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This article addresses the question ‘Do we live in a secular, disenchanted world devoid of gods, or do we live in a world populated by new gods?’ Some cite Max Weber in assuming that disenchantment is a fact. Others cite Émile Durkheim who points to ongoing forms of enchantment and the development of new religious forms to take the place of Christianity. In this article I use the case of nationalism to examine this question. I analyse two arguments, one that sides with Weber, the other with Durkheim. I not only side with Durkheim, but argue that Weber sides with Durkheim, too. I then go beyond Durkheim, and argue, from a Christian theological point of view, that nationalism is not only a religion, but an idolatrous one at that.

In this essay I offer a contribution to a political genealogy of secularization through the fading of the Fall in early modern political theory. I begin by giving a brief overview of the importance of the Fall in pre-modern Christian political thought. I then examine the fate of the Fall in early modern thought, briefly discussing Niccolo Machiavelli and Francisco de Vitoria, but concentrating on the English tradition most influential on our context, namely Thomas Hobbes, Robert Filmer, and John Locke. I show how and why the Fall is replaced by the “state of nature” as pre-historical justification of political power. I conclude with some comments on what is lost when Western society no longer uses the Fall to mark the difference between the way things are and the way things are meant to be.

Pope Francis consistently addresses economic issues with the concept of idolatry, but Gaudium et spes treats the economy as an autonomous, secular realm amenable to technocratic solutions guided by principles of right reason. Cavanaugh accounts for this difference by examining changes in theories about secularization from the 1960s to the present. He argues that today we are less likely to see the secular realm as neutral and devoid of belief, and more likely to see it as enchanted and idolatrous.

In this essay the author summarizes the argument of his book entitled The Myth of Religious Violence, whose main contention is that there is no reason to suppose that people are more likely to kill for a god than for a whole other host of “secular” ideologies and practices that behave in the way that “religions” do. The author then goes on to respond to various critiques that have been made of the book since its appearance in 2009.

(2012). Dorian Llywelyn, SJ, Toward a Catholic Theology of Nationality. Political Theology: Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 388-391.

I must begin by expressing my deep appreciation to Paul Rowe for bringing my work on theopolitics before a different audience than the ones to which I am accustomed and for bringing his own expertise in political science and political theory to bear on my writings. The depth and incisiveness of his critique provide me an opportunity to rethink and clarify my ideas. It also gives me the opportunity to prove that I do not deserve being mentioned in the same sentence as Che Guevara and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!

Globalization is often portrayed as ushering in a world without borders, a mobile world where everything is shifting. This essay aims to nuance this portrayal by examining different kinds of mobility in the globalized world and the identities they create. It begins with examining two typical figures from a globalized world: the migrant and the tourist. Then two figures from religious traditions—the pilgrim and the monk—are examined as resources for a positive response to globalization.

The Black Legend of the Inquisition is part of a larger Enlightenment narrative that celebrates modernity and its institutions as a darkness overcome. However, torture is not just a relic of the past. It has emerged as a tool of state that will exist as long as the “war on terror” divides the world. We must denounce terrorism, but in doing so we should not create new Inquisitions of our own. The way to do penance for the Inquisition is to resist torture as it is practiced now, and in doing so establish real dialogue among people of all faiths.