Religious Knowledge, Religious Practice, and Political Authority

Session Submission Type: In-Person Created Panel

Session Description

The papers on this panel consider the connections between religious knowledge and practices and political authority as they were theorized in different ancient, early modern, and modern texts. Avshalom Schwartz examines how theological discourse of the divine epiphany shapes Plato’s treatment of knowledge and political authority in Republic. Ely Orrego-Torres revisits the figure of King David in Machiavelli’s political thought, focusing on how Machiavelli centers David’s penitence and private religion as a way of thinking about political virtue and authority. James Tussing turns to Tocqueville, his contemporaries, and his successors to consider the ambiguous role that religion plays in the formation of free societies premised on democratic authority. Lastly, Karen Taliaferro explores Weber’s considerations of whether mystical or religious knowledge holds authority in a disenchanted modern world.

Sub Unit

• Division 1: Political Thought and Philosophy

Cosponsor

• Division 33: Religion and Politics

Individual Presentations

• Divine Epiphany and Political Authority in Plato’s Republic - Avshalom M Schwartz, Stanford University

• Model and Penitent: King David in Niccolò Machiavelli’s Work - Ely Orrego-Torres, Northwestern University

• Religious Republicanism: Khomeini and Beyond (Pre-Recorded) - Nura Alia Hossainzadeh, Stanford University

Chair

• Catherine R. Power Glendon College, York University

Discussant

• Graedon Zorzi George Fox University