Upside-down Utopia: Directionality for the City of God

(Hardback)

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Recent scholarship on process-driven utopia exhibits two startling omissions. The first is a lack of practical methodology proposed. The second elision is more serious. Without a way to discriminate between utopian hope and ideological agendas, the target for utopias pursuit becomes equally suspect. In this groundbreaking, interdisciplinary investigation of processual theory and methodology, Jay Burkette argues that while situating utopia within prefigurative performance remains the best option, certain facets must be refined to ensure it remains the good place. These include a necessary moral grounding for its directionality as well as recognizing that different performative vectors are required from different actors. Blending the thought of Ernst Bloch, St. Augustine, Ruth Levitas, Walter Benjamin, Cristina Sharpe, Kierkegaard, and others, Upside-Down Utopia: Directionality for the City of God demonstrates that determining an appropriate heading for utopian affect entails identifying its genesis within past loss, an initial catastrophe defining humankinds nature and struggle, highlighting the need for divine aid to orient the quest for the city of God.

Reviews

In this unusual book, Jay Burkette provokes readers with new ways of thinking and practicing utopia. Analyzing texts from the ancients to the moderns to the postmoderns, from German Jewish thought to African American thought, and with surprising turns including to Eminem and Camelot, Burkette builds a constructive account of utopia that synthesizes critical theory and theology. While it is unlikely that readers will agree with all of Burkettes arguments, thinking through those disagreements will surely be edifying. -- Vincent Lloyd, Villanova University
I have long considered Jay Burkette an insightful thinker and wonderful conversationalist. In this provocative and indispensable work, Burkette takes bold stepsnavigating the jagged terrain of weaponized vocabularies and polarized social relationsin pursuit of the utopian novum. This opportunity to engage with his formidable intellect, in long-form writing, should be cherished by anyone committed to unmaking codified social hierarchies, realizing divine human dignity, and unceasingly striving towards a better world. -- Anthony Kwame Harrison, Alumni Distinguished Professor, Virginia Tech
In Upside-Down Utopia, Jay Burkette offers a practical guide on how to make progress toward a utopian ideal. Utopia, Burkette suggests, is a verb. Utopia is not a final state that society reaches; instead, it is a process. Burkette uses his expertise in social science and philosophy, and the religious view of the City of God, to show us how we can make a utopian ideal a reality. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the connection between sociology, moral theory, and religion. -- Nathan Rockwood, Brigham Young University

Author Bio

Jay Burkette teaches philosophy, political theory, security theory, history, and leadership at Virginia Tech University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.