Carl Schmitt and the Mystery of the Incarnation: A Theological Interpretation of the Rechtsverwirklichung
Carl Schmitt and the Mystery of the Incarnation: A Theological Interpretation of the Rechtsverwirklichung

Summary/Abstract: This paper attempts to understand the concept of political theology, created by the German jurist Carl Schmitt, in light of the Christological problem of the incarnation. To this goal, we will first study the approach Schmitt introduced to resolve the ontological-legal problem of what German philosophy of the time called Rechtsverwirklichung, a term we will translate as “the realization of the Law”, a process that involves the relationship between the “Idea of Law”, the State, and decision- making. Secondly, we will study the doctrine of sovereignty proposed by Schmitt as a theological solution to this problem, expressed in the relationship between the State, decision-making, and exception. As we will see, this interpretation has its origins in the secularization of Christian theology in the 12th century, centered on the problem of the incarnation, which served as a model for the development of what some historians called the “papal revolution”.

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