Theology, Work and Organization (13-15 October 2010)

Faculty
Professor Simon Critchley, Associate Professor Camilla Sløk, Associate Professor Bent Meier Sørensen, Associate Professor Sverre Spoelstra

Course Coordinator
Camilla Sløk & Bent Meier Sørensen, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, CBS

Students enrolled in a PhD program. The course is aimed at students with a social scientific background. Previous to the course’s start, students are expected to produce a short empirical example drawn from their research project, which will form the basis of a group assignment to be completed during the course. Students are expected to participate actively in discussions. Participation in the whole course is a prerequisite for receiving the course diploma.

‘All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state’, Carl Schmitt once wrote, ‘are secularized theological concepts’. This also goes for concepts relating to the modern theory of work and organization. In fact our very concept of work is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, which understands work as the burden imposed upon man after he had been expelled from Paradise. The same holds for the way we think about leadership in organizations, revolving around terms like charisma, spirit, inspiration, sacrifice, and humility. The theological roots of other organizational concepts – such as hierarchy, authority, corporation, community, representation, and vision – appear perhaps less self-evident, but this only shows how naturalized theological concepts have become in organization studies and, indeed, in common parlance.

While in recent years a number of significant philosophers like Zizek, Badiou, Agamben and Critchley has addressed theology directly as a field occupied by timely social, political as well as existential questions, organization theory has engaged only very limited with theological themes. This PhD course is proof of a change in this, as is the current Call for Papers on Theology, Work and Organization for the journal Organization ( http://org.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/17/3/412 ; deadline for submissions October 30, 2010), edited by among others the faculty of the course.

The course will introduce a number of different perspectives to analysing the way we think about organizations (beyond the level of metaphorical analogy or sociological description), in order to critically question and challenge the performative effects of our thoughts as well as enhancing our understanding of organizational life. The objective is to help students identify fruitful academic resources for their subsequent study of theology, work and organization.

Lecture plan

Time/period	Faculty	Title
13 October	Camilla Sløk	What is theology? Weber and Theology. Kierkegaard, seduction and leadership
13 October	Simon Critchley	Theology, work and organization. Derrida and politics
14 October	Bent Meier Sørensen	Theology and aesthetics: creating the appropriate worker
14 October	Simon Critchley	Public lecture hosted together with Filosofisk Forum's 30 year anniversary: Faith of the faithless
15 October	Sverre Spoelstra	Vision and Leadership
15 October	All Faculty	Presentations of group work and Panel with faculty on theme

The teaching style of the course is a mixture of lectures, discussion seminars with short presentations, and group work. A large part of the course consists of dialogues in which students are expected to be very active. Students will get a group assignment on the first day of the course and this will be evaluated through a presentation on the last day of the course.

Alvey, James (2004) 'The hidden theology of adam smith: A belated reply to hill'. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 11/4: 623-628.

Calas, Marta og Linda Smirich. 1991. Voicing seduction to silence leadership, Organization studies.

Critchley, S. 2007. Infinitely Demanding : Ethics of Commitment, Politics of Resistance. Verso, London, 168.

Gane, N. 2008. Religion, theology and culture: Introduction. Theory culture and society 25(7-8) 119-123.

Gane, Nicholas (2008) 'Religion, theology and culture: Introduction'. Theory Culture and Society 25/7-8: 119-123.

Milbank, J. 2008. Paul against biopolitics. Theory, Culture & Society 25(7) 125-172.

Nelson, Robert H. (1991) Reaching for heaven on earth: The theological meaning of economicsSavage, Md.:; Rowman and Littlefield.

Santner, Eric L. (2001) On the psychotheology of everyday life. reflections on freud and rosenzweig. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Schmitt, C. 1985. Political Theology. Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Sløk, Camilla (2010). “The seduction of leadership: A comparison of Søren Kierkegaard and Bernhard Bass” (paper to be submitted at preconference, AOM, Theology, Work and Organization. Convenors Bent Meier Sørensen and Sverre Spoelstra).

Spoelstra, S. 2009 'Organizational brilliance: On blinding visions in organizations'. Journal of Organizational Change Management 22/4: 373-385.

Sørensen, B.M. and Sverre Spoelstra: ‘Theology, Work and Organization’, paper forthcoming.

Sørensen, Bent M. (2010) ’St Paul’s Conversion: The Aesthetic Organization of Labour’, Organization Studies, 31(3), 307-326.

Vattimo, Gianni. (2003). After onto-theology : Philosophy between science and religion. In .

Žižek, Slavoj, John Milbank, and Creston Davis (2009) The monstrosity of christ : Paradox or dialectic?. Short circuits. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.