Alexandre J.M.E. Christoyannopoulos

The Golden Rule on the Green Stick: Leo Tolstoy’s International Thought for a “Postsecular” Age

Scholars recently drawn to the notion of the “postsecular” have sought to contribute to political and international thought by considering how best to think about, respond to, and live with the revitalized role of religion alongside secular values in the globalized political arena.1 The challenge and its ramifications are considerable, if only because one is quickly confronted with thorny questions concerning, for instance: the legitimacy of political violence and of current (and alternative) political and international arrangements; the tension between “universalizing” claims and calls for respectful tolerance when arbitrating between a plurality of radically different worldviews (e.g., the cosmopolitanism-communitarianism debate); and the pressing need to collaborate despite our differences so as to build a political order that is just, ideally peaceful, but also able to solve the environmental, economic, and security hazards facing humanity. Discussions of secularism and religion thus quickly lead to complex philosophical and political debates.

Anarchism and Religion

Anarchism is nearly always anticlerical and frequently atheistic, yet the intersection of religion and anarchism is more complex than is often assumed. Indeed this intersection has proved a fertile ground for a variety of analyses, especially in recent years. The interactions between religion and anarchism vary: sometimes anarchists are making or revisiting claims about religion; sometimes religious scholars are articulating a theology which engages with anarchism; sometimes the focus is on how specific anarchists approached religion; and sometimes religious scriptures are interpreted to point to anarchist politics. In other words, the encounter between religious studies and anarchism can concentrate on very different facets of either, and involves very different approaches and methodologies, very different modes and tones of enquiry. The aim of this chapter is to map out the intersections of religion and anarchism by considering four main types: classic anarchist quarrels with religion and its institutions; anarchist interpretations of founding religious scriptures and figures; anarchist ‘theology’ as distinct from scriptural exegesis; and historical studies on specific religious anarchist thinkers, communities and movements.

Essays in Anarchism and Religion

This is an Open Access Book. It is published by Stockholm University Press under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access chapter. It is published by Stockholm University Press under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume 1

This is an Open Access Book. It is published by Stockholm University Press under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access chapter. It is published by Stockholm University Press under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Anarchism and religion: Mapping an increasingly fruitful landscape

This is an Open Access Book. It is published by Stockholm University Press under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access chapter. It is published by Stockholm University Press under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Jesus Christ Against Westphalian Leviathans: A Christian Anarchist Critique of Our Coercive, Idolatrous, and Unchristian International Order

Abstract Christian anarchists interpret Jesus’ teaching and example to imply a total rejection of violence and coercion. They also understand Jesus to have made it clear that one cannot have two masters, that true commitment to God can only be absolute. By contrast, the Westphalian state – the very basis of international relations – rests on the presumed allegiance conferred to it by its citizens, and upon this allegiance legitimises both domestic and international violence and coercion. From a Christian anarchist perspective, therefore, the Westphalian state is strictly incompatible with the God of Christianity, and would-be Christians must necessarily choose either one or the other. If Christianity is chosen, then the state must not only be demoted from the standing and authority it enjoys today, but its violence and coercion must also be unmasked and denounced as unjustifiable from a Christian perspective. This article outlines this political theological critique of the current international order by d...