2026/01/30 by Isaac Bernard Horwedel · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Theological Perspectives and Practices #Karl Barth and Christian Theology #Christian Theology and Mission
paper · doi:10.1080/1462317x.2025.2561299
openalex publication_date 2026/01/30 · openalex created_date 2026/02/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/16
This article argues that an analysis of Theodor Adorno’s “inverse theology” helps account for his totalizing critique of capitalist society and his persistent belief in the objective possibility of its end. I argue that this theological impulse must be rooted in his distinctive understanding of Karl Marx’s critique of political economy. Ultimately, I hope to elucidate how and why Adorno’s distinct theological account of capitalist society as irredeemably wrong and hellish might nonetheless work in service of its revolutionary end, and the resurrection of a transfigured social reality that remembers its wounds. I also hope to encourage further engagement between readers interested in critical theory, Marx, and theology.