Theology, order, and disenchantment
| Author | Patrick Thaddeus Jackson |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/17550882221144470 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Forum |
https://doi.org/10.1177/17550882221144470
Journal of International Political Theory
2023, Vol. 19(1) 136 –138
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/17550882221144470
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Theology, order, and
disenchantment
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson
American University, USA
Abstract
William Bain’s book does a brilliant job excavating some key conceptual underpinnings
of our contemporary discussions about order, but he has perhaps underplayed the
importance of nominalism in structuring our present.
Keywords
Disenchantment, order, political theology, William Bain
William Bain has written the kind of book I very much like: a philosophical and histori-
cal excavation of the conceptual underpinnings of our contemporary present and its
“common sense.” The conceptual dichotomy of immanent and imposed order is a useful
hermeneutic and Bain wields it skillfully, particularly in the “IR theory” payoff chapters
7 and 8 where we see that “international system” and “international society” belong on
the same side of the ledger when it comes to their underlying notion of order. Bain also
bucks the conventional wisdom about historical periodization, particularly the sharp
dichotomy between the medieval and the modern, and he skewers the idea that we live in
a “secular” era just because we don’t need to invoke God or quote scripture in order to
ground our knowledge-claims.
To the contrary, we are the inheritors of a very particular theology: nominalism, which
limits human reason to this-worldly knowledge of particular causes and their particular
effects, while carving out a separate realm of revelation to be a source of value-impera-
tives issued by the supreme Ruler of the Universe according to no inherent rationale. It’s
Ockham’s world and we just live in it—except that Ockham’s world rested on faith in a
God who both kept the machine of this world running and who told us created beings
how we should live. . .even if that latter part was in the cryptic language of prophecy and
Corresponding author:
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016-
8007, USA.
Email: ptjack@american.edu
1144470IPT0010.1177/17550882221144470Journal of International Political TheoryJackson
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