religion & politics

Full manifesto will be published in my forthcoming book "Towards the Radical Political Theology: From new to radical political theology. Selected works on intertwinings of theology, society and politics."

Introduction to Manifesto

The fundamental problem with contemporary theology in the West today is that it is neither Christian nor theology. Instead, we are left with pseudo-religious philosophical constructs that serve primarily to promote the latest buzzwords emerging from the backrooms of identity politics and virtue signaling. Such discourse not only perverts and degrades the theological enterprise, but also fundamentally shifts the hermeneutical center—from the tradition of the Church to the fleeting ideologies of the present age. In doing so, theology is stripped of its purpose and reduced to a tool of cultural accommodation and ideological indoctrination.

One would ask what is radical and what is political in radical political theology? Three decades ago, Milbank published his theological masterpiece in which he reclaimed the theology back to the tradition of the Church, back to its historical roots, where it belongs. Milbank famously wrote: “Once, there was no ‘secular’”, where I might add, once there was no identity politics, virtue signaling, or progressive Christianity (because otherwise Christianity would not persist). What was considered radical in Milbank's theological process was the return to original theological sources as a hermeneutical key for discerning society, culture, and politics. I’m using the term in a similar sense, which is pleonastic since theology in its foundations is radical and conservative. In a nutshell, conservative theology is an oxymoron, and one of the base premises of radical political theology is that Christianity is always politically conservative; otherwise, it’s lost its purpose and should not be labeled as Christian. Political, however, is the premise that theology has to be a primary hermeneutical lens through which we perceive society, culture, and ultimately politics, which results in theology of praxis, theology of hic et nunc. Political stands for discerning the political realm, to dissect—and ultimately disarm—the prevailing zeitgeist: the pretentious, narcissist, hedonistic, and most importantly, nihilistic pathos of our age, ultimately driven by the various politics of identity as constructs of a far-left neo-liberal agenda. 

Without pretence that my text has a gravity or will reach the heights of Milbank’s work, my  intention is to establish guidelines, set a clear direction, and initiate movement toward a radical approach in political theology—one that not only challenges prevailing paradigms but also invites deeper elaboration of its theological nuances in future work. Unlike the new political theology of Metz and Moltmann—both of whom draw heavily from critical theory to engage with the crises of modern history—my intention is to reorient the hermeneutical foundation of political theology. Rather than interpreting Scripture through the lens of Marxist, Hegelian, or Frankfurt School categories (Adorno, Benjamin, and especially Bloch), I propose a return to the very sources of Christian thought: the Holy Scriptures and the Church Fathers. While Moltmann remains deeply biblical and Metz powerfully addresses historical suffering, their frameworks often prioritize contemporary theoretical constructs over the patristic tradition. 

By contrast, my aim is to recover a theological vision that speaks prophetically to the present age, not by adapting to its currents, but by grounding itself in the Logos as katechon—the restraining power that holds back chaos and preserves divine order. Dreher reminds us of the thoughts of Hanna Arendt: “a totalitarian society is one in which an ideology seeks to displace all prior traditions and institutions”, which is the most accurate description of what has been in motion over the last decade. Our nation and Constitution were founded on principles derived from divine order and law, yet the new soft “totalitarianism demands allegiance to a set of progressive beliefs, many of which are incompatible with logic, and certainly with Christianity." Judeo-Christian tradition is the arch-enemy of the progressive left, and while many of the “useful idiots” might not be religious, principalities behind the entire sinister plot certainly are, as everything that sits in the world state has a spiritual subtext. That is why the theology that withstood the test of time has the capacity to discern and expose the perfidious nature of godless ideology that drives the cultural war.

Christianity stands as the ultimate bulwark of resistance against what Rod Dreher refers to as “soft totalitarianism.” Unlike the overt brutality of 20th-century regimes, contemporary authoritarianism advances not through gulags and secret police, but through cultural coercion, ideological conformity, social credit systems, and cancel culture. Yet the essential dynamic remains unchanged: the demand for inward submission and the erasure of transcendent truth. Wherever totalitarianism takes root—whether under fascist, communist, or technocratic banners—Christianity inevitably becomes its primary target.

Why is this the case? Because every form of totalitarianism, regardless of its secular appearance, carries a spiritual subtext. Totalitarian regimes seek not merely political control but metaphysical dominance; they must become the arbiters of truth, meaning, and morality. In such systems, there can be no authority higher than the state or the prevailing ideology. The Church, however—proclaiming a Kingdom not of this world, and Christ to whom all earthly powers must ultimately recognize as a Saviour —is profoundly subversive and therefore intolerable.

This is why Christians were martyred under Nero, hunted under Stalin, silenced under Mao, and are increasingly marginalized in the rapidly secularizing West. The ultimate enemy of every totalitarian system is the people of God, for they bear witness to a truth that no ideology can fabricate and no earthly power can extinguish. Whether Jews under Pharaoh, Christians under Diocletian, or believers under modern technocratic regimes, the pattern is unmistakable: those who worship the living God inevitably stand in defiance of the godless state. Radical political theology, therefore, does not merely aim to deconstruct cultural trends—it unveils the deeper spiritual warfare beneath them. It calls the Church to vigilance, courage, and faithfulness in the face of subtle coercion and creeping apostasy. In a world that demands allegiance to man-made truth, the Christian confesses the eternal Logos—and in so doing, wages a resistance that is not only political, but soteriological.