| Abstract
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This article examines the work Giorgio Agamben and other contemporary philosophers who profane theological and messianic discourses in their post-secular and post-political projects. These theorists examine, among other things, monastic discipline and rules, the life and witness of St. Francis, and the messianic discourses of St. Paul for their material and political potential in developing a post-secular politics. Their work does not seek simply to invert the theological so as to secularize it, but rather to move beyond it. Accompanying this philosophical turn to a post-secular retrieval and reshaping of theological discourses is a search for a new kind of community beyond the politics of the modern nation-state, and in Agamben’s case, even beyond law itself. The communities these theorists imagine often bear a strong resemblance to the ecclesiastical structures and community they seek to replace. This article examines the work Giorgio Agamben and other contemporary philosophers who profane theological and messianic discourses in their post-secular and post-political projects. These theorists examine, among other things, monastic discipline and rules, the life and witness of St. Francis, and the messianic discourses of St. Paul for their material and political potential in developing a post-secular politics. Their work does not seek simply to invert the theological so as to secularize it, but rather to move beyond it. Accompanying this philosophical turn to a post-secular retrieval and reshaping of theological discourses is a search for a new kind of community beyond the politics of the modern nation-state, and in Agamben’s case, even beyond law itself. The communities these theorists imagine often bear a strong resemblance to the ecclesiastical structures and community they seek to replace.
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