The article thematizes the difference between superstition and faith through an allegorical double reading of social theory and Ken Russell’s film The Devils. It discusses the political implications of this difference, contrasting the function of “love of God” in mysticism and in the governmental economy of the church. Crucially, love is originally a universal, immanent impulse, which is captured by religion. But if religion is an apparatus of capture, then the profanation of this universal core is possible. Religion cannot fully appropriate or exhaust the virtual potentiality of faith. By the same token, it becomes possible to distinguish religion and faith. Not all faith is religion and not all religion is faithful. The article draws on Foucault, discussing the possibility of a “political spirituality” outside the religious domain, as a profane, modern political gesture that cannot be reduced to theological notions. Finally, it turns to the relationship between political spirituality and political strategy.
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Research Article|
March 01 2015
Political Spirituality: The Devils, Possession, and Truth-Telling
Bülent Diken
Bülent Diken
Bülent Diken teaches social and cultural theory in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University and the Department of Architecture at Mardin Artuklu University. His research fields are focused on social theory, political philosophy, urbanism, cinema, and terrorism. His books include The Culture of Exception (2005, coauthored with Carsten B. Laustsen), Nihilism (2009), and Revolt, Revolution, Critique: Paradox of Society (2012).
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Cultural Politics (2015) 11 (1): 18–35.
Citation
Bülent Diken; Political Spirituality: The Devils, Possession, and Truth-Telling. Cultural Politics 1 March 2015; 11 (1): 18–35. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-2842385
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