Křesťanský monoteismus a jednota respektující různost

Abstract

The article critically discusses Petr Drulák’s ambitious, provocative, and thought-provoking book Podvojný svět [The Dual World], which, despite its undeniable strengths, faces major theoretical challenges arising from its stark and simplifying contrast between monotheism and polytheism. In the opening part, I argue that the opposition between (essentially problematic) monotheism and (benign) polytheism cannot withstand critical scrutiny. First, the polytheistic idea that there are many Gods is metaphysically dubious. The reflection on the contingency of being cannot but lead us to the idea of the existence of one, transcendent and personal, God; there cannot be multiple Gods as particular instances of the species called “God”. Second, Drulák’s defence of polytheism needs to tackle the seminal work of the French anthropologist René Girard, who showed the link between polytheism and (sacrificial) acts of collective violence. The article maintains that historical examples of monotheistic intolerance are only contingently linked to monotheism, rather than expressing its essence, as Drulák controversially claims. Nevertheless, in the second part of the article, I explore the possible common ground between Drulák’s myth of “linked duality” and the Christian tradition by analysing how the problem of polar opposites has been dealt with by the brilliant German theologian Erich Przywara and by Jorge Maria Bergoglio, the current pope Francis.