Christopher B. Barnett is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at Villanova University, USA. He is the author of books including Bob Dylan and the Spheres of Existence (Bloomsbury, 2023), Historical Dictionary of Kierkegaard’s Philosophy (2022), Kierkegaard and the Question Concerning Technology (Bloomsbury, 2019), and From Despair to Faith: The Spirituality of Søren Kierkegaard (2014).

Christopher B. Barnett’s new book marks a new step in his characteristically incisive, provocative, and insightful applications of Kierkegaardian thought to contemporary culture. After spirituality, film, technology and Bob Dylan, Barnett now turns to the state and the claims of political theology. In a forceful interpretation of the inherently war-like character of the modern state he draws on Kierkegaard and a trio of twentieth-century figures (Bonhoeffer, Ellul, and Girard) to help shape an apostolic radicalism fit for the twenty-first century. His programmatic statement of what such apostolic radicalism might mean in practice will be sobering reading to those pursuing many of today’s theological fashions and a rallying-point for those seeking a faith that means what it says.

• Preface1. The Origin and Development of the Modern State: A Survey2. Kierkegaard’s Early Critique of the State and Politics3. Conservative Radicalism?: Political Dissent in the Wake of Kierkegaard4. The Danger of Political TheologyConclusion: Seeing Through the Political IllusionWorks Cited

Christopher B. Barnett is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at Villanova University, USA. He is the author of books including Bob Dylan and the Spheres of Existence (Bloomsbury, 2023), Historical Dictionary of Kierkegaard’s Philosophy (2022), Kierkegaard and the Question Concerning Technology (Bloomsbury, 2019), and From Despair to Faith: The Spirituality of Søren Kierkegaard (2014).

Christopher B. Barnett’s new book marks a new step in his characteristically incisive, provocative, and insightful applications of Kierkegaardian thought to contemporary culture. After spirituality, film, technology and Bob Dylan, Barnett now turns to the state and the claims of political theology. In a forceful interpretation of the inherently war-like character of the modern state he draws on Kierkegaard and a trio of twentieth-century figures (Bonhoeffer, Ellul, and Girard) to help shape an apostolic radicalism fit for the twenty-first century. His programmatic statement of what such apostolic radicalism might mean in practice will be sobering reading to those pursuing many of today’s theological fashions and a rallying-point for those seeking a faith that means what it says.

• Preface1. The Origin and Development of the Modern State: A Survey2. Kierkegaard’s Early Critique of the State and Politics3. Conservative Radicalism?: Political Dissent in the Wake of Kierkegaard4. The Danger of Political TheologyConclusion: Seeing Through the Political IllusionWorks Cited

Christopher B. Barnett is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at Villanova University, USA. He is the author of books including Bob Dylan and the Spheres of Existence (Bloomsbury, 2023), Historical Dictionary of Kierkegaard’s Philosophy (2022), Kierkegaard and the Question Concerning Technology (Bloomsbury, 2019), and From Despair to Faith: The Spirituality of Søren Kierkegaard (2014).

Christopher B. Barnett’s new book marks a new step in his characteristically incisive, provocative, and insightful applications of Kierkegaardian thought to contemporary culture. After spirituality, film, technology and Bob Dylan, Barnett now turns to the state and the claims of political theology. In a forceful interpretation of the inherently war-like character of the modern state he draws on Kierkegaard and a trio of twentieth-century figures (Bonhoeffer, Ellul, and Girard) to help shape an apostolic radicalism fit for the twenty-first century. His programmatic statement of what such apostolic radicalism might mean in practice will be sobering reading to those pursuing many of today’s theological fashions and a rallying-point for those seeking a faith that means what it says.

• Preface1. The Origin and Development of the Modern State: A Survey2. Kierkegaard’s Early Critique of the State and Politics3. Conservative Radicalism?: Political Dissent in the Wake of Kierkegaard4. The Danger of Political TheologyConclusion: Seeing Through the Political IllusionWorks Cited