POLITICS BETWEEN THEOLOGY AND MESSIANISM IN SECULAR TIMES. (2024)

1. Introduction

Every political conception has connections with the fact thatcomprehension of the politics includes not only description of thecurrent situation, but also a kind of attempt to compare the actualsituation with the ideal state of society (or common good) and get to itas close as possible. This aspect of the political reality comprehensionwas noticed by K. Mannheim in the classical book Ideology and Utopia:"But every 'actually operating' order of life is at thesame time enmeshed by conceptions which are to be designated as'transcendent' or 'unreal' because their contentscan never be realized in the societies in which they exist and becauseone could not live and act according to them within the limits of theexisting social order." (Mannheim 1954, 175).

The political theory (or political philosophy) has reference to theideal state, the most obvious example of which is the transfer of thereligious concepts and ideas to the political domain. This transfer hastwo major consequences: the first of them is an act of transcendence,which generates the political theology; the second is an act ofimmanence, which generates the political messianism.

The acts of transcendence and immanence in political domain refersto the meaningful representation of the sacrum and profanum asontological dimensions of the political world. An experience oftranscendence is the fundamental human experience known since theancient times. It displays human desire to know the deepest and mostbasic foundations of the world. Moreover, the humans want to rise abovethemselves and find Supreme Being as a basis for their beings. Theexperience of immanence displays the desire to merge with the world andlocate the strength of action in it; this experience demonstratesreliance on the internal sense of being. However, this experience alsoreaches deep foundations of human existence.

Analysis of historical forms and modern transformations ofpolitical theology and messianism gives a possibility to understand thefundamental ontological foundations of the political world and therelationship between politics and religion. Also, such philosophicalinvestigation shows the correlation between the political and thesacred. It seems that such correlation is universal for all politicalworlds. For example, Merio Scattola states that all human communitieshave the political theology because they are establishing theconnections between specialization of political roles and certainmystical and ritual forms of social life. Moreover, the members ofcommunities correlate their present-days with sacred dimensions ofeternity (Scattola 2011, 9). However, we should state that all humanactivities could be correlated with rituals. Thus, we can agree withstatements that a ritual is common to the entire human activity. But, itis important to pay attention to the specific role of rituals in thepolitical sphere. They are effective instruments of establishing thecollective identity, consensus of values, legitimacy of actual powerinstitutions, and nation-building process. Although, we should take intoaccount the situation when modern liberal societies that arecharacterized rather by pluralism and conflict of values. Therefore, thepolitical rituals could play a role of social conflict expression anddemand of the change. They are also establishing differences between"us" and "others" and manifesting the political asantagonistic.

The political theology and messianism are the keys for thecomprehension of socio-cultural mechanism of the political worldforming. The theological and messianic projects demonstrate thespecifics of political phenomena historiosophic interpretation becausethey have a strong connection to the eschatological perspective ofhistory understanding which is appropriate to the politics. By takingthe development of political theology as a frame, we have a propositionto divide the history of European societies into two main periods: theepoch of transcendence (from the ancient times to Enlightenment) and theepoch of secularization (from the Enlightenment to modern times). The(post-)modernity shows the fall of the authority of religiousinstitutions traditionally linked to the political life of society.Moreover, it is also evident that religion "imbues" theprivate sphere and stays one of the grounds for individualself-identification in the era of global "liquid" socialhierarchies. All of these happens in the context of religiousfundamentalism "dilution", because of democratic pluralismstrengthening, which involves the individual autonomy.

2. The essence of the political theology and messianism

The relations between politics and religion in the secular times isthe topical issue of the modern political philosophy. It has beeninspired by Carl Schmitt and his book titled Political theology. Thisbook was a kind of response to the challenge of secularization in themodern political world. However, we'd like to note that there stillis an ambiguity in terms of precise definition of secularization.

The easiest way to define "secularization" is to note thedecline of religious faith, the loss of credibility to the church in themodern times. However, such definition is not enough because it does notdisplay the actual situation in societies correctly (recently, we couldobserve the growth in the numbers of believers in the post-communistcountries, and the strong position of religion in Islamic countries, forexample).

