Tussen katedrale en kastele : oor die teologies-politieke probleem

Abstract

Daar word dikwels in die literatuur na die teologies-politieke probleem as ’n konstante probleem in die geskiedenis van die mens verwys. Want, word gesê, die aansprake van die politieke en die godsdienstige verteenwoordig twee uitsluitende en selfs botsende wyses van menslike ordening. Daarom moet die vraag na hulle verhouding – dié vraag van die teologiese politiek – altyd weer gevra word.1 Hieronder word anders daaroor geoordeel. In die besinning oor die verhouding tussen die politieke en die godsdienstige word van die standpunt uitgegaan dat die teologies-politieke probleem nie ’n konstante probleem in die geskiedenis van die mens is nie, maar ’n probleem eie aan die liberale moderniteit.2 Want, lui die uitgangspunt, dit is eers in die liberale moderniteit dat die politieke en die godsdienstige op ’n reduktiewe wyse van mekaar geskei en tot selfstandige groothede uitgeroep is. En op grond waarvan die moderne mens gekonfronteer is met die vraag hoe dié skeiding bemiddel moet word.

Flanked by cathedrals and castles: Theology and its political problem This article is a reflection on the theological-political problem (i.e. the question about the relationship between religion and politics) in modern society. It presupposes that this problem was created by modernism. Because modernism distinguished in a reductive fashion between religion and politics, modern society was left with the burning question of how to mediate between them. The first part of the article focuses on a critical appraisal of the modern distinction. In different sub-sections it is argued that the modern distinction led to a reduction in meaning of both the religious and the political. However, the modern distinction cannot be maintained. Contrary to the modern distinction it is argued that the political is always already infiltrated by the theological. Modernism cannot deliver on its promises. In the concluding section the argument is raised that the theological-political problem can be addressed if we as are willing to listen to the voice of tradition. According to tradition, desire (eros) reaches out from the lowest to the highest levels of reality. The relationship between the political and the theological is inscribed within the erotic curve of desire. While eros reaches out to and also finds fulfilment in active political participation, this does not represent the end of its journey. Eros even reaches further, to the transcendent realms of philosophical contemplation and theological wisdom. In the concluding sections it is argued that both the political and the religious can again be experienced as glorious phenomena due to their erotic mutuality. Their mutuality is not (pace modernism) an argument against their own integrity, but precisely an argument in favour thereof.