The question whether we experience a crisis of democracy is currently undergoing an intense debate. The article suggests to interpret the recent phenomena of political polarization as an in some way necessary re-politicization after a long period of consensus democracy - at least in respect to the German political system. The essential point is the conflict concerning the foundations of the body politic. A vivid democracy depends on the ongoing practice of conflict as a means to achieve the consensus necessary for legitimate decisions. Where the political practice avoids the conflict, the "Political" imposes itself as a "Pathos". The article explores the capability of Hannah Arendt's concept of the "Political" as "acting in community" to describe the current challenges of democracy. The polarization mirrors the deep social change of the last decades. It appears in three phenomena in particular: 1. The return of issues of "belonging"; 2. The return of affectivity into the Political; 3. The crisis of Representation. All three challenge the rationalistic tradition of Protestantism and evangelical ethics. The article suggests a conceptual shift of evangelical ethics to deal with these challenges. A Trinitarian framework of the Political could be able to reconcile difference/diversity and unity or conflict and consensus. The empirical churches; as organizations and institutions, should refuse the temptation to place themselves in the polarized society as a political party in the sense of "Politics", which would mean to accelerate their social disembedding. Rather, the churches have the chance to themselves be a platform of conflict, where belonging, affectivity and representation have a place inside a framework of reconciled diversity. The universal scope of the gospel on one hand and the deep local roots and ties of the churches as religious communities on the other need to be balanced continuously.

Enthalten in:
Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik; 2019/4 Kommentare, Studien, Berichte, Dokumentationen, Diskussionen, Rezensionen, Bibliographie (2019)

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Serie / Reihe: Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik

Personen: Mielke, Roger

Schlagwörter: Politik Demokratie Evangelische Ethik