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Ward Blanton, Clayton Crockett, Jeffrey W. Robbins, and Noëlle Vahanian An Insurrectionist M A N I F E S T O FOUR NEW GOSPELS FOR A RADICAL POLITICS Foreword by Peter Rollins, Preface by Creston Davis, and Afterword by Catherine Keller An Insurrectionist MANIFESTO INSURRECTIONS: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture INSURRECTIONS: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture Slavoj Žižek, Clayton Crockett, Creston Davis, Jeffrey W. Robbins, Editors The intersection of religion, politics, and culture is one of the most discussed areas in theory today. It also has the deepest and most wide-ranging impact on the world. Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture will bring the tools of philosophy and critical theory to the political implications of the religious turn. The series will address a range of religious traditions and political viewpoints in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world. Without advocating any specific religious or theological stance, the series aims nonetheless to be faithful to the radical emancipatory potential of religion. For a complete list of titles in this series, please refer to page 203. Ward Blanton, Clayton Crockett, Jeffrey W. Robbins, and Noëlle Vahanian An Insurrectionist M A N I F E S T O FOUR NEW GOSPELS FOR A RADICAL POLITICS Foreword by Peter Rollins Preface by Creston Davis Afterword by Catherine Keller Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2016 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Blanton, Ward. Title: An insurrectionist manifesto : four new gospels for a radical politics / Ward Blanton, Clayton Crockett, Jeffrey W. Robbins, and Noëlle Vahanian ; foreword by Peter Rollins ; preface by Creston Davis ; afterword by Catherine Keller. Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2016. | Series: Insurrections: critical studies in religion, politics, and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015034162 | ISBN 9780231176224 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231176231 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231541732 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Political theology. Classification: LCC BT83.59 .158 2016 | DDC 261.7—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015034162 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 cover design: Catherine Casalino References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. For Zoe and Sophia, Maria and Bryan, Charlie and Rose-Marie, with a love no diaspora can ever define, nor time ever erase in this once and for all life. CONTENTS Foreword ix Peter Rollins Preface xi Creston Davis Introduction: What Is Insurrectionist Theology? 1 Ward Blanton, Clayton Crockett, Jeffrey W. Robbins, and Noëlle Vahanian 1. Earth: What Can a Planet Do? 21 Clayton Crockett 2. Satellite Skies; or, The Gospel and Acts of the Vampirisms of Transcendence 61 Ward Blanton 3. A Theory of Insurrection: Beyond the Way of the Mortals 109 Jeffrey W. Robbins 4. The Gospel of the Word Made Flesh: Insurrection from Within the Heart of Divinity 143 Noëlle Vahanian Afterword 173 Catherine Keller Notes 179 Index 197 FOREWORD Peter Rollins In the second century the early Christian ascetic Tatian set himself the task of merging the four gospel narratives into a single coherent whole. By the time he had finished he had crafted a text that merged Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John into one single volume. The gospels were turned into a Gospel. The four became one. While his finished work, the Diatessaron, was popular in some cir- cles, it didn’t quite gain the support one might expect. Indeed it was mostly used only as a supplement to its source material, and by the fifth century had fallen almost completely out of use. Given our love of single perspectives it’s quite amazing that the four won out over the one—after all the four had themselves won out over a great many more. From today’s perspective Tatian’s project seems to succinctly express the ultimate dream of religious apologists, taking the messy, conflictual narratives and merging them together in a unified, atomic whole. Yet there has always been another tradition in theology, one marked by a passion for the Real, a desire for the impossible that is testified to/ produced by conflictual narratives. In opposition to the demand for some clearly defined object believed to be the destination for our ultimate concern, this subversive, insurrectionary theology sets desire in motion by evoking an excitement for what cannot be grasped. Such a theology does not seek rest in what can be imagined or sym- bolized, but remains restless, being stirred up in a dialectic of desire that remains open to the future as well as to reimagining the past.