo,; Tabachnick, David,; Teixeira, Herminio Meireles,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (368 p.)

Commonly perceived as a direct threat to the practice of liberal democracy, the global reemergence of theocratic claims to political rule is a misunderstood development of twenty-first-century politics. Analyzing the relationship between religion and politics throughout the Middle East, Africa, and the United States, as well as classical and medieval political philosophical sources, Challenging Theocracy critiques the contemporary formation of theocracy. Providing an account of the origins and influence of theocracy, the chapters in this volume explore ancient texts that articulate the theocratic political ideas that continue to bubble under the surface of political life today. In an effort to consider how regimes extend beyond their immediate institutional and legal forms and find their foundation in timeless ideas, the contributors examine ancient and modern political thought to better understand their persistent power and impact on global politics.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Theocracy as Temptation: Empire and Mindfulness -- 2. The Confrontation between Classical Political Philosophy and the Gods of the City -- 3. Between Rationalism and Theocracy: Plato, the Mysteries, and F.W.J. Schelling's Analysis of the Modern State -- 4. The Place of Religion in Politics: On Analogous Gods and the Piety of the Unspoken -- 5. The Aristotelian Roots of Religious Governance Approaches -- 6. The Non-Theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) -- 7. Islamism in North Africa: From Cairo to Tunis -- 8. Theocratic Arguments in Judaism -- 9. Saving Miracles: Political Theology and Theocracy in the Schmitt-Benjamin Encounter -- 10. Theocracy's Challenge -- 11. The Impossibility of Theocracy: The Weakness of the Gods -- 12. Understanding Our Adversaries: Ancient vs. Modern Political Thought -- 13. Religion, Tolerance, and American Theocratic Politics: Lessons for the Contemporary Era -- 14. Shaftesbury's Characteristics and the Problem of Priestcraft -- Contributors -- Index