Political Theology and

theological ones. Not all o f them. Som e m ajor religious-political concepts are theologized profane ones. What is crucial is that nontheo-logical concepts like territory and population can also be theologized, as in “sacred hom eland ” or “the People. ” Such is the main effort o f polit ical theology: the preservation and imposition of concepts and figures o f thought in political theory, inherited from m onotheism, however transformed. It can only be countered by the further secularization and disenchantment o f political concepts, the preservation or the reestab lishment o f their secular and rational character. Why we should engage in this secularizing effort is the topic o f this paper. By political theology I do not mean only a politics that preserves the entire substance or structure or substantial contents o f theology in secularized forms, nor do I mean eveiy possible use o f religion and theology proper in politics, the broad meaning implied by de Vries and Sullivan (2006). With the proviso below, I am using the term in Car