[D66] 'The ultimate concern'

[A.O.]

"In theological terms we could say that political theology deals with
what Paul Tillich calls “the ultimate concern,” a phrase that designates
the reality that is most meaningful and grants meaning to everything
else. From the political side it would be an investigation of the
sources of legitimacy, of the right of political authority to demand our
obedience and loyalty. And here already, a potential transfer between
the two realms immediately presents itself. Does not every political
authority claim to be an ultimate concern, which in the last analysis
can claim to override every other concern, even our concern for
self-­preservation? Coming from the other direction, one could
characterize the discourse of theodicy as an attempt to vindicate God’s
right to be God, to demand our obedience and loyalty, in the face of our
experi-
ence of suffering and evil. In other words, the theological problem of
evil, the enduring existential anxiety over the question of how an
omnipotent and benevolent God could allow anything but unalloyed good,
is a version of the political problem of legitimacy. And to continue the
exchange, this theological discourse often mobilizes techniques that
could easily be transferred to political apologetics: blaming bad
outcomes on an external enemy (most famously the devil) or arguing that
respecting the freedom of God’s subjects to make their own decisions is
more important than guaranteeing positive results in every situation."
--p.30 Neoliberalism's demons, Adam KOTSKO