The classical conception of secularization was presented by MaxWeber within his sociology of religion where secularization waspresented mostly as the compromise between the religious values and thevalues of secular institutions. Also, this classical conceptionpredicted that modernization and rationalization of society will becaused by the decline of religion. It happens as elimination ofreligious valued behavior which loses its meaning by adopting to secularpurposes. This conception of secularization has some limits, which makesit not completely appropriate to contemporary world. Therefore, weshould refer to revised conception of secularization. For example, JoseCasanova writes that the meaningful conception of secularization needsto distinguish three different connotations: 1) secularization asdecline of religious beliefs and practices in modern societies (thisprocess is often postulated as a universal, human, developmentalprocess); 2) secularization as the privatization of religion; 3)secularization as the differentiation of the secular spheres (thisprocess is usually understood as a kind of emancipation from religiousinstitutions and norms) (Casanova 2007, 101). As we can observeit's difficult to concentrate on some separate meaning ofsecularization in modern world. Moreover, we should note multiplicityand complexity of this process. Thus, in the modern global world thereare different evidences of modernization and secularization. In thiscontext, we assume that the reference to political theology andmessianism can give an opportunity to reveal and understand someuniversal principles and specific features of secularization in themodern political world.

The political theology and messianism are seeking to carry meaningsthat not only explain but in a certain way construct the vision of thepolitical and its historical manifestations. First of all the politicalreligions with immanence and transcendence as their components generatethe political mythology which causes an unauthentic form of human beingin the political world.

Within historiosophic approach to the problem of human being asbios politicos, the conceptions of political theology and messianism areused as a methodological instrument for the analysis of totalitariansystems in the 20th century. The totalitarianism is presented as a kindof political religion (E. Voegelin, R. Aron). Therefore, the newpolitical critique arises through referring to the relations betweenpolitics and religion. Sometimes it reinstates in the idea of thepolitical theory revival as a system of values.

We should say that "political theology" is also a termwhich does not have single conventional definition. Its definitions areoften opposed, showing the position of authors in discussions on themerits of political theology and its importance in the context ofcurrent political and religious processes. However, the common aspect wehave found in almost all contemporary discussions dedicated thepolitical theology concerns the meaning and consequences ofsecularization and its influence on the comprehension of the modernpolitical processes. In the context of such reflection, we want tomention the C. Schmitt's claim that "all significant conceptsof the modern theory of the state are secularized theologicalconcepts." (Schmitt 2005, 36). Thus, the grasp of the politicaltheology essence helps to understand the specifics of politics in asecular age.

The statement about multiple meanings of the term "politicaltheology" requires summarizing its different types. Theclassification of political theology (E.-W. Bokenforde), which bases onthe semantic meaning of the term, presents three main types--legal(implies the transition of theological concepts to the domain of stateand law), institutional (concerns such issues as status, legitimacy, andessence of political order.), and appellate (deals with theinterpretation of the Christian idea of Divine Revelation in the aspectof believers' engagement into politics).

Based on these three types of political theology we can formulate ageneral definition: the political theology is a form of understandingthe politics and political world based on the interpretation ofpolitical phenomena by using the reference to the perspective of DivineRevelation. In the core of such definition, there is a problem ofrelations between political theology and political theory. Within modernpolitical philosophy, the solving of this problem is tightly connectedto the methodological propositions and meta-philosophical conceptions.

Leo Strauss elaborated the solution by making the principaldistinction between political theology and philosophy. The criterion forthis distinction bases on the notion that theology can be interpreted asa political doctrine basing on Divine Revelation, while philosophy isessentially limited only by the facts that are available for the humanmind (Strauss 1989, 7). The philosopher does not recognize the absoluteholiness and search rational explanations, while theology recognizes amiracle as a way of Divine manifestation in history. However, Strauss isconvinced of the interplay between theology and philosophy. The kind ofintellectual tension between them determines the nature of Westerncivilization. It is also evident that the conflict between theology andphilosophy is determined by their mutual exclusion: "No one can beboth a philosopher and a theologian or, for that matter, a third whichis beyond the conflict between philosophy and theology, or a synthesisof both. But every one of us can be and ought to be either the one orthe other, the philosopher open to the challenge of theology or thetheologian open to the challenge of philosophy." (Strauss 1979,111).

