Edited volume on Mary and political philosophy

Occasioned by the 2024 edition of the Sedes Sapientiae Symposium on Mary and political philosophy, this Call for Papers invites submissions for an edited volume. As with the 2023 edition, submissions are also welcome from authors who did not present at the Symposium. Since ‘philosophising in Mary’ is a nascent project, authors are encouraged to specify how their proposal is a form of philosophising in Mary, or contributes something to this approach from a related discipline like theology or sociology. 

Theme

After the initial 2023 symposium on philosophising in Mary in general, the 2024 edition focused on one particular area where philosophising in Mary might bear fruit: political philosophy. For, in 2017, Pope Benedict XVI had noted the following: 

“The contrast between the concepts of the radically atheistic state and the creation of the radically theocratic state by Muslim movements creates a dangerous situation for our age, one whose effects we experience each day. These radical ideologies require us to urgently develop a convincing concept of the state that will stand up to the confrontation between these challenges and help to overcome it.”

Hence, the overall question is whether Mary can be a fruitful model or source of inspiration to develop such a convincing philosophical concept of the state, or of the nature of ‘the political’ in general. Other possible topics for papers include, but are not limited to:

  • If Mary is the model of philosophy, is she also the model of Plato’s philosopher-kingqueen?
  • Can Mary offer a model of secular sovereignty that preserves openness to transcendence?
  • What would a cross between Quas Primas and Ad caeli Reginam look like?
  • In what way could the reign of Mary be both one with and distinct from the reign of Christ?
  • What role could be played by the distinction between constituted and constitutive power in comparing the reign of Mary and the reign of Christ?
  • If Mary is a sovereign queen, what community is she the queen of, and how does she exercise her rule?
  • What role could be played by her immaculate conception in relation to her sovereignty, e.g. as not being under the dominion or debt-slavery of the devil?
  • Can Mary’s relations to the Trinity as daughter, bride and mother offer a more rich and nuanced model for state-Church relations than the (e.g. Leonine) soul-body analogy?
  • Kant famously claimed that: “The highest master should be just in himself, and yet a man. This task is therefore the hardest of all; indeed, its complete solution is impossible, for from such crooked wood as man is made of, nothing perfectly straight can be built.” Does that support Mary’s queenship, given her immaculate conception?
  • What does St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort mean by “Ut adveniat Regnum Tuum, adveniat Regnum Mariae”?
  • What can be learned from concrete examples (Portugal, Bavaria, …) where Mary was formally recognised as sovereign?
  • What could the social queenship of Mary mean in practice, i.e. beyond being a ‘mere’ symbol?
  • What are the links between Mary as the mystical city of God, and Augustine’s battle between the two cities?

Sections

Ideally, papers should fit within one of these envisioned sections. Please indicate for which section(s) you would propose your abstract. Alternatively, if it doesn’t fit within one of these proposed sections, feel free to propose another one:

  • Methodology:
    • What are the methodological considerations we have to take into account when thinking about Mary and political philosophy? How to avoid doing simply Marian political theology? How would philosophising in Mary look like (specifically) in the case of political philosophy? Can she be a ‘locus philosophicus’, and/or a heuristic principle in thinking through questions in political philosophy? 
  • Auxiliary approaches:
    • What can we learn from auxiliary sciences like theology proper (Mariology), sociology, political science, peace studies, etc., for the project of a Marian political philosophy?
  • Political metaphysics:
    • In the spirit of Fides&Ratio, metaphysics traditionally conceived as first philosophy also plays an indispensable role in political philosophy and politics. What lessons can we draw from a Marian approach to political metaphysics, on the very nature of the political, of society, of the state, of the human community? 
  • Concrete historical political examples:
    • Mary and Marian devotion already has played and continues to play a concrete political role. What can be learned from concrete examples where Mary was proclaimed Queen (Portugal, Bavaria, Hungary, Poland, …)? What are other examples of political uses of Mary and Marian devotion, either historical or contemporary ones, or proposals for future ways of doing so?
  • Contested issues:
    • Can a Marian approach in political philosophy help solve or shed new light on thorny issues in political philosophy or political realities? What would a Marian approach in political philosophy mean for Church-state relations, for religious liberty, for tensions between individual rights and the common good, for secession movements, for federalism, for international relations, etc?

Practical information

  • Length of extended abstract: 750-1000 words
  • Deadline for extended abstract submission: March 25th, 2025 
  • Initial decision: April 15th, 2025
  • Full chapter submission: December 8th, 2025
  • Chapter Length: 6,000-8,000 words
  • Final review phase and publication in 2026

Please submit your abstract via this Google form.

About the editors

Dr. Michaël Bauwens obtained a BA, MA and MPhil in philosophy from the KU Leuven, Institute of Philosophy. He obtained his PhD in philosophy from the same institution in 2018, on the metaphysics of institutions. He is currently a researcher at the University of Antwerp and the ETF Leuven. His research focuses on the intersection of philosophy and mariology, as well as on the intersection of economics, theology and the metaphysics of institutional reality.

Prof. dr. Jared Schumacher is jointly appointed Assistant Professor of Theology and Catholic Studies at UMary. He holds a BS in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University, an MDIV from Duke Divinity School, an MA in Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion, and STD from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he completed a PhD in Political Theology in 2020.