Utopia and Catastrophe: A Roundtable on "Utopia for Our Century: A Manifesto of Hope" (Yale, 2026) by David Albertson and Jason Blakely

This roundtable responds to the new book by David Albertson and Jason Blakely, Utopia for Our Century: A Manifesto of Hope (Yale University Press, July 2026). Inspired by Utopia, Albertson and Blakely reconsider Thomas More’s insights and methods, and apply them to our contemporary moment. Amid the decline of liberalism, the crises of late capitalism, and the rise of authoritarianism, utopian politics can resist dystopian fears, challenge the limits of realism, and imagine radically new worlds, even in the face of catastrophe and death. Albertson and Blakely sketch a new theory of utopian politics in dialogue with Augustine and More, but also Dorothy Day, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Erik Olin Wright, among others. Panelists will evaluate the book from diverse perspectives, including philosophy of religion, political theology, and ethnography.