Nick Routledge@nick_routledge
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RT @nick_routledge: @jasonwblakely 'The Politics to Come', a 2007 anthology, offers a lucid appraisal of political possibilities transcending the hidebound limits of exhausted secular and religious imaginaries and containment. Elsewhere, the Iranian political scientist, Ali Shari’ati, complements the revisioning.

To be sure, modernity famously expels Judaeo-Christian messianism to the margins of thought – by variously labeling it dogma, superstition, fanaticism, false consciousness or ressentiment – but it does so precisely by taking as its own the political and temporal dynamism of eschatology... Yet, at the same time, it is possible to detect what, with apologies to Kant, we might call a newly arisen ‘messianic tone’ within contemporary thought. For Jacques Derrida, to take only the most prominent recent example, it is clear that the messianic represents the last – and perhaps even the best – means of keeping open a relation to an absolute, unforeseeable future in the face of every political, theological or economic attempt to foreclose upon that future: what he calls a ‘messianism without messianism’ becomes the best way of articulating ‘the “yes” to the arrivante(e), the “come” to the future that cannot be anticipated. - The Politics to Come: Power, Modernity and the Messianic
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To be sure, modernity famously expels Judaeo-Christian messianism to the margins of thought – by variously labeling it dogma, superstition, fanaticism, false consciousness or ressentiment – but it does so precisely by taking as its own the political and temporal dynamism of eschatology... Yet, at the same time, it is possible to detect what, with apologies to Kant, we might call a newly arisen ‘messianic tone’ within contemporary thought. For Jacques Derrida, to take only the most prominent recent example, it is clear that the messianic represents the last – and perhaps even the best – means of keeping open a relation to an absolute, unforeseeable future in the face of every political, theological or economic attempt to foreclose upon that future: what he calls a ‘messianism without messianism’ becomes the best way of articulating ‘the “yes” to the arrivante(e), the “come” to the future that cannot be anticipated. - The Politics to Come: Power, Modernity and the Messianic

What does it mean, then, to speak of ‘a Politics to Come’ today? Where does it come from? And why has it emerged now? Is it – to be crude – a step backwards into premodern theological dogma? Is it – equally crudely – the final nail in the coffin of an exhausted Enlightenment utopianism or communism? Or could this wary messianism – which despite every attempt to assimilate it still remains somehow stubbornly irreducible to the sovereign order of neo-liberal modernity – perhaps represent a way of thinking the theologico-political condition of modernity otherwise? Why has the possibility of a messianic Politics to Come reasserted itself now? Is it a ‘turn’ or a ‘return’? Is it a monstrous anachronism, postmodern kitsch or the logical outworking of modernity’s own theological origins? To what extent might it be the basis of a new political theology – or the sign of an irreducible theological remainder within the political? - The Politics to Come: Power, Modernity and the Messianic
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What does it mean, then, to speak of ‘a Politics to Come’ today? Where does it come from? And why has it emerged now? Is it – to be crude – a step backwards into premodern theological dogma? Is it – equally crudely – the final nail in the coffin of an exhausted Enlightenment utopianism or communism? Or could this wary messianism – which despite every attempt to assimilate it still remains somehow stubbornly irreducible to the sovereign order of neo-liberal modernity – perhaps represent a way of thinking the theologico-political condition of modernity otherwise? Why has the possibility of a messianic Politics to Come reasserted itself now? Is it a ‘turn’ or a ‘return’? Is it a monstrous anachronism, postmodern kitsch or the logical outworking of modernity’s own theological origins? To what extent might it be the basis of a new political theology – or the sign of an irreducible theological remainder within the political? - The Politics to Come: Power, Modernity and the Messianic

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[Why the workaround? Twitter only allows 1000-space, alt-texts per image, where Bluesky allows 2000. What's more, the two images here from Glazva and North account for more than 4000 spaces, hence jerry-rigging an a workaround to attach/spread a two-page document in its entirety, over three alt-text images,]

[Why the workaround? Twitter only allows 1000-space, alt-texts per image, where Bluesky allows 2000. What's more, the two images here from Glazva and North account for more than 4000 spaces, hence jerry-rigging an a workaround to attach/spread a two-page document in its entirety, over three alt-text images,]
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[Why the workaround? Twitter only allows 1000-space, alt-texts per image, where Bluesky allows 2000. What's more, the two images here from Glazva and North account for more than 4000 spaces, hence jerry-rigging an a workaround to attach/spread a two-page document in its entirety, over three alt-text images,]

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Nick Routledge@nick_routledge · 17 Feb 2025

@trippfuller 9/ Benjamin may find his closest contemporary counterpart in the Iranian, Ali Shari’ati, who similarly affirms that neither politics nor religion alone suffice to furnish the world a means of liberation and redemption involving the fusion of their respective messianic traditions.

