Mark Lilla's The Stillborn God feels like two books, oddly yoked together. One is a fascinating study, which traces a…
Two books, oddly yoked together
political theology
Political theology & liberal democracy
The idea of modern liberalism depends decisively on a jettisoning of theology as a source for arguing about politics: If…
Our historical Sonderweg
My thanks to all those who have taken the time to respond to The Stillborn God, with sharper comments than…
The last prophet of Leviathan
Lilla turns aside to the small cadre of the Enlightened who see the story for what it is....“We” turns out…
A review in three parts
“The world of today is torn asunder by a great dispute; and not only a dispute, but a ruthless battle…
The other shore
For Lilla, Westerners are the exception because we live on what he calls “the other shore.” Civilizations on the “opposite…
A cautionary tale?
It would have been enough for Lilla to frame this book as an explanation of the genealogy of bourgeois protestant…
The great separation
One should be suspicious of any argument that presents the multiple alternatives facing contemporary societies around the world today as…
Secularism, realism, and international relations
Among the various fields of the social sciences, international relations theory has established itself both as scientific and as politically…