In some aspect, the political theology serves as a strategy for theself-understanding of political philosophy that seeks the way to defineand realize its position. This understanding of the relationship betweentheology and philosophy is defined by Heinrich Meier, who writes thatpolitical philosophy should recognize the strength of political theologyand reflect on it. In the polemic with theology, philosophy can get aclear vision of its subject and principles (Meier 2003-2004, 183-184).

3. The genesis of the modern political theology

The phenomenon of political theology has a history as ancient as aphilosophy. It reaches the ancient Greek and Roman times. The ancientpolitical theology grows on the ground of organic unity of politics andreligion that usually were not separated. The same situation was in themiddle ages. As John Milbank writes, "Once, there was no'secular'. And the secular was not latent, waiting to fillmore space with the steam of the 'purely human', when thepressure of the sacred was relaxed. Instead there was the singlecommunity of Christendom, with its dual aspects of sacerdotium andregnum." (Milbank 2006, 9).

The political community was fully identified as the religiouscommunity. Some philosophers used the terms to denominate the similaritybetween politics and religion--for example, "civil religion"(A. de Tocqueville).

The Christianity changed relations between religion and politics.It brought the "quasi-apolitical character." We mean theconsequences of the declared division between political and religiousdomains which was represented by Jesus Christ phrase: "Render toCaesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that areGod's." The principle "Caesar--Caesar's, andGod--God's" stayed a precondition for establishing thesovereignty of individual and its role in creations the political order.The "quasi-apolitical" character of Christianity shows that inreality, it began its politics. Such politics proclaimed the new type ofhuman community. This community is perfect, but it is not transcendentand inscribed in history in the form of Church. The political theologychanged because it had to pay attention, not to the good that istranscendent and regulated the political world outside, but to themechanisms of internal community governance.

Another phenomenon was added to the changes of political theologybecause Christianity brought the eschatological dimension of history.Eschaton is not only defined as the end of the history, but it alsorefers to the moment when history gets its highest meaning. From theChristian point of view, the Eschaton means the end of the periodcharacterized by alienation of the God. The new epoch and new worldstarted from the moment of Christ's coming and will get itsfullness with the Second Coming. The idea of Eschaton largely explainsthe further development of political-theological and messianic projectsas the strategies for the establishing a new order of the politicalworld.

The Christian paradigm of political theology transformed in theearly modern times. The political science of this period can be definedas "negative theology" because it tried to supplant sacrumfrom the political world. The attempts of neutralizing the Christianeschatological project or "de-deification of the public life"(as Carl Schmitt argued) manifested in reflections about the essence ofthe political. The negative theology got a form of the "politicaltheology of absence." Merio Scattola writes, "[...] from thenihilistic perspective, the divine order is present only as an absoluteabsence, and the only one way of God's Revelation is Hisdisappearance." (Scattola 2011, 124).

In this situation, the human experience of politics demonstratedthe only dimension of immanence. Also, the political Sovereign totallymanages the religious cases. Sovereign acquired this right as a resultof merging the State and the Church. In De Cive, Thomas Hobbes presentedan expression of this idea: "[...] a City of Christian men, and aChurch, is altogether the same thing, of the same men, term'd bytwo names, for two causes: For the matter of a City & a Church isone, to wit the same Christian men. And the forme which consists in aLawfull power of assembling them is the same too; for 'tis manifestthat every Subject is oblig'd to come thither, whither he issummon'd by his City. Now that which is call'd a City, as itis made up of men, the same, as it consists of Christians, is styled aChurch." (Hobbes 1983, 236).

The connections between theology and political theory in the earlymodern times explain the introduction of new politics demonstrating thetendency towards the autonomy. Milbank demonstrates, how the theologyconstructed the secular politics (Milbank 2006, 14-15). The newpolitics' priorities were "unrestricted" privateproperty, "absolute sovereignty," and "activerights." Moreover, the new political anthropology postulated thehuman persons as individuals. The theology assisted the establishing ofnew anthropology. At the same time the political science of early moderntimes paid attention to the necessity of inventing a secular space,which should be an area of "pure power." This invention wasalso a theological achievement since it required confirmationopportunities of God's nonexistence, that could be expressed onlywithin theology.

