Dietrich Bonhoeffer Refuting Carl Schmitt's Dezision: A Comparative Study on "Decisions"

(Hardback)

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Radler examines Bonhoeffers and Schmitts intellectual paradigms of thought of theology and jurisprudence. Whilst both thinkers encounter constitutional institutional models, they arrive at opposing conclusions and actions. This book tackles how they approach the indicators for a decision of choices between alternatives, the urgency of resolving the problems at hand, the intended goal, and the following active manifestation.

Radler reveals how Schmitt's form of Dezision, resting on a linear model of history, abstracts metaphysical content from objective normative evaluation and, in support of a human personality representing the idea of Christ, elevates the significance of the self over content and subject in structural analogy to theological dogma. On the other hand, Bonhoeffer's theology repudiates Schmitt's political-jurisprudential position, contesting that history ultimately focuses on leading to human wholeness through reconciliation.

Reviews

Radlers work on Bonhoeffer and Schmitt offers a timely and groundbreaking contribution. As a native German speaker, with dual expertise in theology and jurisprudence, she illuminates subtle and important elements to Bonhoeffers critical engagement with Schmitts notion of Dezision. This book is a must-read for scholars of Bonhoeffer, Schmitt, and persons working in political theology. * Dion A. Forster, Free University Amsterdam, the Netherlands *
With her professional background in German jurisprudence and her thorough academic approach, Karola Radler has produced a ground-breaking study on the intellectual paradigms characterizing the thought of the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the jurist Carl Schmitt. This in-depth analysis brilliantly casts light on their diverging views on decision in the context of the emerging National Socialist ideology in Germany. In the process it also hauntingly displays given our current geopolitical realities the alternatives facing us in our discourses on political theology today. This excellent study invites, and will reward, serious intellectual and interdisciplinary engagement. Highly recommended! * Robert Vosloo, Stellenbosch University, South Africa *

Author Bio

Karola Radler is Research Fellow and Research Associate in Systematic Theology at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.