Abstract Why should we engage in the secularization and disenchantment of political concepts, the preservation or the re-establishment of their secular and rational character? This paper will first argue, using the example of Carl Schmitt, that positive reliance on political theology not only can have a profoundly authoritarian meaning, but is helpful in disguising and misrepresenting that meaning. Second, I will try to show, that taking this topos seriously does not commit a thinker to a political theological posture. As demonstrated by Claude Lefort, political theology can be thematized in order to go beyond it. Lefort is important for my paper, because his concept of democracy as the empty space of power clearly draws the line of distinction with not only totalitarianism as he stressed, but with all modern forms of dictatorship. Finally, I will argue, that without uttering the word, a political conception can be deeply theological with similar consequences as self-admitted versions.

At a time when one can no longer openly argue for dictatorship as Schmitt still could in the 1920s, disguising the authoritarian disguise itself, —namely, political theology, —can preserve its meaning and function. I will try to develop this point through a critique of populist politics in the version introduced by Ernesto Laclau, who explicitly advocates not only the construction of 'the people' in an entirely voluntaristic manner, but filling the empty space of power by leadership incarnating a subject that does not exist.

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In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: O N E CATHOLIC HERITAGE, EDUCATION, AND THE STATE THE tranquil setting of Carl Schmitt's birth revealed little of what the future held for the manand his country. When Carl was born on July 11, 1888, the seemingly incessant processof German industrializationhad just begunto make its mark on his birthplace of Plettenberg, a small town in the heart of the Sauerland. With the Rhine valley to the west and thehighly industrialized Ruhr Basin tothe north, the Sauerland protectedits smalltowns and villageswithin the bosom of its mountain forests. A glance atthe beautiful countryside in whichPlettenbergis situatedwould prompt the most convinced materialist toreflect upon the romantic perception of life. Even today the town's halcyon environs instill a sense of nostalgia for a simpler age. Although nature had beenbeneficent, history would not be so kind.

The first sixty years of Schmitt's life were tur­ bulent ones. In retrospect, he would write: 'I have expe­ rienced the jolts and slashes of the reins of fate / Triumph and defeat, revolution and restoration.' 1 It would be a fate inextricably tied to the most volatile period in German his­ tory. Double Dhamal Video Songs Download on this page. For behind the idyllic facade of its natural beauty the germ of future upheaval was already planted in the Ger­ many of Schmitfs youth.

The nationalistic zeal of the age, permeating theminds of a majority of Germans, was coun­ terbalanced by the disruptive effects of new and age-old diversities. Germany had reached the zenith of her power and prosperity; most Germans took pride in the great ac­ complishments of the nation; they were easily seduced by 1 Carl Schmitt, 'Gesang des Sechzigjahrigen,' in 'Der Fall Carl Schmitt: Charaktermord,' Der Fortschritt, 4 (January 25, 1952). PART I chauvinistic slogans. With the exception of the socialists and the more progressive-minded in the liberal and Cath­ olic parties, the authoritarian state was accepted as almost a natural condition. But this nationalism and respect for the state did not eradicate the traditional sectarian and regional antagonisms which for generations had separated Catholic from Protestant, and Prussia from the rest of Ger­ many.

Recent political developments following unification and industrialization had only contributed further to this divisiveness. The new forces of liberalism and socialism now challenged not only conservatism and Christianity, but each other as well. The homogeneity Schmitt would later view as essential to any democracy was absent in the Wilhelmine Reich, while the same pluralistic forceshe would criticize in Weimar had become firmly entrenched. Schmitt himself was a child of these conflicting currents.

Although he became a nationalist who always displayed considerable deference for the authority of the state, his identity was conditioned by a distinct sectarian and re­ gional heritage. Born into a lower-middle-class Catholic family of modest means, Schmitt hadlittle incommon with the Protestant Prussian ruling class. By tradition and tem­ perament he was a Rhinelander. Introducing himself to Ernst Niekisch, Schmitt remarked, 'I am Roman by origin, tradition, and right.'