Gewaltlos? Politische Theologie in christlicher Perspektive

The article reassesses three key problems of individual and political power and violence from a Christian point of view. It applies the method of ‘Interactive Theology,’ that is, the re-presentation of a faith tradition’s thought in dialogue with unconvinced colleagues. (i) How does the Christian faith liberate people from the spiral of violence? By allowing them to enter the living sphere proclaimed by Jesus as ‘the kingdom of God.’ (ii) What is the Church’s role in relation to state power? To orient and relativize it by reminding it of its—never fulfilled—task of representing God’s coming kingdom through human—indeed, humane—development. (iii) This explicates also theologically a—precisely limited—legitimacy of political rule.