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Render Unto Caesar… What? Reflections on the Work of William Cavanaugh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2009

Paul S. Rowe
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Abstract

An increasing concern for the place of religion in global politics in the past decade is reflected in the work of William Cavanaugh, a political theologian coming from the radical orthodox movement of the Roman Catholic tradition. Taking aim at key tropes in international relations, Cavanaugh introduces a strong critique of the legitimacy of the state and against its martial attitude. This review questions the historicity and generalizability of Cavanaugh's analysis. It also challenges Cavanaugh's exaltation of the church from both an internal and external perspective. Finally, it considers the expanded role of the state as compared to Cavanaugh's vision of the martial state. By way of conclusion, it questions the extent to which Cavanaugh provides an alternative to consigning religious groups to civil society or a workable role for Christian engagement with global politics, even though he provides us with a strong critique of the state.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 71 , Issue 4 , Fall 2009 , pp. 583 - 605
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 2009

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References

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31 Along these lines, see Evans, Peter, Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, and Skocpol, Theda, eds., Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986)Google Scholar and Evans, Peter, Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995)Google Scholar.

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42 Note here that pluralism is used solely in the neoinstitutional sense, rather than the sense of cultural pluralism. A useful study of pluralism as a model as against established churches and strict separation of church and state is provided by Monsma, Stephen V. and Soper, J. Christopher, The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Five Democracies (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997)Google Scholar. However, Monsma and Soper refer to pluralism as a mode of state neutrality, whereas pluralism as a model of interest representation could be used in a state with or without the application of strict neutrality.

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45 Cavanaugh, “Penance,” 14.

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49 Cavanaugh, Theolopolitical Imagination, 85.

50 Cavanaugh, “A Fire,” 399.

51 Cavanaugh, Theopolitical Imagination, 2–3.

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