FEISAL G. MOHAMED. Milton and the Post-Secular Present: Ethics, Politics, Terrorism

Abstract

The series in which Mohamed’s book appears, Stanford University Press’s Cultural Memory in the Present, fosters approaches from innovative theoretical perspectives, and at first glance this seems an unlikely street address for a book on Milton. But on second glance, it is entirely right: Mohamed aims for a critique of current scepticism of anti-foundationalist philosophers through readings of Milton, and his highly original book offers critical reflection on both Milton and the theorists. This is, indeed, a captivatingly eclectic little book, engaging maturely with contemporary issues relevant to the humanities by way of Milton, and it has wide implications beyond Milton studies. Indeed, the book has already garnered a web presence—the author himself a blogger for the Huffington Post—with an excerpt available on The Immanent Frame, a website devoted to high theory on secularism, religion and the public sphere. Milton, Mohamed suggests, ‘asks questions of our moment’ (p. 43), a moment defined by its ‘post-secularity.’ To explain this term, Mohamed points to those theorists who have contributed most to its formulations: Alain Badiou, Jacques Derrida, John Milbank and Jürgen Habermas. ‘Post-secular’ is, rather than an entity to be defined, instead, a set of interests and arguments. It includes an ontology, with priority given to subjectivity; an ethics, with an interest in religious traditions and their metaphysics; and a view of modernity or a politics: an adjustment of liberal political thought in the growing awareness of religiosity. These aspects of ‘post-secularity’ echo with Milton’s ‘pre-secular’ thought, and the book explores the dissonance arising between the two. The book instigates a dialogue between the ‘post-secular’ thinkers and this major ‘pre-secular’ poet, on such topics as transcendent truth, ethics, political action and religious violence.