Anxiety politics : creativity and feminist Christian realism

Abstract

The aim of this article is to articulate feminist Christian realism and how it differs from Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism. As one of the most influential Christian realists, Niebuhr, with his views on world affairs, continues to influence the discipline of International Relations and politicians. Fundamental to Niebuhr’s thinking is how anxiety over human vulnerability is settled: either through destructive or creative acts. In the light of feminist thought, Niebuhr’s creativity in the face of anxiety needs to be reconsidered as it minimises the role of emotions, particularly love, and the perspective and experiences of individuals. Thus, feminist Christian realism agrees with Christian realism in that power and justice are important considerations, but they need to be seen through a love-informed creative lens. In order to demonstrate how a creatively informed feminist Christian realism differs, the article starts and ends with different approaches to the threat of terrorism, which is a deeply anxious security concern in the 21st century.