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Love, justice and social eschatology

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journal contribution
posted on 2010-09-29, 10:24 authored by Alexandre ChristoyannopoulosAlexandre Christoyannopoulos, Joseph Milne
In this paper, we explore the ontological and theological ground of political institutions in order to then reflect upon the eschatological calling of society. The paper builds on Tillich's ontological insight that love does not simply transcend justice, but that it permeates and drives justice, that justice gives form to love's reunion of the separated. This relation between love and justice is at play in political institutions: these unite human beings under forms of justice that must be transformed ever anew if they are not to lose touch with the dynamic power of love and freeze into increasingly unjust juridicalism. The modern history of Western civilisation bears witness to this ontological tension, and the phenomenon of globalisation is yet another instance of human society's mystical calling. Thus, love heads the dynamic movement that transforms political institutions ever anew. Yet society as a whole must become conscious of its ontology for humanity to truly reach its eschatological potential, and this will require both that theology recovers its ground and that political theory thinks theologically.

History

School

  • Social Sciences

Department

  • Politics and International Studies

Citation

CHRISTOYANNOPOULOS, A.J.M.E. and MILNE, J., 2007. Love, justice and social eschatology. The Heythrop Journal, 48 (6), pp. 972-991.

Publisher

© Wiley

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2007

Notes

The definitive version is available at www.wileyinterscience.com

ISSN

1468-2265;0018-1196

Language

  • en

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