Uncivil Disobedience: Theological Perspectives

This book addresses the need for theological reflection on “uncivil” disobedience. Existing scholarship in the area of theology and politics mostly treats church-state relations theoretically, with studies supporting non-violent resistance and in other ways largely assuming traditional forms of governance and standard means of protest, without paying attention to post-modern political and other philosophies. Recent eruptions of uncivil disobedience, oftentimes involving violence, like we have seen with Antifa, Black Lives Matter protests, the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6th, and in the actions of a variety of other right wing, leftist, and religious groups, all assume new ways of protesting, new forms of organizing, and are often informed by post-modern forms of philosophical support. These new political dynamics present an opportunity for theologians to produce scholarship in response. After establishing philosophical underpinnings related to uncivilly disobedient action, the contributors cover traditional historical and theological responses to political unrest as foundation for considering or evaluating attempts to address theologically present-day manifestations of uncivil disobedience.