Monotheism, Intolerance, and the Path to Pluralistic Politics

ISBN-10
1108888917
ISBN-13
9781108888912
Language
English
Published
2021
Author
Christopher A Haw

Description

"In a shrinking and globalizing world, with many conflicts stemming from religious and ideological differences, how are we to manage monotheism's potential for inspiring intolerant anti-pluralism?Discussions of monotheism's political consequences often emphasize either its intolerance of other gods and religions as a source of bigotry and conflict, on the one hand, or emphasize monotheism as a source of pacific, universalistic tolerance on the other. But both approaches fail to see the combined danger and liberation in monotheism's "intolerance." I argue that monotheism's intolerance opens up historic potentials that are both crucial to pluralistic coexistence and dangerous: it helped dissolve the ancient link between God and the political sphere and deepened concern for the victims of politics while it also made possible a uniquely absolutist violence. By comparison, polytheistic "tolerance" does not make for a liberating vision of inclusion and diversity. To argue this, I construct an account of monotheism's intolerance-as a "refusal to divinize victims" and a prohibition of representing the Absolute-and its relevance to politics today, using the mimetic theory of Renâe Girard, the monotheistic scholarship of Jan Assmann et al, and the social theory of Chantal Mouffe"--

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