New Approaches to Planetary Political Thinking; Planetary Social Sciences and Political Theology

The study of planetary political thinking has become increasingly imperative as contemporary climate change challenges the very foundations of human knowledge, governance, and coexistence. While globalization once shaped our self-understanding as a species and organized our social, legal, and economic systems around human-centered growth, the planetary crisis reveals the insufficiency of this framework. Current philosophical and theological debates highlight the urgent need to reconceive our relationship with the Earth, not as masters of an inert resource but as participants in a living and intelligent assemblage of systems. In recent years, scholars such as Bruno Latour and Dipesh Chakrabarty have advanced influential arguments for a “planetary turn” that extends political theory and ethics beyond the confines of human sovereignty, calling for a re-evaluation of modernity’s basic ecological and metaphysical assumptions. However, there remain unresolved questions about how these theoretical innovations can be integrated into political, legal, and religious institutions capable of responding equitably to planetary-scale challenges.This Research Topic aims to explore how the “planetary turn” in the social sciences and humanities redefines key politico-theological concepts such as sovereignty, law, rights, and divinity in the Anthropocene. It seeks to examine competing narratives of humanity’s place within planetary systems, from those who regard the Earth as a possession to those who see human beings as possessed by the Earth itself—the “peoples of Gaia.” Contributors will critically examine how new worldviews may inform governance, legal pluralism, political economy, and cultural transformation. Central objectives include assessing the potential of post-secular and post-human frameworks to articulate a new political theology of the planet, and interrogating how a recognition of non-human agency, rights, and dignity might reshape ethical, legal, and spiritual discourses.To gather further insights into the intersections of planetary thinking, theology, and social theory, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Comparative analyses of “global” versus “planetary” political imaginaries- Political theology in the Anthropocene: faith, ecology, and sovereignty- Indigenous and ancestral cosmologies as sources for planetary ethics- Legal pluralism, environmental personhood, and the rights of nature- Political economy and the critique of extractivism in planetary governance- Epistemological and methodological innovations for planetary social sciences- Post-secularism and the reconfiguration of religion–science relations Topic editors: Miguel Vatter, Nigel Clark, Jessica Dubow, Arthur Bradley Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84115/new-approaches-to-planetary-political-thinking-planetary-social-sciences-and-political-theology