Angelic Troublemakers

"In Angelic Troublemakers, A. Terrance Wiley reveals the anarchistic heart of American articulations of faith. In looking at the work of Henry David Thoreau, Dorothy Day and Bayard Rustin in anarchist terms, Wiley has succeeded in radicalizing a narrative that often fits quite comfortably into liberal America. By highlighting these writers and activists' tenets of noncooperation and resistance, Wiley shows that the possibility for such iconoclasm comes from religious conviction, from a sense of external sources of power and authority that are not the province of the state. In looking at this range of anarchisms, some explicit (with Day), some implicit (with Thoreau) and some ambiguous but critical (as with Rustin), Wiley shows us one source of how the sense of inevitability and absolute power that comes from state systems of politics can be interrupted, ruptured and successfully struggled with. This book serves as a vital rearticulation of some of our most basic assumptions both about the role of religion and the possibility of political alternatives in the United States today. * James Martel, Department of Political Science, San Francisco State University, US, and author of Divine Violence: Walter Benjamin and the Eschatology of Sovereignty * Angelic Troublemakers introduces us to three iconic radicals who shaped the idea of dissent in American politics. Dorothy Day, Bayard Rustin, and Henry Thoreau have special relevance to our time, because they recognized the problems of environmental degradation and consumerism long before these were fashionable topics, and they saw the connections between systemic social problems and individual choices about how to live. Terrance Wiley brings these angelic troublemakers to life and helps us understand how their religious discipline and political skepticism are relevant to contemporary politics. * Robin W. Lovin, Director of Research, Center of Theological Inquiry * Terrance Wiley has written the best comparative treatment of leading religious anarchist figures we have! * Cornel West, Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice, Union Theological Seminary, and author of Democracy Matters and Race Matters * This important book illuminates the neglected ethical core of anarchism and places it in the transnational milieu of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century radicalism. Wiley's readings of individual anarchists, or ""angelic troublemakers"", from Thoreau to Bayard Rustin, are instructive and insightful. They will offer a crucial resource to scholars and activists across disciplines and geographical locations. * Leela Gandhi, University of Chicago, USA, and author of Affective Communities and The Common Cause *"