Politics and the Holy Trinity: From Augustine to Agamben
Funder: Leverhulme Trust
Principal Investigator: Dr Ben Holland
Duration: 2025-2026
Dr Ben Holland has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust fellowship to pursue an interdisciplinary project which will examine analogies between the powers of sovereigns and of God from late Antiquity, when 'modern' states began to crystallise, into the twenty-first century, when confidence in the identity and powers of both God and state faced acute challenges. According to Christian doctrine, God is three distinct but identical persons. Different theological interpretations of this mystery have helped to frame evolving conceptions of state sovereignty.
The year-long fellowship will culminate with a book, amounting to the first major study of the intellectual history of sovereignty to trace the trajectory of the concept as entangled with trinitarian speculation about and reflection on God.