Angelic Troublemakers : Religion and Anarchism in America - A. Terrance Wiley

Angelic Troublemakers

Religion and Anarchism in America

By: A. Terrance Wiley

Hardcover | 20 August 2013

At a Glance

Hardcover


RRP $240.00

$169.90

29%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $42.48 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 25 to 30 business days

When will this arrive by?
Enter delivery postcode to estimate

Angelic Troublemakers investigates religious and philosophical sources of modern American anarchism. aIt delves in-depth into the political implications of the religious-ethical visions of three American social justice aspirants . The main chapters are devoted to analyzing the political philosophies and actions of Thoreau, Day, and Rustin as they manifest in their participation in various social justice movements. These three activist icons present underexplored religious-ethical visions and criticisms of the modern state, and can plausibly be described as anarchists in that they reject the authority of the modern stateThe three radicals present related philosophical and religious doctrines of autonomy, theological conceptions of love and eschatology, and pragmatic-empirical reasons of various kinds that lend support to an ethical-political practice that is recognizably anarchist in its unwillingness to attribute authority to modern states.aAngelic Troublemakers considers the relationship of anarchism to their religious-ethical orientations, and the role that religiously motivated political disobedience has played in American social justice movements.
Industry Reviews

"In Angelic Troublemakers, A. Terrance Wiley reveals the anarchistic heart of American articulations of faith. In looking at the work of Henry David Thoreau, Dorothy Day and Bayard Rustin in anarchist terms, Wiley has succeeded in radicalizing a narrative that often fits quite comfortably into liberal America. By highlighting these writers and activists' tenets of noncooperation and resistance, Wiley shows that the possibility for such iconoclasm comes from religious conviction, from a sense of external sources of power and authority that are not the province of the state. In looking at this range of anarchisms, some explicit (with Day), some implicit (with Thoreau) and some ambiguous but critical (as with Rustin), Wiley shows us one source of how the sense of inevitability and absolute power that comes from state systems of politics can be interrupted, ruptured and successfully struggled with. This book serves as a vital rearticulation of some of our most basic assumptions both about the role of religion and the possibility of political alternatives in the United States today." --James Martel, Department of Political Science, San Francisco State University, US, and author of Divine Violence: Walter Benjamin and the Eschatology of Sovereignty

"Angelic Troublemakers introduces us to three iconic radicals who shaped the idea of dissent in American politics. Dorothy Day, Bayard Rustin, and Henry Thoreau have special relevance to our time, because they recognized the problems of environmental degradation and consumerism long before these were fashionable topics, and they saw the connections between systemic social problems and individual choices about how to live. Terrance Wiley brings these angelic troublemakers to life and helps us understand how their religious discipline and political skepticism are relevant to contemporary politics." --Robin W. Lovin, Director of Research, Center of Theological Inquiry

"Terrance Wiley has written the best comparative treatment of leading religious anarchist figures we have!" --Cornel West, Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice, Union Theological Seminary, and author of Democracy Matters and Race Matters

"This important book illuminates the neglected ethical core of anarchism and places it in the transnational milieu of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century radicalism. Wiley's readings of individual anarchists, or angelic troublemakers, from Thoreau to Bayard Rustin, are instructive and insightful. They will offer a crucial resource to scholars and activists across disciplines and geographical locations." --Leela Gandhi, University of Chicago, USA, and author of Affective Communities and The Common Cause

More in Anarchism

The Society of the Spectacle : Critical Editions - Guy Debord

RRP $19.79

$16.90

15%
OFF
On Anarchism - Noam Chomsky

Paperback

$14.99

Practical Anarchism : A Guide for Daily Life - Scott Branson

RRP $34.99

$27.90

20%
OFF
Dangerous Anarchist Strikers - Steve J. Shone
The Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord
The Conquest of Bread : Working Classics - Peter Kropotkin
Toward an Ecological Society - Murray Bookchin
The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World - David Graeber