Jayne Svenungsson

Biography

B. 1973. Th.D. Professor of Systematic Theology, Lund University. Th.D. in Systematic Theology from Lund University 2002. Henrik Steffens Fellow at the University of Potsdam, 2005. Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, 2008. Visiting Fellow at St Benet’s Hall, Oxford, 2014. Has co-edited several books on philosophical theology and published numerous articles within the field of political theology and philosophy of history.

Ongoing research

The focal point of my research is the resurgence of messianic motifs in contemporary political theology and philosophy of history. In a forthcoming monograph, Divining History: Prophetism, Messianism and the Development of the Spirit(Berghahn, 2015), I present a brief genealogy of messianism (alongside with the notions of prophetism and the development of the spirit), taking its cue from the Prophetic books of the Hebrew bible, via Joachim of Fiore to the romantic philosophies of Novalis, Schleiermacher and Schelling. The second part of the study investigates the recurrence of these historico-theological tropes in contemporary European politico-philosophical discourse. As part of the program, I have also co-edited the volume Jewish Thought, Utopia and Revolution (Rodopi, 2014). The book, which features contributions from a number of prominent international scholars, investigates various aspects of the intricate relation between the Jewish intellectual heritage and modern utopian and revolutionary ideas and movements. More recently, I have co-edited a volume entitled Monument and Memory (LIT, 2015), investigating politics of memory and commemoration from architectural, literary, philosophical and theological perspectives. In the final phase of the program, I will further explore the concept of messianic time and temporality in the works of Benjamin, Levinas and Derrida.

Selected bibliography

– Monument and Memory (co-edited with J. Bornemark and M. Martinson), LIT Verlag, 2015.

– Den gudomliga historien. Profetism, messianism och andens utveckling (Glänta, 2014), forthcoming in English as Divining History: Prophetism, Messianism and the Development of the Spirit, Berghahn Books, 2015.

– Jewish Thought, Utopia and Revolution (co-edited with E. Namli and A. M. Vincent) Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2014.

– Guds återkomst. En studie av gudsbegreppet inom postmodern filosofi, Logos/Pathos nr. 3, Göteborg: Glänta, 2004 (reprinted in 2007).