“From Political Theology to Political Christology”: The Figure of Hegel in Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology II (original) (raw)

Carl Schmitt’s historical significance and contemporary relevance are widely acknowledged. However, scholars have yet to reach a consensus interpretation of his political theory, partly because of Schmitt’s terse writing and fluid thinking, and partly because of his notorious yet nuanced relationship with National Socialism. This paper identifies one unifying strand in Schmitt’s thought by explicating a cryptic statement in his final book, Political Theology II (1970): “The thematic development of my political theology from 1922 takes a general direction which departs from the ius reformandi [right of reformation] of the sixteenth century, culminates in Hegel and is evident everywhere today, from political theology to political Christology.” An analysis of Schmitt's explicit references to Hegel shows that Schmitt specifically endorses Hegel's thesis that human beings actualize the idea of freedom through a distinctly religious submission to a modern, Germanic state. According to Schmitt, Hegel successfully creates a mythical foundation for state sovereignty (one that Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan was ultimately too rational to provide). By situating this approbation of Hegel in historical context and its place in Schmitt's oeuvre, I argue that Schmitt’s “political Christology” is morally troubling. Our appraisal of Schmitt's political thought must take into account the practical implications of his heterodox, theoretical yet avowedly religious extremism.