Post-racial, post-apocalyptic love: Octavia Butler as political theologian
The African American science fiction writer Octavia Butler (1947–2006) wrote explicitly about the relationship between religion and politics in her books Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998). On the surface, Butler dramatizes the catastrophes that she anticipates will result...
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2016]
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| In: |
Political theology
Year: 2016, Volume: 17, Issue: 5, Pages: 449-464 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Butler, Octavia E. 1947-2006
/ Political theology
/ Religion
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| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture FD Contextual theology NCD Political ethics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The African American science fiction writer Octavia Butler (1947–2006) wrote explicitly about the relationship between religion and politics in her books Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998). On the surface, Butler dramatizes the catastrophes that she anticipates will result from an alignment between American evangelicalism and neoliberalism, including climate change, mass incarceration, totalitarian politics, and corporate capture of political institutions. In her pair of novels, Butler proposes New Age spirituality aligned with community-based, ecology-minded politics as a necessary response. I argue that Butler's attempt to make a literary intervention in political theological critique ultimately fails because it grows out of unacknowledged commitments to the same neoliberal cultural forces that it ostensibly rejects. This failure is particularly evident when we focus on how race and love are represented in Butler's work. |
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| ISSN: | 1462-317X |
| Reference: | Kritik in ""Love in a time of capital" (2016)"
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Political theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2016.1211296 |