Political Theology: Covenant over against Leviathan

초록

This article aims to discuss that political theology can demand its own publicity of religion over against the privatization of religion. During and after World War II, the society has witnessed that religion was involved in various forms of violence, and the privatization of religion was claimed. However, it is obvious that religion itself cannot be privatized for a number of reasons. René Girard’s idea of scapegoat theory shows that the identity of Christians is subject to inter-subjectivity, and J. B. Metz’s two ideas, subject and eschatology, also imply the significant features of religion as a public matter. Then the question is, if religion is a public matter, what kind of relationship it is expected to establish with the world and the society. While Leviathan and a centralized monarchy represent a strongly dominative sovereign which attempts to justify the mechanism of power, authority and sovereignty in relation with violence, the covenant federal model is associated with the values of non-violence, forgiveness and freedom. Accordingly, religion as being public is expected to shift from Leviathan to Covenant.

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