Church and State in the Horizon of the Unity of Everything. Vladimir Solovyov and the Construction of the Theological-Political

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims at reconstructing the political theology of Vladimir Solovyov. Taking as a starting point the argumentative pattern of Carl Schmitt, my research focuses on the analysis of the two central elements of the political theology of the Russian philosopher: first, on the ontological premise which is justifying the possibility of the union of religion and politics in a coherent and functional whole (i.e. the condition of the possibility of this mixed reality); second and as a direct result of this premise, on the description of the reasoning process through which Solovyov is pleading for establishing a close relation between religion and politics, Church and State (i.e. the stages of the theological-political discourse). The relation between religion and politics has cosmic significance as it is supposed to lead to the unification of the whole material and spiritual world in God.