Political Theology Today: 100 Years After Carl Schmitt

Almost 100 years have passed since Carl Schmitt gave his controversial definition of the sovereign as the one who decides on the exception in his by now classic Political Theology (1922). Written at a time of crisis, the book sought to establish the institution of sovereignty, not from within a well-functioning governing machine of the state in a situation of normality, but rather as the minimal condition of state order in the moment of governmental breakdown. The book appeared anachronistic already at its publication. Schmitt went against Max Weber’s popular thesis defining secularization as a disenchantment of the world characterizing modern societies, and instead suggested that the concepts of modern politics mirrored a metaphysics originating in Christianity and the church. Nevertheless, the concept of political theology has in recent years seen a revival as a field of research in philosophy as well as political theory, as studies in the theological sub-currents of politics, economics and sociality proliferate.

Mitchell Dean is Head of the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. He is author of Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society (2010), The Last Man Takes LSD: Foucault and the End of Revolution (with Daniel Zamora, 2021)

Lotte List is a PhD Fellow at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Her work has appeared in Theory, Culture & Society; Weimarer Beiträge; and in the Journal of Media, Cognition and Communication.

Stefan Schwarzkopf is Associate Professor at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. His work has appeared in numerous journals, including Theory, Culture & Society; Organization; BioSocieties; Organization Studies; Business History; Journal of Historical Research in Marketing; and Journal of Cultural Economy. He is editor of the Routledge Handbook of Economic Theology (2020)