Political theology

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The term political theology generally refers to theological or political thinking that addresses the importance of theology or the political in the realm of the other.

In the course of time, the term has seen numerous reinterpretations and reinterpretations: For example, political theology can stand for certain religiously motivated understandings of the state on the one hand, but also for theologies critical of rule and society on the other, and is thus “modern” as well as “premodern”, “left” as "Right" interpretations open. In the academic field, political theology can be viewed as a sub-discipline of both practical theology and political philosophy .

Origins of the term

theologia civilis

The concept of political theology goes back to the Roman scholar Varro . With the term “theologia civilis”, he distinguished the “bourgeois theology” legitimizing the imperial cult from “mythical theology” (“theologia mythica”) and “natural theology” (“theologia naturalis”). In the translation, the term “theologia civilis” was usually rendered as “political theology” in the German-speaking world. From today's point of view, it is more a question of " mythology " used for political purposes or - in practice - of " political myth " ( Ernst Cassirer ), " political religion " ( Eric Voegelin ).

In the Middle Ages and modern times, attempts were made to revive this "theologia civilis". In this context, the “political theology” of certain medieval and modern authors is spoken of today, mostly in contrast to the term “ political philosophy ”. Overall, however, the manifestations mentioned are usually not theology in the actual sense, but the use of theological content to justify and legitimize political behavior.

Political theology according to Carl Schmitt

The modern use of the term political theology was coined by the constitutional lawyer Carl Schmitt in his books Roman Catholicism and Political Form (1923) and Political Theology (1922/1970). In it he dealt with (descriptively, but also polemically) the history of theology in modern times with a view to political, state and state church law issues. Guided by the philosophy of scholasticism and by Hegel , he oriented himself towards the authors of the Catholic Restoration (e.g. Donoso Cortés ). Based on this understanding, he criticized the political constitution of the Weimar Republic . Together with the canon lawyer Hans Barion and the theologian Karl Eschweiler , he formed the first direction of "political theology" which finally turned against the Second Vatican Council (as too progressive) within the church .

Further examples of a “right-wing” modernity of political theology were the Action Française (France), the German Christians movement under National Socialism and certain efforts in Spain to regard the state church under Franco as trend-setting.

In the 1930s, Erik Peterson declared that ancient “political theology” was basically done with by Christianity, and at the same time all attempts to revive it (including the Carl Schmitts ) since then and at the time .

Revelation and reason with Leo Strauss

In the foreword to the German edition of his book Hobbes ' Political Science (1936, German 1965), the German-American philosopher Leo Strauss outlined the question "To what extent the criticism of Orthodox - Jewish and Christian - theology deserves to be victorious." Strauss names one Conflict between philosophy and revelation on the one hand, and philosophy and politics on the other. Both conflicts broke out openly at the beginning of modern times .

For Strauss, divine (Jewish, Christian) revelation was the greatest challenge for philosophy. Because if there is one divine, i.e. absolute truth, the human endeavor to find one's own philosophical or political truth is secondary to revelation, possibly even pointless. Philosophy is faced with the question of whether the truth is not fundamentally missed if it is sought independently by humans. Whether the revealed truth could not only be accepted in faith. In practice, philosophy is faced with the question of whether critical-autonomous thinking - the elixir of life in the philosophical search for truth - should not be rejected (cf. Kierkegaard ). Strauss refers to the contrast between “ Athens ” and “ Jerusalem ” known from intellectual history to illustrate the fundamental difference between a self-determined philosophical life without a transcendent authority and, on the other hand, a life in the sense of a belief in revelation.

In addition to the conflict between revelation and philosophy, there is the conflict between philosophy and politics, which was historically more effective than that because it shaped the real and spiritual upheaval at the beginning of the modern era: religion (whatever denomination) firmly determined contemporary events at the time. As a departure from scholastic dogmatic philosophy as well as from the egotistically waged religious wars, modern ethical philosophy once again raised the question of correct life and the attempt to derive a just society from nature and the essence of man ( Bodin , Machiavelli , Grotius , Hobbes , Pufendorf , Locke , Rousseau , Kant ), including the naming of human rights . The foundation of ethics and politics is secularized and autonomous, even if theological-religious elements and traces are preserved for a long time.

