Silete Theologi in Munere Alieno: An Introduction
| Author | Fabio Petito,Pavlos Hatzopoulos |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030101 |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
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Silete Theologi in Munere Alieno: An
Introduction
Alberico Gentili’s celebrated cry ‘silete theology in munere alieno!’—let
theologia ns keep si lence about matters out side their province!—symb olically
marks the end of the scholastic world and the advent of a new epoch, the
Westphalia n era, in which internat ional relations would be exa mined from a
secular rather than a theologic al standpoint. In the aftermath of the religious civil
wars, God makes space to th e great Leviathan, in t he words of Hobb es that Mortal
God, to which the New Man owes his peace and sec urity. Religio n is p rivatised
and through the principle of the cuius regio eius religio (th e ruler d etermines the
religion of his realm) p luralism among st ates and non interference are worshipped
as the new sacred principles of the e merging Westphalian order.
Has t he tide turned? Ironical ly, Peter B erger, one of the fathers of modernisation
theory, certainly thinks so; he views the resurgence of religion in international
politics as the ev idence of the ‘d esecularisation’ o f the world. Eve n more
ironically, voices of our (postmod ern?) times li ke Derrida, Bourdieu, iek,
Kristeva, Connoly have started forcefully to explore different religious paths not
towards a vague sp irituality, a ‘new age’, but mainly in the search for ways of
articulatin g an altern ative aft er the defeat, on the Cold War battlefield, of the
socialist ideal .
Why has Internat ional Relatio ns theory perverted Gentil i’s advice and ‘remai ned
silent about matters within its own provinc e’? Quo ting two of the co ntributors of
the Special Issue, ‘who is afraid of relig ion’ in IR? In proper p sychoanalytical
fashion Millennium does not p rovide soothing answers, but furth er troubling
questions: is the secu lar Westph alian internat ional order in danger o f imploding
under the global re surgence of religion? Has religion reall y something to do wit h
political vi olence? Does the securitization of re ligion impoverish religion? Is
Political Isla m only about vo ices of jihad? Is the ‘dialogue of civilisations’ merely
a rhetoric ploy? Is Int ernational Relations theo ry to loose from negle cting religious
and theological thinking? Is it dangerous to theorise religion in fixed, essentialist
terms? Is the ret urn of culture and identit y in Internationa l Relations theory with out
religion suspicious? Should perhaps International Relations theory finally
acknowled ge its own religion ?
Millennium has brou ght togeth er writers from diverse reli gious, intell ectual, and
political backgrounds to push again the boundaries of the discipline. Authors
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