Political Theology

Abstract

AbstractIn twentieth‐century political theory, political theology is most closely associated with the name of the German jurist Carl Schmitt (1888–1985). Schmitt argues that modern politics continues to have structural theological underpinnings and examines the transfer of theological concepts into modern political theory. Yet the debates conducted under the auspices of “political theology” or “the theological‐political problem” have also at various times included discussions concerning more generally the role of religion in politics, the relationship between religious and political power, the political implications of the dispersion of religious commitments and theological qualities into spheres that are not primarily religious (such as economics), and the religious and political presuppositions for religious pluralism, as well as assumptions about secularity and the neutrality of the public sphere, its norms, and institutions. All these strands interlace and draw on each other in ways that are hardly neatly separable, and what may appear as “political theology” proper morphs into a discussion of “public religion” and vice versa, so that while not reducible to each other, the two discursive frameworks also cannot be entirely severed from each other. In this light, this entry will trace out the discussions that have historically been negotiated under the umbrella of the term “political theology” and make some suggestions for mapping the current conjunctures. While most religious traditions have produced reflections on the relationship among that tradition, its practices, and politics, the discussion of “political theology” presented here will focus on engagements with the Christian theological tradition broadly construed.