Abstract
Karen Bray presents the alternatives for a political theology critical of neoliberal capitalism as limited to the two options of the Radical Orthodoxy associated with John Milbank or the Radical Theology exemplified by John Caputo. Rejecting the exclusionary redemption of the former, B. embraces here the materialist immanence of Radical Theology as the only viable option. Thus refusing any transcendent source of hope, B.’s contribution to a post-Christian political theology is to explore the resources for resistance in a “grave attending” to the people and the feelings left out or left behind in neoliberal capitalism’s narrative of redemption through happy and productive work. B. engages especially with affect, crip, and queer theories to defend depression, madness, and disabled bodies as positions from which to interrupt the ideal of heteronormative productivity, while also resisting the closure of possibilities inherent in any alternative politico-economic alternative.
The strength in B.’s contribution is her provocative insistence on attending to the “unredeemed”—those left behind in any system of thought or politics. Yet, given the severity of the problems we face, one might question the wisdom of refusing to enact the imperfect alternatives to what she acknowledges is an untenable status quo.
Just as there is scant basis for concrete political action in B’s political theology, so too, the engagement with specific religious traditions is minimal. Nevertheless, following her philosophical proposals for non-capitalist views of time and worth, B. presents an intriguing interpretation of the biblical characters of Jonah and Martha of Bethany. Both are plausibly defended as models of grave attending in their refusal to suppress their negative feelings or worldly care. Although B. evinces little interest in the capacity of a transcendent hope or a formative religious tradition to interrupt the hegemony of neoliberal capitalism, she does acknowledge that Whitehead’s process God, who cares for all that has been, is also a model of her “grave attending.” However, B.’s commitment to refusing redemption and remaining within the time of Holy Saturday curtails any exploration of how this affecting and affected God might be a source of political empowerment.