Does Politics Need a Theology? Leo Strauss's Reflections on Hegel

Abstract

Leo Strauss was one of the few political philosophers of the last century to see a life of religious faith as the most serious alternative to a life of philosophical inquiry. Strauss insisted that political philosophy and political theology are fundamentally distinct. Despite this surgical distinction, however, he was deeply interested in Hegel’s attempts to integrate religion into the realm of philosophy. In two seminars (1958 and 1965) devoted to Hegel’s lectures on the philosophy of history, Strauss subtly shows how Hegel’s interpretation of Protestant Christianity as essential to the proper functioning of a constitutional regime amounts to a political theology. I discuss how Strauss’s approach to Hegel’s political theology raises important questions about the role that political theology plays in modern secular politics. Most importantly, Strauss’s interpretation of Hegel’s philosophy reveals the profound influence of the Bible (especially the Genesis narrative) on modern political philosophy as a whole.