The glittering and hurting days are almost done Then let us compare mythologies I have learned my elaborate lie of…
Religion(s) and the rule of law: Let us compare mythologies
sovereignty
Rule of law as imperial theology
Not only an instrument of power or a one-sided constraint on its use, the rule of law is also a…
Racism and sectarianism
My use of Du Bois here is to think through fundamentally coeval, yet different, histories, vocabularies, and trajectories of discrimination…
Sultan Bargash and Zanzibar’s cosmopolitan modernity
The context Stone Town Café in the old city of Zanzibar is located in the middle of the most stunning…
Catholicism and European politics: Two new trends
I want to offer a reflection on two religious developments in contemporary Europe that highlight but also challenge Roy’s account…
The political theology of corona, the virus with a crown
A new sovereign—a virus with a crown—has revealed two contrasting realms of the sacred during its own state of emergency.
Looking imperial universalism in the eye
In his study of the jihad in Bosnia, Darryl Li performs what might be considered a “radical” move of his…
The necropolitical law of assassination
With extraterritorial, extrajudicial assassination normalized, and law’s foundational protection of human life selectively discarded, we are witnessing the unfolding of…
Before anything, above all: No decision
While phrases such as “Brazil first,” “America first,” or “Brexit is Brexit” may suggest a will to restore sovereignty around…
Law, authority, and tradition
Rumee Ahmed’s Sharia Compliant: A User’s Guide to Hacking Islamic Law is a unique book in that it tackles some…