Strauss himself only gives importance to religion in the pragmatic sense, in that it can offer orientation in the secularized modern society and thus also contribute to the political order. This function of religion should not only be purely functional ( Ludwig Feuerbach : God is the projection of the human being into the hereafter; Karl Marx : "Religious misery is one of the expressions of real misery and one of the protests against real misery. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the mind of a heartless world as it is the spirit of mindless conditions. It is the opium of the people. "(MEW 1,378)) must be understood, but must be perceived as substantial and independent.

In addition, the question of the right life is also deeply political: Due to the philosophical radicalism with which it must be thought, philosophy is politically subversive in relation to all concrete and existing forms of life and political orders. Political philosophy, however, has to be limited to itself and must be aware of its corrosive effects on religions.

Recent developments

Romano Guardini

The religious philosopher Romano Guardini tried to mediate between “old” and “new” political theology and to develop an alternative political theology to these Hegelian -influenced political theologies. The core is the doctrine of opposites, first published in 1925, which instead of the Hegelian dialectic of contradictions (thesis-antithesis) that dissolve into syntheses, strictly distinguishes real contradictions from polar opposites and represents the latter in the sense of a personalistic dialogue philosophy as a lively, concrete unit of tension. In this sense, his approach is to be understood as a political theology of the “human-indispensable in the new”.

"New" Political Theology: Johann Baptist Metz

After the Second World War , the theologian Johann Baptist Metz turned against what he saw as “old” political theology with what he himself called the “new” political theology. It ties in with the representatives of Catholic Socialism (e.g. Heinrich Mertens , Walter Dirks , Ernst Michel ), for whom the “new” political theology is already a foundation. Metz himself and his students speak of a new creation of the term with regard to their political theology, since they are concerned with a “theological political theology” (TR Peters). What is actually new is that Metz, influenced by the Frankfurt School , in particular by Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno , developed his political theology as a theology “after Auschwitz ”. The theology of Jürgen Moltmann , who thinks from a theology of hope (e.g. in the discussion with Ernst Bloch ), should also be classified here.

Other examples of political theology that Metz mentions are the ideas of the " peace priests " in the Eastern Bloc countries and liberation theology .

Hans Maier extended the “settlement thesis” after the Second Vatican Council to the “new” political theology around Johann Baptist Metz .

An epistemological foundation of political theology is provided by the fundamental theologian and pedagogue Helmut Peukert following on from and dealing with the theory of communicative action by Jürgen Habermas . This communicative political theology is continued by Edmund Arens .

Jürgen Manemann tries to further develop the argument between the old and the new political theology and to make it fruitful for the current democratic theoretical discourse. To do this, he draws on the prophetic pragmatism of the theologian and philosopher Cornel West . From this arises for Manemann the necessity to work out a Christian political ethic, the slogan of which is “Empowerment”. Manemann is about redefining the political in the "new" political theology: "To know the political means to know what is just."

Liberation Theology

The theology of liberation is a variety of Catholic theology and emerged in the 1960s in Latin America in dealing with the local social and political conditions. It sees itself as the “voice of the poor” and wants to contribute to their liberation from exploitation, disenfranchisement and oppression. Based on the situation of socially declassed sections of the population, she interprets the biblical tradition as an impetus for comprehensive social criticism . In doing so, she refers to an independent analysis of the political and economic dependencies and stands for a grassroots democratic and generally socialist social order . This claim inevitably gave rise to considerable conflicts, on the one hand, with the church hierarchy, which often resulted in disciplinary measures against individual clergy, and, on the other hand, in particular with the oligarchic and dictatorial regimes that prevailed in South America at the time. This cost numerous liberation theologians their lives because they openly opposed the oppression as a consequence of their convictions. The most famous victim is Óscar Romero , the archbishop of El Salvador who was murdered in 1980.

