Central European Papers 2014, 2(2):141-163 | DOI: 10.25142/cep.2014.033

God and war in context of Carl Schmitt's political thinking

Petr SLOVÁČEK

Ústav středoevropských studií, Fakulta veřejných politik, Slezská Univerzita v Opavě, Institute of Central-European Studies, Faculty of Public Policies, Silesian University in Opava, Hradecká 665/17, 746 01 Opava, Czech Republic, petr.slovacek@fvp.slu.cz

The text is focused on the analysis of the relation between God and war in political thinking interpreted by the controversial Carl Schmitt. It performs the analysis on the background of Schmitt's theory of the political and the political theology. In the first case, the theory of the political, based on the possibility of distinguishing the friend and the enemy, shows to be compatible with Christian political thinking and with Christian concept of man as a being capable of responsibility. This immanent context of Schmitt's political thinking leads to the need of establishing and analyzing the relation of God and war (violence). In the second regard, Schmitt's historical-epistemological model is presented on the background of political theology as project and program; the model relativizes the enlightened rationalist claim and rehabilitates, for the space of the political, also myth or faith as non-negligible political and epistemological factor that, at the same time, prevents instrumentalization of polis. A complement to political theology as historical-political process consists in political theology as a project taking into account theology, belief in God, together with systematic considering of facticity of violence. Thus the relation of God and war can be analyzed at two levels; both of them are discussed in the article. First, at the level of its withdrawal from political thinking and of the consequences resulting from it. And second, from the perspective of its function in political thinking that would correspond to human character as 'complexio oppositorum'.

Keywords: God, violence, war, friend, enemy, political theology, depoliticization, instrumentalization, theology, ideology

Published: September 1, 2014  Show citation