Divine and Secular Sovereignty: Interpretations

Dear Colleagues,

Interest in political theology has been on the rise in recent years. Scholars have devoted considerable attention to the analogy between divine and secular sovereignty, from the possible uses of political eschatology, the influence of apocalyptic thinking over politics and political thinking, the connections between liturgy and political thinking,the very idea of the sacred as it appears in the tradition of politics, and the modern secularization of the term and the possible applications of negative theology to politics, to name but a few examples.

The target area and concept of this Special Issue is the interface of divine and secular sovereignty. Carl Schmitt’s famous proposition is that modern political concepts are secularized theological ones. Consequently, secular sovereignty is a secular version of divine sovereignty. The thesis met immediate rejection: E. Peterson argued that Christian trinitarian doctrine (with the triune divine essence) cannot have a secular analogy. G. Agamben, however, advances a view that trinitarian thinking is compatible with a special understanding of governing (both classical and modern). These controversies are interesting, and given the vast theological tradition of trinitarian thinking, so much seems to be unearthed here for political theology. There are other similarly essential issues and questions concerning the putative analogy between secular and divine sovereignty, subject to historical, genealogical, analytical, and phenomenological study, extending not only to Christian but also Jewish and Islamic theologies. These include, among many others, the following:

• Reason and will in divine nature being applied to political theory.
• The relevance of love and sharing as essential to God’s nature—is there any political analogy to this? Is divine sovereignty monarchical or republican?
• Sovereignty as kenosis (full self-emptying) and obedience—is this possible in politics, or is this essentially antipolitical?
• Can God suffer? How are divine and secular sovereignty related to existence, suffering, and death?
• God and creation: Is there something like political creation, out of nothing perhaps?
• God and providence: Is divine sovereignty essentially sabbatical or active? Is political sovereignty best conceived as having an active (governing) and passive (ruling) aspect?
• Schmitt (and earlier, Thomas Hobbes) attributed great significance to divine miracles having a strong connection to political decisions—how do political miracles work, if at all?
• How does the theology of divine properties (omniscience, omnipotence, eternity, happiness, perfection) influence political thinking?
• Is there such as thing as political mysticism, an attitude of contemplation of divine perfection and being?
• How is sovereignty related to time? Does it entail eternity and/or immortality? Is it possible to find political theoretical analogies here?

We welcome proposals related to these and similar areas and topics, to be discussed through the methods listed above, using primary and secondary sources, including literary texts. Discussions of classic authors’ views will also be considered.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send these to the Guest Editors, Prof. Dr. Zoltán Balázs ([email protected]), Dr. Gyorgy Laszlo Gereby ([email protected]) and cc the Assistant Editor of Religions, Margaret Liu ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring that contributions align with the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Zoltán Balázs
Dr. György Laszlo Geréby
Guest Editors

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• divine sovereignty
• secular sovereignty
• political theology
• Carl Schmitt
• Erik Peterson
• Giorgio Agamben