Classical Trinitarian Theology and the Idolatry of Nationalism: The Doctrine of the Trinity as a Critique of Political Theology
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation proposes that the doctrine of the Trinity, in the field of political theology today, should be taken as a critique of the idolatry of nationalism and should point us toward a new theological politics that is informed by the proper worship of the triune God, especially in the Church’s sacred liturgy. Existing proposals regarding the relation between trinitarian and political theology can be sorted into two basic camps, separated by alternative understandings of the meaning of political theology as primarily either descriptive or prescriptive. Representative of the descriptive sort is Agamben’s genealogical analysis of the link between trinitarian oikonomia and modern bureaucracy and democracy; representative of the prescriptive sort is the correlation between perichoresis and egalitarian, participatory democracy described by social trinitarians. What these proposals treat, however, is not the doctrine of the Trinity in its traditional form, but a secularized or otherwise politicized version of the doctrine. In other words, they offer an account of trinitarian theology as determined by political theology, rather than an account of political theology as determined by trinitarian theology. Both proposals rush to link theology to politics, circumventing necessary mediations. Thus, their theological analysis suffers from thin conceptions of trinitarian theology, and their political analysis is left only to advocate for vague political values. I argue that the task of political theology involves a “comparative phenomenology.” Theology is operative not just in a political concept’s history, but in its ongoing application. That is, modern political concepts are not merely derivative of older theological concepts, but remain deeply theological in themselves. Following also the methodology articulated by Clodovis Boff one must also say that political theology guides Christian political praxis in the light of Christian theology, serving as a mediating theory b…
abstract: This dissertation proposes that the doctrine of the Trinity, in the field of political theology today, should be taken as a critique of the idolatry of nationalism and should point us toward a new theological politics that is informed by the proper worship of the triune God, especially in the Church’s sacred liturgy. Existing proposals regarding the relation between trinitarian and political theology can be sorted into two basic camps, separated by alternative understandings of the meaning of political theology as primarily either descriptive or prescriptive. Representative of the descriptive sort is Agamben’s genealogical analysis of the link between trinitarian oikonomia and modern bureaucracy and democracy; representative of the prescriptive sort is the correlation between perichoresis and egalitarian, participatory democracy described by social trinitarians. What these proposals treat, however, is not the doctrine of the Trinity in its traditional form, but a secularized or otherwise politicized version of the doctrine. In other words, they offer an account of trinitarian theology as determined by political theology, rather than an account of political theology as determined by trinitarian theology. Both proposals rush to link theology to politics, circumventing necessary mediations. Thus, their theological analysis suffers from thin conceptions of trinitarian theology, and their political analysis is left only to advocate for vague political values. I argue that the task of political theology involves a “comparative phenomenology.” Theology is operative not just in a political concept’s history, but in its ongoing application. That is, modern political concepts are not merely derivative of older theological concepts, but remain deeply theological in themselves. Following also the methodology articulated by Clodovis Boff one must also say that political theology guides Christian political praxis in the light of Christian theology, serving as a mediating theory b…
author: Akerman, Shane
keywords: Carl Schmitt, Erik Peterson, Jurgen Moltmann, Nationalism, Political Theology, Trinity, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
date published: 2020-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:40:22Z
provider: Claremont Graduate University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Claremont Graduate University