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"Religion in sort of a global sense:" the relevance of religious practices for political community in Battlestar Galactica and beyond

Neumann, Iver B. (2011) "Religion in sort of a global sense:" the relevance of religious practices for political community in Battlestar Galactica and beyond. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 26 (3). pp. 387-401. ISSN 1353-7903

Full text not available from this repository.
Identification Number: 10.1080/13537903.2011.616035

Abstract

The TV show Battlestar Galactica (BSG) may be read as the melding of two polities infused with two different religious systems into one. Drawing on Theodore Schatzki, I argue that this process may best be analysed in terms of the religious practices which they come to perform together. BSG presents a story to the viewer of how a religious practice community that allows differences of creeds and rituals may be realised. With reference to the works of Carl Schmitt and Eric Voegelin, I argue that the key precondition for this to happen is the avoidance of what Voegelin calls political theology. Differences in creed, doctrine, and specific religious practices may exist side by side as long as certain practices associated with the sacred—in the case of BSG, primarily practices that have to do with burying and remembering the dead—are shared.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjcr20/current#.UqW...
Additional Information: © 2011 Informa UK Limited
Divisions: International Relations
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
J Political Science > JZ International relations
Date Deposited: 09 Dec 2013 10:53
Last Modified: 14 Mar 2024 22:42
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/54814

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