Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology

Legitimizing Authority after Secularization

Bibliographic Data

ID6350134
AuthorsBruno Godefroy (0000-0003-3827-443X, University of Tours, Tours, France, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume53
Issue1
Pages83-109
Publication date2025-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00905917241241510
OpenAlexW4393345552
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited21

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