Essays in Anarchism and Religion

Volume I

Description (from the back cover):

Anarchism and religion have historically had an uneasy relationship. Indeed, representatives of both sides have regularly insisted on the fundamental incompatibility of anarchist and religious ideas and practices. Yet, ever since the emergence of anarchism as an intellectual and political movement, a considerable number of religious anarchists have insisted that their religious tradition necessarily implies an anarchist political stance. Their stories are finally gaining increasing public and scholarly attention.

Reflecting both a rise of interest in anarchist ideas and activism on the one hand, and the revival of religious ideas and movements in the political sphere on the other, this book examines a range of examples of overlaps and contestations between the two from a diverse range of academic perspectives.

The first pioneering volume of Essays in Anarchism & Religion comprises eight essays from leading international scholars on topics ranging from the anarchism of the historical Jesus to Zen Buddhism and the philosophies of Max Stirner and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

In a world where political ideas increasingly matter once more, and religion is an increasingly visible aspect of global political life, these essays offer scholarly analysis of overlooked activists, ideas and movements, and as such reveal the possibility of a powerful critique of contemporary global society.

Table of Contents:

  1. Anarchism and Religion: Mapping an Increasingly Fruitful Landscape - Alexandre Christoyannopoulos & Matthew S. Adams

  2. The Catholic Worker, Dorothy Day, and Exemplary Anarchism - Benjamin J. Pauli

  3. Mutuality, resistance and egalitarianism in a late colonial Bakongo Christian movement - Ruy Llera Blanes

  4. Why Anarchists Like Zen? A Libertarian Reading of Shinran (1173–1263) - Enrique Galván-Álvarez

  5. Was the historical Jesus an anarchist? Anachronism, anarchism and the historical Jesus - Justin Meggitt

  6. A Reflection on Mystical Anarchism in the Works of Gustav Landauer and Eric Voegelin - Franziska Hoppen

  7. The Anarchē of Spirit: Proudhon’s Anti-theism & Kierkegaard’s Self in Apophatic Perspective - Simon D. Podmore

  8. Does religious belief necessarily mean servitude? On Max Stirner and the hardened heart - Hugo Strandberg

Where to access it:

  • Freely available in open access format via https://doi.org/10.16993/bak.

  • Paperback copies can also be purchased from your favourite bookshops.