Adam Kotsko

I was invited by a promising new left-wing Christian publication, The Bias Magazine, to comment on the disturbing events of Wednesday, January 6.

My review essay “Moving Forward to Move Back,” on several works by Agamben, has been translated into Chinese, and my essay “The Evangelical Mind” has been translated into Hebrew.

My article “American Politics in the Era of Zombie Neoliberalism” is now de-paywalled, as are a couple other pieces in the same issue of Public Culture.

After doing several podcast interviews on Neoliberalism’s Demons and Agamben’s Philosophical Trajectory, I was pleased to be invited to speak with David Dault about The Prince of This World on his radio show Things Not Seen. 

All systems are go for my essay collection, What is Theology?, the subtitle of which has been changed to the more user-friendly Christian Thought and Contemporary Life. I received two positive peer reviews this fall and revised the manuscript in light of their suggestions and critiques, in anticipation of official approval by the Editorial Board at Fordham University Press — which finally happened today! It is scheduled for publication in Fall of 2021. The current table of contents is listed below for your enjoyment.

I was honored to be invited to contribute a piece to the journal Public Culture on Trump and neoliberalism. Entitled “American Politics in the Era of Zombie Neoliberalism,” it is unfortunately available only to those with institutional access. Meanwhile, an earlier piece on a related theme, “Trump as Neoliberal Heretic” (which appeared in The Philosopher), has recently been made open-access.

I have a piece up in The Baffler on how the party duopoly subverts democracy.

First, I recently appeared on a podcast where we discussed Agamben’s thought, including his very controversial writings about the emergency measures related to covid-19. This was my first opportunity to address the latter issue in an extended way, and hence may be of particular interest. Second, a very generous review of my book Agamben’s Philosophical Trajectory has appeared in the Marx & Philosophy Review of Books.

I was very excited to receive my author copies of Agamben’s Philosophical Trajectory today! The beautiful cover is complimented by a nice matte finish and an attractive compact size.

The American Academy of Religion is holding a virtual conference this year. The Theology and Continental Philosophy group will be holding one session where younger scholars will be presenting “works in progress.” It will be held on Tuesday, December 1, from 1:45-3:15pm, with a business meeting to follow. This will be in place of our planned programming for this year, which will be delayed until 2021, when we can hopefully do it in person. Description:

This “works in progress” panel will showcase the writing of three scholars whose thinking provides an opportunity to reflect on theology and the continental philosophy of religion in inter- or cross-disciplinary contexts. Each scholar’s work will be pre-distributed in advance of the panel. This will allow attendees at the panel to have substantive conversations with presenters about these works in progress. Those interested in accessing the pre-distributed papers can email the co-chairs of the Theology and Continental Philosophy of Religion Unit (Beatrice Marovich and Adam Kotsko). Biko Mandela Gray, Assistant Professor of American Religion at Syracuse University will present a project called “Now it is all Now” that thinks with Toni Morrison and Christina Sharpe about the relationship between blackness and white time. Gray argues that blackness is “always now”, which means that, to the normative world, blackness has no temporal duration; it is only, always, and already, death and this now-ness saves white time where “progress” and “reform” rely upon forgetting that the country has always killed black people. Gray ultimately suggests that blackness is a criticism of Heidegger’s Dasein, in its predilection with futurity and the projects that such futurity demands. An Yountae, Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at California State University, Northridge will share a chapter from a book manuscript project that is currently in process. He will reflect on Frantz Fanon’s critique of religion and coloniality by reading Fanon’s use of phenomenology alongside the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Brandy Daniels, Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Portland, will share an excerpt from a book manuscript in progress, Who is the ‘We’?, which explores the ways in which accounts and practices of formation in modern Christianity, particularly within feminist theologies, impact gender and sexual difference. The pre-circulated chapter will discuss the work of Michel Foucault, in conversation with Lynne Huffer.