Locating the ‘Lordless Powers’ in Ireland: Karl Barth, Novels, and Theological Ethics in the Aftermath of the Celtic Tiger

Abstract

Theological reflection on economic ethics often follows the tradition of the social sciences in describing economic reality in econometric terms. The numerical imagination of the social sciences is not always an elegant dialogue partner for theological ethical reflection. This can be seen to be the case when we draw upon Karl Barth’s discussion of ‘lordless powers’ to describe the dramatic economic reversal endured in Ireland over the last decade. In this article, I propose that literature represents an important additional dialogue partner for theological reflection. Four Irish novels are proposed as potential grounds for considering the relevance of the lordless power discussion in an Irish context.

“A Special Form of Derangement”: Karl Barth’s Approach to Sport Rooted in Prayer

“…DeCou (2013) specifically mentions sports as a lordless power but does not elaborate on this further. This is a common pattern within writings on the lordless powers, where sport is briefly alluded to as one of the powers within a wider narrative on the subject (see Ernst-Habib 2022;Hargaden 2019;Gorringe 2019). However, looking at writings on Barth's approach to popular culture helps shed light on why this may be.…”