Political Theology and the Postsecular

Abstract

Abstract This chapter turns to the application of radical democracy to political theology. It poses the question of how radical democracy might affect a new and different understanding of political theology. Political theorist Carl Schmitt argues that democracy and political theology represent two equally compelling, but opposing, political options to confront the seemingly overwhelming force of the modern technocratic state. The chapter examines whether those who employ political theology harbor secret theocratic intentions; whether normative political theory is correct in assuming that the political must safeguard itself from the religious; and how radical democracy opens a pathway for a reconfiguration of the proper relationship between political theology and democracy. It also contrasts Charles Taylor's notion of religious autonomy with Stephen Carter's “trivialization of religion,” in an effort to determine the meaning of the postsecular.