The Stillborn God? A Conversation About the Future of Political Theologies

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Copley Formal Lounge


Two leading contemporary thinkers, Mark Lilla, (Columbia University), and José Casanova, (Georgetown and the Berkley Center), explored the problems of political theologies through engaging in a conversation about the issues raised by Lilla's recent book, The Stillborn God. Intended as a history of ideas about political theology in the West, The Stillborn God has received wide attention (including a New York Times Sunday Magazine article) and opened a vigorous critical debate (see the Social Science Research Council's Immanent Frame discussion of the book). Lilla challenges his reader to reconsider the genealogy and consequences of the "great separation" of religion and politics brought about by the Enlightenment and to look anew at the pervasive role of religion in contemporary politics.

This event is part of our project on The Future of Political Theologies.

Mark Lilla
Mark Lilla is Professor of the Humanities and in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. He was trained at the University of Michigan and Harvard University, where he received his PhD in 1990. He has held positions at New York University, Oxford University (visitor), and most recently in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. His work ranges widely in the history of ideas, though his central concerns have been the relation between religion and politics and the legacy of the modern Western enlightenment. His books include G.B. Vico: The Making of an Anti-Modern (1993), The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics (2001), and, most recently, The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West (2007). His current research focuses on the religious concepts of conversion and innocence.

José Casanova
José Casanova joined Georgetown University as Professor of Sociology and Senior Fellow in the Center in January 2008. Casanova, a leading authority on religion and world affairs, has published widely on sociological theory, migration, and globalization. His critically acclaimed Public Religions in the Modern World (Chicago, 1994) has been published in five languages. Casanova studied Philosophy in Saragossa, Spain, received an M.A. in Theology from the University of Innsbruck, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research. Casanova moved to Georgetown from the New School, where he served as Professor of Sociology from 1987-2007.