Rewriting the plan of the world
Peter Thiel’s messianic rhetoric and the end of progressive neoliberalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9237889 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Rushing Daniel (Seton Hall University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 111 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 272-295 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quarterly Journal of Speech (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-5630 • E-ISSN: 1479-5779 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00335630.2024.2340046 |
| OpenAlex | W4394846700 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Following the 2007–8 financial crisis, far-Right conservatives advanced a reactionary political turn, seeking to replace the prevailing political order, what Nancy Fraser calls “progressive neoliberalism,” with an overtly exclusionary and rapacious form of capitalism. This article investigates how entrepreneur Peter Thiel sought to shape this transition, adopting a messianic rhetoric to return capitalism to its essential principles. Employing Giorgio Agamben’s study of Saint Paul, I argue that Thiel employed a Pauline stance to realize a plērōma, or fullness, of capitalism, preserving the profit motive while jettisoning neoliberalism’s deployment of progressivism. In this analysis, I build upon rhetorical scholars’ exploration of contemporary neoliberal discourse, framing the billionaire rhetor as a uniquely agentive figure in twenty-first-century capitalism and positing neoliberalism as an eminently versatile rhetorical logic capable of operationalizing arguments from across the political spectrum
Archaeology · Art · Linguistics · Literature · Neoliberalism (international relations) · Plan (archaeology) · Political economy · Political science · Rewriting · Rhetoric · Sociology · Christian Theology and Mission · Computer Science · History · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development
| Citations per year | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |