Schmittian Shadows and Contemporary Theological-Political Constellations

The last two decades have seen the number of debates about the continued social and political role of religion multiply and expand across the humanities and social sciences. In political theory, discussions have often more or less narrowly gravitated toward Carl Schmitt’s understanding of "political theology" and the connection to the larger contemporary landscape of inquiries remains often only suggestive. To counteract the danger of a Schmittian myopia, this article first examines Carl Schmitt’s intervention and contextualizes his approach within the larger discussions at the time of his writing and the variegated critical engagements with his understanding of "political theology." To contextualize the current interest in theological-political issues, the second part of this essay sketches out a systematic map of the recent discussions, which fall roughly into three areas: (1) critiques of secularism; (2) recuperations of theology for political practice; and (3) examinations of the theological dimensions for a critique of the contemporary capitalist political economy.