Political Theology as Performance: A Panel on Staging Sovereignty by Arthur Bradley

This roundtable explores the relation between political theology and performance in conversation with Arthur Bradley’s book Staging Sovereignty: Theory, Theater, Thaumaturgy (Columbia University Press, 2024). The panel gathers an interdisciplinary group of scholars drawn from departments of English, Philosophy, and Religion. Taking Bradley’s book as an incitement, they will place of religion in debates over sovereignty, aesthetics, and theatrical power. By clarifying the link between ritual performance and the production of authority, the panelists will reflect upon the crisis that currently faces pluralist democracies.