The Iranian revolutionary religio-socio-political philosopher Ali Shari’ati Mazinani composed his thought in the 1960’s through 1970’s. An uncompromising critic of the Shah’s regime, his ideas blurred the distinction between religious and political realms by fusing Islamic tradition, Western secular social science, and contemporary anti-imperialist sentiment in a revolutionary dialectic that powerfully shaped the ideological foundations of the Iranian Revolution. Repeatedly jailed by Iranian authorities, he died a year before the 1979 Revolution, at the age of 43. One of the most beloved and popular individuals in Islamic radicalism and socialism, his portraits were widely present during the marches and protests and his nickname as "mo'allem-e enqilab" (revolutionary mentor) chanted by millions. Though he “is justly credited as the main intellectual, even the Fanon, of the Islamic Revolution.” (Abrahamian), his ideas did not end up forming the basis of the Islamic Republic.
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The Iranian revolutionary religio-socio-political philosopher Ali Shari’ati Mazinani composed his thought in the 1960’s through 1970’s. An uncompromising critic of the Shah’s regime, his ideas blurred the distinction between religious and political realms by fusing Islamic tradition, Western secular social science, and contemporary anti-imperialist sentiment in a revolutionary dialectic that powerfully shaped the ideological foundations of the Iranian Revolution. Repeatedly jailed by Iranian authorities, he died a year before the 1979 Revolution, at the age of 43. One of the most beloved and popular individuals in Islamic radicalism and socialism, his portraits were widely present during the marches and protests and his nickname as "mo'allem-e enqilab" (revolutionary mentor) chanted by millions. Though he “is justly credited as the main intellectual, even the Fanon, of the Islamic Revolution.” (Abrahamian), his ideas did not end up forming the basis of the Islamic Republic.

In this, and in many other ways, his theo-political objectives and reception echo that of Christian Liberation theologians. Educated in both in the ancient depth of Islam and the Western Enlightenment, Shariati mined both for core elements bending history towards justice in the name of the oppressed. Though typically understood as a theorist of “political Islam” focused on the sociology of religions, his contributions as a scholar-practitioner of esoteric Islam are also notable. He played a key role within contemporary Islam, for example, defining the manner in which inner transformation defines a vital, animating complement to an immanentized, theo-political conception of messianic political liberation. A fierce critic of both materialist and religious fundamentalism, he prompted accusations of heresy from their respective camps. Shari’ati meanwhile viewed himself a radical theorist who found his inspiration in Shi’ism and his tools of political analysis in Western Social science.
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In this, and in many other ways, his theo-political objectives and reception echo that of Christian Liberation theologians. Educated in both in the ancient depth of Islam and the Western Enlightenment, Shariati mined both for core elements bending history towards justice in the name of the oppressed. Though typically understood as a theorist of “political Islam” focused on the sociology of religions, his contributions as a scholar-practitioner of esoteric Islam are also notable. He played a key role within contemporary Islam, for example, defining the manner in which inner transformation defines a vital, animating complement to an immanentized, theo-political conception of messianic political liberation. A fierce critic of both materialist and religious fundamentalism, he prompted accusations of heresy from their respective camps. Shari’ati meanwhile viewed himself a radical theorist who found his inspiration in Shi’ism and his tools of political analysis in Western Social science.

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Quoted byRT @nick_routledge: @iyad_elbaghdadi Including and transcending the death-dealing aggregate of a quasi-Abrahamic complex defined by exceptionalism, schism and war, what if collective liberation occurs only as a resurrective simultaneity of spiritual and world renewal at the planetary level?Quoted by@iyad_elbaghdadi Including and transcending the death-dealing aggregate of a quasi-Abrahamic complex defined by exceptionalism, schism and war, what if collective liberation occurs only as a resurrective simultaneity of spiritual and world renewal at the planetary level?Quoted by31/ If something is true, it must be true everywhere. That’s the measure of eco-messianism. Not paradise deferred, but paradise diffused—present everywhere. The garden doesn’t return; it unfolds. On earth as it is in heaven, yes—but also: heaven through earth.