The contemporary political theology changed its essence andprinciples. In particular, it presented the critical attitude to thecurrent state of religion and engagement of the Church in politicalaffairs. The theological comprehension of political issues seeks tooppose the privatization of religious life, which often occurs in thecontext of (post-) modernity. Therefore, the political theologyexperiences certain transformations; it leaves the status of aninstrument providing legitimacy for the government and political orderand demonstrates the capability in a new status of criticalcomprehension of theological and political problems.

The process of secularization causes some changes in relationsbetween politics and religion. For example, the theological conceptsacquire the political meaning. There is a political theology that servesas an instrument to build the secular theories. In particular, theoutcomes of the secularization process establish pure proceduralrationality, which reduces legitimacy to the legality techniques. AsCarl Schmitt argued, the political system designed in the spirit of pureprocedural rationality closed in itself. We should add that in thepolitical world where the only pure procedural (or even instrumental)rationality appears there is a dominance of total immanence. This systemis not able to gain full legitimacy. As a result, this socio-politicalsystem gets into a nihilistic situation or the Nietzschean world where"God is dead."

The modern political theology tries to overcome the threat of itsdistortion. For example, one of such projects is described in thepolitical theology of Johann Metz. This project has a messianicdimension, postulating it as "the word of God that delivered atthis time." The positioning of Metz's political theology inthe spectrum of different political and theological projects ofmodernity puts it into the opposition to decisionism which causes thepoliticization of Christianity, as it loses the eschatologicaldimension. The limitation of this political-theological project rootesin its origination from Catholicism. This version of political theologyshould be implemented by Church, which has become a critical institutionof freedom of faith and refuses to use political means to achieve theirgoals. As Metz writes, Church must not realize its aims by using methodsand tools associated with political power. It has a task not to proveits existence, but show the evidence for the history of holiness, whichis open to all people (Metz 2000, 28). As a result, a new relationshipbetween society and religion should be created, and this relationshipwill reflect the connections between eschatological faith and socialpractice.

The J. Metz's political theology with its saturation bymessianism becomes a theology of revolution predicting a kind ofmessianic "anthropological revolution." This messianic projectgets an anthropological dimension because it has an intention to becomethe instrument for social critique and diagnose for the de-humanistictendencies in the modern political world. Sometimes the revolutionarysetting of this political theology project admits criticism and itsidentification with the left-wing political movement. The reason couldbe in the establishment of the principle according to which therevolution must not be made from above (the Church hierarchy), it shouldrise from the bottom--the revolutionary "conversion of hearts"that will lead to the restructuring of the Church as a form of communallife. The consequence of such revolution will be the transition from thetranscendence to "theology of mysticism", and in this way, theeschatological dimension of Christianity will be updated. Within thistheological project, the concept of revolution is re-interpreted,because it fits into a messianic project. Therefore, the J. Metz'spolitical theology of intends to be the hermeneutic basis for everypolitical theology, laying the conditions for their understanding.

The theology of revolution is only one of the varieties of modernpolitical theology. Mostly, it acquires the character of theemancipative program. This kind of emancipation theology (also"theology of liberation," "theology of peace,""feminist theology") is the use of Christ's ideas intothe practice liberation of the oppressed and the poor through theengagement in the social movements (Scattola 2011, 233). Emancipationjoins the eschatology and actualizes the problems that need explanationwithin political theology.

4. The political messianism in the modern times

The gradual elimination of political theory' transcendence andfocusing on immanence leads to the phenomenon of political messianism.Understanding the phenomenon of messianism, which is derived fromChristianity, associated with Paul the Apostle, who in The Epistle tothe Romans transfers the messianic experience into the inner world ofhuman.

The distortion of the messianic project which causes itstransformation into a political religion is dangerous for the humanexistence. The political religion is closely linked to the politicalideologies and myths which can subsequently cause the arising oftotalitarian systems. Unlike traditional religion formed over manycenturies, having a strong connection to tradition and providing areference to transcendence, the political religion is mostly satisfiedwith the mythology or ideology of humanity's salvation.

