Constitutional Theology: Karl Barth and Carl Schmitt on Legitimacy and the Rule of Law

This chapter brings Karl Barth into critical conversation with the jurist Carl Schmitt on the questions of political legitimacy and the rule of law. Where Schmitt grounded legal order in the sovereign decision on the exception, Barth developed a theological account of political authority that resists reducing legitimacy to sheer decision. The chapter asks what makes constitutional order legitimate and what resources theology offers for defending the rule of law against its authoritarian critics. It appears in a section of the volume devoted to legitimacy, sovereignty, and political power in theological perspective.

Theo-politics? Conversing with Barth in Western and Asian Contexts, edited by Markus Höffner. London: Lexington Books