Political theology
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Political theology has been part of Christianity (and religion) for thousands of years. What is it? When did the Great Separation occur? Should Christianity stay clear of political theology?
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Political theology
- 1. Political Theology and the Stillborn God
- 2. The Crisis The kingdom of God is among you. Luke 17:21 My kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36
- 3. “Political theology is discourse about political authority based on a revealed divine nexus.” — Mark Lilla, The Stillborn God
- 4. Three political theologies God as Immanent God as Remote God as Transcendent
- 5. God as Immanent World is a chaotic place Good gods protect against malevolent gods Keep the good gods happy, bad ones at bay God of the pantheists King as hero, intermediary with the gods
- 6. God as Remote Lower god at work in the cosmos World under immutable laws Gnostic picture of the divine nexus Dark present, radiant future Eschatological politics
- 7. God as Transcendent God of theism Traces in nature, speech Creator god Covenants and laws for humans
- 8. Messianic Incarnation Christian political theologies
- 9. Three Christian Epochs Creation Incarnation Incarnation 2nd Coming 2nd Coming Judgment
- 10. The Good World Humans capable of good Can improve through grace and effort Humans have free will Called to imitate Christ Embrace worldly activity to infuse with the Holy Spirit
- 11. The Broken World Creation not basically good Humans can only change through grace Humans have free will, but corrupted Can do nothing without Christ Futile to attempt reform in the world
- 12. The Trinity God as Immanent God as Remote God as Transcendent
- 13. Tension in Early Church Gospel call to worship Create new political order Constantine - 4th century Religious and political authority consolidated Augustine - City of God First theological-political synthesis
- 14. The Great Separation Separate from theology and cosmos Focused on human nature and human need
- 24. Locke (1632-1704
- 25. “Eschatological language breeds eschatological politics.”
- 26. Apocalyptic Eschatological Messianism Rejection of Culture War with Culture
- 27. God The Great Separation Politics Creation Mortality Human Nature The Soul The Sacred Eschatology
- 28. The Stillborn God “Liberal theology began in rational hope, not fevered dreams. Its moderate wish was that the moral truths of biblical faith be intellectually reconciled with, and not just accommodated to, the realities of modern political life. Yet the liberal deity turned out to be a stillborn God, unable to inspire genuine conviction among those seeking ultimate truth (Lilla 301).” “Our challenge is different. We have made a choice that is at once simpler and harder: we have chosen to limit our politics to protecting individuals from the worst harms they can inflict on one another, to securing fundamental liberties and providing for their basic welfare, while leaving their spiritual destiny in the own hands (Lilla 308-9).”
- 29. Can we have an eschatology that doesn’t result in a political theology? How do we resolve the tension between the kingdom here and not-yet? How do we carry a prophetic witness in the world?
Editor's Notes
- Revolt against political theology in the West was against a Christian tradition of thought. It began in the 16th and 17th centuries. Something new happened in Christian political theology. What provoked such a profound intellectual challenge to the way societies had always thought of political life?
- Every species of political theology can be found in Christianity, all at war with one another. “This tremendous internal variety was made possible by the doctrines of the Incarnation and the Trinity, which invited Christians to think of their God as simultaneously in the world, absent from the world, and in a steady transcendent relation to the world.” (Lilla 53)
- The early modern philosophers found themselves at a dead end with Christian political theology. Conflicting visions of the right order in the world resulted in endless wars. They began to look for a means to escape it once and for all (Lilla 54).
- Religion, says Hobbes, arises out of the fears of humans. Two forces: our passion for pleasure and our flight from pain; our stubborn ignorance. The religious conflict and political conflict are the same conflict; they share roots in human nature. Fear, ignorance, and desire motivate all human activity, political and religious. “Christian revelation has . . . the potential in all religion for violence and insecurity (Lilla 85).”
- Psychological cycle of religious fear (wrathful God) and political cycle of social fear combine for a theological-political cycle of violence, fanaticism, superstition, and terror. Human need to worship gives rise to religious authority. The war that results; impossible to contain. Commit atrocities because they believe in God. We need an absolute sovereign to exert control so we do not kill each other—The Leviathan.
- This was Leviathan, the Absolute Sovereign over the people. The Sovereign protects and enforces the laws, allows for religion to be practiced, guarantees protection.
- “Hobbes’ overriding concern was to vanquish the Kingdom of Darkness, the vast complex of church, state, and university that had governed European politics and consciousness for over a millennium. To that end he developed a new science of man . . . (Lilla 92).”
- After the devastating critique of religion by Hobbes and the authority of the Church, Rousseau offered a third way. He declared man to be naturally good, goodness he expressed in his religion. Rousseau was the first to offer the benefits of religion without appealing to revelation. His arguments arise from feelings. There is ordering intelligence that intends to achieve some good, and that man is free.
- Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) held that people form political societies, not because they feared violent death, but because they wanted to protect their life, liberty, and property. Religious toleration would increase social attachment, not challenge it.
- It is as if Christianity has been a child, desperately missing its father. And it will force the father to return and to love it, even if it has to overturn all society to bring it back. If Christians feel they have to redeem and cleanse the world in order for the father to return, then there will be no end to conflict.