The Kingdom, the Power, the Glory, and the Tawdry: Neoliberal Hegemony and the “Undoing” of the Demos

Abstract

This article explores Giorgio Agamben!s celebrated “double paradigm of sovereignty” , which introduces the Christian idea of oikonomia (“economy”) as a foundational political concept in Western thinking. It argues that Agamben!s far-ranging discussion im-proves our understanding of how Foucault!s notion of biopower actually develops historically from the matrix of early Christian theology and how it becomes its own kind of “political theology” to undergird the contemporary dynamics, structure, and rhetoric of neoliberalism. Following Agamben, the argument also builds on his thesis that “economic sovereignty” today is cemented through the power of modern forms of media in muchthe samewaythatthecriticaltheorists of theinterwarperiod identifiedthe“culture industry” as the genuine hegemon of capitalism. Finally, it devotes extensive attention to the work of the French social philosopher and media theorist Bernard Stiegler and his notion of “cognitive capitalism.” Carl is The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory. His most recent books are Postmodern Theology: A Biopic (Cascade Books, 2016) , Critical Theology: An Agenda for an Age of Global Crisis (IVP Academic , 2016 ) and Force of God: Political Theology and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2015).