A new book by Ansari Institute Faculty Fellow Sarah Shortall offers a fresh look at theology's political role in a secular state.
Shortall, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, recently published Soldiers of God in a Secular World: The Politics of Catholic Theology in Twentieth-Century France, which examines the impact of Catholic theology on French politics after the separation of church and state in 1905.
The work shows how the continuing role of theology in an ostensibly secular public sphere disrupts prevailing ideas about the nature and scope of the political in the modern world. It draws on Shortall's research as an intellectual and cultural historian of modern Europe with particular interest in modern France, Catholic thought, and the relationship between religion and politics.
Shortall's book was recently featured on the Tocqueville 21 blog. Contributors published a series of reviews, and at the conclusion of the series, Shortall offered a response addressing the key themes reviewers discussed.