The conceptions of political religion and political messianism mayappear as methodological frameworks to identify the symptoms oftotalitarian ideology and non-authentic human being in the politicalworld. It is manifested clearly in the political philosophy of EricVoegelin, who presented an original interpretation of moderntotalitarianism as a form of Gnosticism. Considering the problem ofpolitical representation, Voegelin pays attention to the issue of truth.He notes the fact that the existential representation of community iscomplemented by transcendent truth. If we turn by the firstcivilizations, it is noticeable that they are considered as therepresentants of higher transcendent order: "The empire is a cosmicanalogue, a little world reflecting the order of the great,comprehensive world. Rulership becomes the task of securing the order ofsociety in harmony with cosmic order; the territory of the empire is ananalogical representation of the world with its four quarters; the greatceremonies of the empire represent the rhythm of the cosmos; festivalsand sacrifices are a cosmic liturgy, a symbolic participation of thecosmion in the cosmos; and the ruler himself represents the society,because on earth he represents the transcendent power which maintainscosmic order." (Voegelin 1987, 54).

The political philosophy of Plato claimed the slogan of this newera--"polis is the great man." Therefore, the idea thatsociety cannot develop by human cost complemented the transcendenttruth. In other words, the human truth was correlated with theGod's truth. The human being in the political world is authentic ifit is open to God, and from the other side, God is manifesting inhistory only when He forms the human soul. So, in the politicalphilosophy of the ancient times, there were two kinds of truth--thetruth of the cosmological empires and anthropological truth related tohuman existence in the public space of the polis. According to Voegelin,the sphere of power was subjected to the de-divinization that manifesteditself in the historical process of polytheistic culture collapse. Asthe result of this process, the human existence in society was describedin the perspective of destiny which leads to the eternity by the graceof God. However, the era of early modern times faced the problem ofpolitical representation, and there was a need of re-divinization thesociety. Voegelin argues that during this period polytheistic culturethat reaches heretical movements in Christianity was revived. The ideasof this religious culture subsequently formed the basis for politicalmovements of the twentieth century.

Therefore, it is possible to trace the connections betweentotalitarian systems of the 20th century (generated by communism andnazism) and mystical doctrines within Gnosticism. In Voegelin'sworks, the Gnosticism is defined as immanentization of the truth anddesacralized conception of human salvation. Re-divinization causes thetransfer of meaning from the transcendent God and human existence tohistory the result of which was an immanentization of Christian eschatonand spread of the the "end of story" idea that was the basisof political religions. As a result, energy is released, which isdirected to the development of civilization. It may lead to the negativeconsequences: the speculation of Gnosticism exceeded uncertainty offaith, giving the human and his/her activities in the world sense ofeschatological realization. The immanentization is grounding in humanexperience and, therefore, civilization becomes a mysterious case ofself-salvation activity. This immanentization generates threat becauseit involves destructive (including autodestructive) activism and leadsto the establishment of a false image of reality.

Voegelin gives the description of political Gnosticism: "Thehistorical order of the people is broken by the rise of a movement whichdoes not belong to 'this world'. Social evils cannot bereformed by legislation; defects of governmental machinery cannot berepaired by changes in the constitution; differences of opinion cannotbe settled by compromise. 'This world' is darkness that mustgive way to the new light. Hence, coalition governments are impossible.The political figures of the old order cannot be re-elected in the newworld; and the men who are not members of the movement will be deprivedof their right to vote in the new order." (Voegelin 1987, 150).

Based on this description it is possible to highlight the followingfeatures of Gnosticism as the modern political movement: 1) theobjection of actually existing political situation; 2) the statementthat the bad organization of the world is cause by the existing theevil; 3) the conviction about the possibility of overcoming the evil inthe world, and its salvation; 4) the statement that a change must takeplace in evolutionary or revolutionary ways; 5) the Gnostics suggestthat salvation comes as a result of our earthly efforts; 6) a mysticalknowledge gets the great importance.

Implementation of the Gnostic eschatological concept has adverseconsequences for human existence in the political world because it leadsto the establishment of totalitarianism. In the aspect of ontologicalapproach within political philosophy, totalitarianism is a totalimmanence of politics that provides for the closure and the inability togo beyond their limits. The modern political philosophy that seeks tocriticism of totalitarianism (Hannah Arendt, Karl Popper, Raymond Aron)presents a conviction that totalitarianism takes deep roots in the humanbeing. Therefore, the totalitarian system is not something external tohuman. In other words, we propose to define the totalitarianism as"the forced thinking" or "unanimity" and"anonymity" of political being. The feature of totalitarianismis that it takes away individual (his/her) destiny from human, embeddingit in the political system.

