Phenomenology and Religion: New Frontiers

Prayer, Subjectivity, and Politics

ola sigurdson

Recently, the relationship between religion and politics once again has
come to be a debated subject both in its practical societal dimension
and in terms of its philosophical and theological reflection. In relation
to the traditional liberal doctrine of the distinct separation between
the public and the private sphere, religion has come to be seen both as
a threat to the stability of society and as an opportunity for a new
conception of the liberal democratic project as a whole. Often, the
discussion about the relationship between religion and politics has
relied on a quite abstract and privatized understanding of religion as
such — religion as having neither body nor voice. In the wake of recent
phenomenologically inspired criticisms of this reductive understanding
of religion, there has been a growing interest in different forms of
concrete religious subjectivity embodied in liturgies, prayers, hymns,
etc. This article will explore prayer as a particular form of subjectivity
and some of its political implications in relation to contemporary
political philosophy. I begin with taking up some frequently articulated
worries about the inherent authoritarian structure and violence of
religion(s), move on to a discussion of the relationship between prayer,
subjectivity, and transcendence as a way of refuting some of the
presuppositions of these worries, and end with some short reflections
on what this thus modified understanding of religion means for the
relationship between religion and politics.

Violence and the Concept of Religion

Religion is inherently violent. This is a recurring refrain in recent
political discussions of religion and its place in relation to politics, and
it has been a common objection against religion at least since the
Enlightenment. The arguments for the truth of this claim are, as one