Chapter 15 A Political Theology of ‘The People’: Enlisting Classical Concepts for Contemporary Critique

In: The Spirit of Populism
Author:
Jonathan Chaplin
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Abstract

This chapter offers an outline of a Christian political theology of ‘the people.’ Diagnosing what might be wrong with populism requires a prior, normative theological conception of the populus. Contemporary political theologies frequently invoke some notion of ‘the people,’ properly affirming its centrality to political theology, and rightly championing ‘the people’—especially ‘the poor’—against their economic oppressors, imperial overlords or cultured despisers. Yet they often proceed without adequately defining ‘the people,’ thereby blunting their capacity to yield precise analyses of the pathologies of contemporary populism. The chapter engages in a retrieval and critical deployment of enduring concepts of classical political theology to assist in that task. The central one is ‘the political community,’ from the specification of which a series of related concepts such as nation, common good, justice, equality, sovereignty, citizenship, representation, and participation find their proper meaning. The ensuing conceptual ensemble yields an understanding of ‘the people’ able to function as a critical benchmark against which to assess (mis)uses of the idea in populist movements.

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The Spirit of Populism

Political Theologies in Polarized Times

Series:  Political and Public Theologies, Volume: 1

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