Apocalypse of Reality: Eric Voegelin, For and Against Political Theology

Abstract

In his later works, Eric Voegelin (1901–85) sharpened his attack on Christian theology as a historical enterprise: the more continuity he saw between modernity and the dogmatic corruption of philosophy soon after its birth in the classical age, the more responsibility he assigned to theology for the modern deformations of consciousness. By contrast, Plato exemplifies maintaining equilibrium of consciousness despite having experienced destabilizing divine revelation of the structure of reality and its movement beyond itself toward transfiguration. For Voegelin, the philosopher is the true guardian of revelation, while the professional theologian—with his dogmas—obscures divine presence and the reality of worldly constraints. Voegelin’s elevation of philosophy over theology is assessed, his philosophical mysticism brought into conversation with the political theology of Johann Baptist Metz.