Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology

Legitimizing Authority after Secularization

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6350134
AutoresBruno Godefroy (0000-0003-3827-443X, University of Tours, Tours, France, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen53
Número1
Páginas83-109
Fecha de publicación2025-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00905917241241510
OpenAlexW4393345552
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas21

In the last years, a theological turn had a pervasive influence in the reception of Carl Schmitt’s writings. According to this view, his thought has a strong, substantial religious foundation. With regards to understanding not only Schmitt’s position but also his current influence in authoritarian countries, this essay argues that this interpretation is misleading and proposes a different and comprehensive analysis of Schmitt’s concept of political theology that replaces it in a political-legal framework. Against the theological reading, it argues that Schmitt’s concept of “political theology” refers to his own conception of legal theory as an attempt to relegitimize authority in a secular context. As “political theology,” this legal theory is designed to overcome normativism and parliamentarism by “substantializing” the legal form. Using Schmitt’s post-1933 works as an example, the essay shows that, as theology translates faith into a written doctrine, legal theory must, according to Schmitt, substantialize the legal form by translating the political idea into jurisprudence. Hence, this article concludes that Schmitt’s theory might be described as “political theology” but only in a formal, ideological sense. It is part of an authoritarian theory that is not religious but uses theology to revive an appearance of absolute legitimacy

Political science · Political theology · Politics · Secularization · Sociology · Theology · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Religious studies · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy