Overview

How secular are the political and legal concepts that underpin liberal democracy? Carl Schmitt first coined the term political theology to show the dependency of modern western jurisprudence and political science on Christian theological discourse, and in so doing criticized the claim to religious neutrality of liberal institutions. In this book, Miguel Vatter reconstructs how and why the discourse of political theology was adopted and repurposed by anti-Schmittian thinkers, from Eric Voegelin through Jacques Maritain and Ernst Kantorowicz to Jürgen Habermas, to bolster the legitimacy of liberal democratic government. The book traces the way in which crucial political concepts for liberal democracy--including sovereignty, representation, government, constitutionalism, human rights, and public reason--are transformed when they become part of a discourse on political theology. Vatter's aim is to provide an intellectual history of political theology in the 20th century. His study reveals the overdetermined role that religion plays in contemporary democratic political and legal theory as an ultimate source of legitimacy for government and as wellspring for revolutionary aspirations.

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9780190942359

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Deeply learned and intelligent, Vatter's provocative work on political theology extends beyond the conventional Christian framework and links to predicaments of democracy today. Essential reading for democratic political and legal theorists of every stripe. -- Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley We cannot understand the genealogy of modern political thought without reflecting on the multiple ways in which it has been shaped by religious traditions. In this masterpiece of universal scholarship, Miguel Vatter shows in how far political theology is not, as is often assumed, inimical to democracy but conducive to it. A great invitation for further debate. -- Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt/Main Vatter offers a superb analysis of the fortunes of political theology in the twentieth century. Through close readings of Schmitt, Voegelin, Maritain, Kantorowicz, and Habermas, Vatter stakes out a counter-tradition of democratic political theology in which the people rather than the sovereign are the locus of political legitimacy. This book will be of interest not only to scholars of political theology but to all those concerned with democratic legitimation. -- Victoria Kahn, University of California, Berkeley In this learned and inspired book, Miguel Vatter brings new life into the contested idea of political theology. He re-orients our understanding of major twentieth century thinkers, showing them to be engaged in conceptualising a democratic political theology. The striking result is that political theology illuminates the theoretical foundations of cosmopolitanism, populism, human rights, radical democracy, and republican citizenship. Divine Democracy is a major intellectual achievement, a profound re-examination of the fraught relation between politics and religion. -- Cecile Laborde, University of Oxford With incomparable erudition and breathtaking sprezzatura, Miguel Vatter lays out the stakes of political theology for democratic legitimacy. Divine Democracy offers brilliant readings of Schmitt, Voegelin, Maritain, Kantorowicz and Habermas and shows why their views on religion and politics resonate today. -- John P. McCormick, University of Chicago

Author Information

Miguel Vatter is Professor of Politics at Flinders University, Australia. He is author of The Republic of the Living: Biopolitics and the Critique of Civil Society.

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