Abstract

In Deity and Domination, David Nicholls sets out to illustrate the relation between political attitudes and theological concepts, particularly over the last two hundred years. Nicholls believes that divine analogies are integrally linked to the dominant political values. Thus, he tries to correlate theistic images with certain general beliefs about sovereignty, autarky, the welfare state, and individual freedom. He does, however, warn against reductionist schemes that make political, economic, or religious paradigms derivative from each other. Hence he expresses reservations about Marxist attempts to trace religious beliefs to materialist causes, specifically forms of production. He likewise criticizes the Cadiolic counterrevolutionary enterprise, culminating in the work of Carl Schmitt, to view political ideas and regimes as secularized theological concepts.