This book is a continuation of Giorgio Agamben's investigation of
political theory, which began with the highly influential volume Homo
Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Having already traced the roots
of the idea of sovereignty, sacredness, and economy, he now turns to a
perhaps unlikely topic: the concept of the oath. Following the Italian
scholar Paolo Prodi, Agamben sees the oath as foundational for Western
politics and undertakes an exploration of the roots of the phenomenon of
the oath in human experience. He rejects the common idea that the oath
finds its origin in religion, arguing instead that the oath points
toward a particular response to the experience of language, a response
that gave birth to both religion and law as we now know them. This book
is important not only for readers of Agamben or of continental
philosophy more broadly, but for anyone interested in questions relating
to the relationships among religion, law, and language.