Modern philosophy offers several ways to counter politicalmessianism and immanence in political theory that lead to non-genuinehuman being in the political world. The first is based on the idea ofrediscovering the relations with the transcendent God and awareness ofhuman responsibility for the preservation of sacred values in the world.This idea is represented by Christian existentialism of Gabriel Marcel,for instance. He insists on existential human responsibility for thepreservation of sacred values in history. The human must recognize thatthe historical source of his/her activity is the ability totranscendence, which appears as "taking me by God." Thisability can overcome the domination of the "spirit ofabstraction" that generates fanatical consciousness.

The second way is tied to the possibility to deconstruct thepolitical myths that were generated by political religions. Suchdeconstruction could be realized through the critical analysis of thepolitical mythology. The philosophy focuses on the overcoming of themyths (transition from myth to logos), but this is extremely difficultbecause the mythological consciousness creates its logic, which causesthe non-sensitivity to rational arguments proposed by philosophicalreflection. Thus, the myths and political religion may be destroyed,only if the mechanisms of their creation and the structure offunctioning are well studied.

The third way to overcome the adverse effects of immanence inpolitical activity is the "return" to the historiosophicalvision of Aurelius Augustine, that involves an idea of the separatingtwo cities--one earthly and one heavenly. German philosopher WalterBenjamin in Theologico-Political Fragment stated that the politicalorder could not use the divine order as its basis. He wrote: "TheKingdom of God is not the telos of the historical dynamic; in cannot beset as a goal. From the standpoint of history, it is not the goal, butthe end. Therefore, the order of the profane cannot be built up on theidea of the Divine Kingdom." (Benjamin 1978, 312).

By using the distinction between the political world and divineorder, we need to re-think the very idea of messianism.

5. Instead of conclusion

Philosophical analysis of the transcendence and immanence phenomenain the perspective of understanding the political theology and politicalmessianism can show the possible negative consequences of thenon-authentic human being in the political world. Such human conditionpresents that the natural relationship with the political is mediated byideas, projects, and programs of the social reality transformation thatwere inspired by eschatological interpretation of history. Problems anddistortions of political theology and political messianism areassociated with the separation from tradition. Political theology beginsto look for justifications only through abstract concepts (the viewstarts to dominate according to which "[...] in every politicaltheology there is a question of political philosophy" (Scattola2011, 238)). So, we can remember that the theological absolutismgenerated a political absolutism and they produce the forms of politicalbeing that will destroy each other, as Hans Blumenberg clearly noticedit (Blumenberg 1988). Separated from the practice of religious lifetheology loses its essence, then happens the recession of tradition. So,theology replaces the concept originating from the practice ofliturgical life with the symbolic structures used for the comprehensionof the political. Moreover, the biggest threat of the political andtheological projects distortions lies in the rise of the politicalreligions that present mythological reality for their followers and makepreconditions of conquering the masses by symbols.

Modern politics are often described in the terms of investment,costs, and predictions. This description confirms the rationalization ofpolitical activity, which manifests itself through the use of politicaltechnologies and the analysis of big data. Analyzing such descriptions,we can also talk about the immanentization as an political rationalitymechanism. Politicians are looking for internal mechanisms of effectivemanipulation with the political order. However, this immanentization hasa slightly different character than in the case of the politicalmessianism. It is more about instrumentalism, which uses, for example,religion as an instrument, turning it into just an ideology. Althoughthe origins of such a modern attitude to the politics should be soughtthrough the reference to the modern re-thinking of the mechanisms oftranscendence and immanentization involved in the political theology andmessianism.

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Dmytro Shevchuk

The National University of Ostroh Academy, Department of CultureScience and Philosophy, Ostroh, Rivne Region, Ukraine.

Email: [emailprotected]

Kateryna Shevchuk

Rivne State Humanitarian University, Department of Philosophy,Rivne, Ukraine.

Email: [emailprotected]