Critical Rationalism

From an epistemological point of view, German critical rationalism ( Hans Albert ) intervened in the discussion in the 1970s , formally taking the side of the completion thesis , but "taking care of" the theological completion thesis itself for agnostic to atheistic reasons. Accordingly, the “open society” does not tolerate any inspiration from a religious direction. Critical rationalism rejects any pre-religious understanding. Hans Blumenberg , who cannot be assigned to critical rationalism, takes a similar position .

Critical rationalism also rejects the claim of Catholicism , visible in the papacy , to be “above politics” as out of the question.

Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde

The question of the actual location of a modern political theology was raised again by Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde when he spoke of the requirements of the state that he himself cannot establish or guarantee (so-called Böckenförde dictum ). These prerequisites are in fact also due to religion. Understood in this way, the real task of political theology is to subject the preconditions of politics to theological reflection and criticism. Theological content should not serve to legitimize political conditions - be it the status quo, be it of "conservative" or "progressive" revolutions.

In his first encyclical (No. 26 ff.) Pope Benedict XVI. that the Christian churches should enter into a dialogue with their respective counterparts in politics and society in order to be able to tackle the challenges of world politics.

Some theologians demand that the scope of actually "political" theology be limited to the fact that theology as a science is self-critically aware of its situation within the political discussion. Political impact is increasingly seen as a task to be performed by “lay people” (in the sense of non-theologically “studied” believers) in their areas of life. Any direct translation of theological research results and teaching systems into demands (addressed to politics), whether positioned “left” or “right”, exposes itself to the suspicion of wanting to replace religion with politics.

Political Theology in the Eastern Church

Political theology also influenced the Eastern Church . The social philosopher Christos Yannaras emerged in 1976, after the end of the Greek dictatorship , with his own political theology. In it the new political theology of liberation is received in order to gain distance from the West and its division in left and right.

Recently it is precisely the old political theology of Donoso Cortés and Carl Schmitt that is expected to clarify the situation in which the Orthodox Church has gotten in the process of European unification. This is how Dimitrios Kisoudis interprets the Eastern Church concept of the icon in its anthropological contradiction to any constitutional nomism. In the Eastern Church, a political theology does not need to be suggested to the people of the church, since it mostly arises from the connection between people of the state and people of the church.

literature

Overview representations

  • Armin Adam: Political Theology. A little story . Pano, Zurich 2006.
  • Peter Scott, William T. Cavanaugh (Eds.): The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology . Malden (USA), 2004, ISBN 0-631-22342-8
  • Jacob Taubes (Ed.): Theory of Religion and Political Theology , 3 volumes, 1983–1987, Munich, Fink and Schöningh

