Theopolitical Imagination: What Can We Learn From the Postconciliar Church?

Abstract

The aftermath of the Second Vatican Council saw the emergence of theopolitical imagination defending both radical conservative and progressive views. This article studies two such experiments, namely, Marcel Lefebvre’s rejection of the Council and liberation theology’s yearning for a solution, here and now, of poverty, understood as a sign of the Kingdom. I assert that both examples share a fundamental insight, that is, its yearning for a re-politicization of the church, a confusion between the immanent and transcendent axis of human existence. I suggest that what the church experienced in the 1960s is analogous to our political situation, where citizens are increasingly disappointed with democracies, and are thus siding with radical populist politics that use religious language to justify their programs.