Transcendence, Sacrifice, and Aspiration: The Political Theology of Development in Asia

The political theology of development in Asia makes a vital contribution to our understanding of configurations and genealogies of the political. Recent scholarship on political theology has amply illustrated the critical potentialities of examining the theological remainder in even the most secular of modern institutions. However, scholarship on political theology to date has primarily involved tracing the presence of Christian theologies within Western institutions. By shifting the focus to Asia, we not only expand the geographical frame of analysis, but also seek a broader reconceptualisation of the field of political theology. Our focus on development-as a set of transnational networks that connect Western and Asian modernities in complex political and religious entanglements-enables fresh critical analysis of the ways in which the theo-political is imagined, materialised, and contested in and beyond the state. We argue that notions of transcendence, sacrifice and victimhood, and aspiration and salvation are especially valuable for understanding how development is lived and experienced around diverse Asian contexts today.