Currently, there is a renewed interest in political theology. Within the German Protestant tradition, this can be seen in the so-called public theology. In the 20th century, the classic pioneers of political theology were the lawyer Carl Schmitt and the Protestant dogmatist Karl Barth. Whilst C. Schmitt and K. Barth differed in their concrete political views they shared strong similarities in the key concepts and the patterns of argumentation that were structurally fundamental to their thinking. Both authors rejected modern liberal thinking. They found no access to liberal constitutionallaw, ideological pluralism or the freedom of conscience of the individual. The present essay explains the structural and conceptual parallels that exist between C. Schmitt and K. Barth. It also points out the continuous effects of their thinking. For this purpose, it mentions both the lawyer E.-W. Böckenförde and the theologian E. Jüngel. Finally, the essay draws a conclusion that concerns political opinions found in today's theological thinking. These opinions are to be critically measured by the fact that they overcome the pre-modern ideas which were laid out in the political theology of C. Schmitt and K. Barth, for example their religious exaggeration of the state, their anti-liberalism and decisionism or their resistance against pluralism and against the right to self-determination as an individual human right.

Enthalten in:
Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik; 2020/2 Kommentare, Studien, Berichte, Dokumentationen, Diskussionen, Rezensionen, Bibliographie (2020)

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Serie / Reihe: Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik

Personen: Kreß, Hartmut

Schlagwörter: Barth, Karl Politische Theologie Schmitt, Carl