Political Theology of International Order

Contemporary international order is widely assumed to be a secular arrangement that affords no room for talk of God. This path-breaking book challenges this assumption. It uncovers theological ideas, rooted in a medieval dispute about the nature of God, which provide the foundation of modern theories of international order. Bain traces the assimilation of medieval theological ideas to modern politics and law to show that these theories reflect a theological way of knowing and explaining reality. Recovering this theological inheritance suggests that modern theories of international are not secular in the way they are normally thought to be. It also calls for a radical re-evaluation of the cultural particularity of fundamental concepts and categories, such as anarchy, balance of power, and constitutionalism.