HOPING AGAINST HOPE: THE POLITICAL THEOLOGY OF PAUL OF TARSUS

Abstract

The dichotomy between politics and religion is arguably a product of modern disenchantment with the transcendent. Charles Taylor observes that such disenchantment in the West is a recent phenomenon. Religion, having taken such a crucial place in Western history, cannot be disregarded and the nature of secular politics today cannot be properly understood divorced from its religious past. Yet religion poses threats to social harmony that we must not ignore, particularly where religious claims are made in the public sphere. Religions make competing truth-claims that if brought into the public sphere, render any conflict arising intractable and nullify any possibility of discussion for the very fact that these truth claims are held dogmatically and cannot be challenged. Scholars such as Rawls and Habermas have weighed in on the subject of religious political participation from a secular, liberal perspective. Yet an equivalent from a religious perspective is found wanting, even though there is value in examining religious thinkers, as seen from scholars writing on religious thinkers such as Paul for their political ideas. Neither is the relevance of theology to political thought a new concept, since thinkers such as Augustine and Luther are often also considered as part of the corpus of political thought. This thesis thus attempts to uncover a similar justification for religious participation in the public sphere through a religious perspective. In examining the writings of Paul of Tarsus, I argue that Paul?s worldview is fundamentally concerned with the question of faith in a messianic promise and its fulfillment, which provides plausible basis for believers to participate in the public sphere.