Individual aspects

  • Edmund Arens , Ottmar John, Peter Rottländer: Remembrance, Liberation, Solidarity. Benjamin, Marcuse, Habermas and Political Theology . Düsseldorf 1991.
  • Jan Assmann : rule and salvation . Hanser, Munich 2000.
  • Claus-Ekkehard Bärsch, Peter Berghoff, Reinhard Sonnenschmidt: Those who fail to recognize religion do not recognize politics . Perspektiven der Religionspolitologie, Würzburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-8260-2843-4
  • Alexander Filipović, Konstantin Lindner, Hanspeter Schmitt: Theology in Politics and Society . Lit, Münster / Berlin / Hamburg a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9934-9 (Bamberg Theological Forum, 10)
  • Jochen Hörisch : Political Theology . In: Hörisch: Theory-Pharmacy: A handout on the human scientific theories of the last fifty years, including their risks and side effects , Eichborn, Frankfurt 2005, ISBN 978-3-8218-4470-1 .
  • Lorenz Jäger : Difference. Contradiction. War. On the political theology of Jewish intellectuals . Karolinger Verlag, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-85418-152-1 .
  • Clemens Kauffmann : Leo Strauss for an introduction . Junius, Hamburg 1997.
  • Dimitrios Kisoudis: Political Theology in the Greek Orthodox Church . Marburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-939346-02-9
  • Ansgar Kreutzer : Political Theology for Today. Updates and concretions of a theological program , Herder Verlag, Freiburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-451-34909-6
  • Thomas Marschler: Canon law under the spell of Carl Schmitt. Hans Barion before and after 1945. Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-936741-21-2
  • Gottlieb Matejka: On the world situation of political theology with special consideration of Leonardo Boff and Gustavo Gutiérrez . Diss., University of Vienna 1986.
  • Heinrich Meier : What is political theology? Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation 2006, ISBN 3-938593-03-2
  • Johann Baptist Metz : To the theology of the world . Mainz 1973 (Topos-TB), ISBN 3-7867-0411-2
  • Johann Baptist Metz: On the concept of the new political theology. 1967-1997 . Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-7867-2029-0
  • Jürgen Moltmann : Theology of Hope . Chr. Kaiser Verl., Munich 1966, 6th, through. Ed.
  • Jürgen Moltmann: Man . Stuttgart, Kreuzverlag, 2009, new edition.
  • Michaela Neulinger: Between Dolorism and Perfectionism. Contours of a political theology of vulnerability. Schöningh, Paderborn 2018, ISBN 978-3-506-79230-3
  • Wolfgang Palaver , Andreas Oberprantacher, Dietmar Regensburger (Eds.): Political Philosophy versus Political Theology? The question of violence in the area of ​​tension between politics and religion . Innsbruck University Press, Innsbruck 2011, ISBN 978-3-902811-12-7 pdf-file
  • Helmut Peukert : Theory of Science, Theory of Action, Fundamental Theology. Analysis of the approach and status of theological theory formation . Düsseldorf 1976, Frankfurt a. M. 1978 (stw 231), new edition with a new afterword, Frankfurt a. M. 2009 (stw 231)
  • Achim Pfeiffer: Religion and Politics in the Writings of Pope Benedict XVI. - The Political Implications of Joseph Ratzinger . Marburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8288-9227-9
  • Dorothee Sölle : Political Theology . Stuttgart 1971, ext. New edition 1982, ISBN 3-7831-0679-6
  • Leo Strauss : Natural Law and History . Koehler, Stuttgart 1956.
  • Leo Strauss: Hobbes' Political Science . Luchterhand, Neuwied 1965.
  • Benjamin Taubald: Anamnetic Reason. Investigations into a concept of the new political theology . Munster 2001.
  • Jacob Taubes: The political theology of Paul . Lectures, held at the research facility of the Evangelical Study Community in Heidelberg, February 23-27, 1987, edited by Aleida Assmann based on tape recordings. Edited by Aleida Assmann and Jan Assmann in conjunction with Horst Folkers, Wolf-Daniel Hartwich and Christoph Schulte. Wilhelm Fink. Munich 1993. 2nd edition 1995. 3rd, improved edition 2003, ISBN 3-7705-2844-1
  • Manfred Walter (Ed.): Religion and Politics. On the theory and practice of the theological-political complex . Nomos, Baden-Baden, 2004, ISBN 3-8329-0818-8

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Thomas Marschler : Canon Law in the Bannkreis Carl Schmitts. Hans Barion before and after 1945 . Bonn 2004.
  2. ↑ See Jürgen Manemann , Yoko Arisaka, Volker Drell, Anna Maria Hauk: Prophetischer Pragmatismus. An introduction to the philosophy of Cornel West . Munich 2014.
  3. ↑ Jürgen Manemann: Plea for an activating Christian political ethic April 1, 2014.
  4. ↑ Jürgen Manemann: How we live well together. 11 theses for a return to politics . Ostfildern 2013, p. 78.
  5. ↑ Compare the evidence in the catalog of the German National Library