The Exception of Transcendence: The Political Theology of Kierkegaard and Das

ABSTRACT A continuation of Das’s deep engagement with political theology (that is, his political theology of Schelling [2016]), this text undertakes a deep and provocative reading of Kierkegaard’s political theology that strikes to the depths of our ontology. Positioned versus Church and State, a refutation of Christendom and its continuations in secular modernity, Kierkegaard’s political theology also exposes the limits and issues of Schmitt’s project. Tracing the influence of Schelling’s eschatological political theology upon Kierkegaard’s thought, Das articulates a political theology “to come” that is based upon the scandalous event of the crucifixion and in turn creates the scandalous ontology of the event. The result is an ontology lived in response to a negative political theology in which we live without probability within the event of Kierkegaardian sovereign love.