Pneumatic Power. A reconsideration of the theological-political problem

Abstract

The theological-political studies have, for the most part, concentrated their efforts on defending the importance of the figure of God when the time has come to define some traditional political concepts like sovereignty, rule of law or state of exception At the same time, it has been postulated the existence of an economic theology, based on the messianic person of the Son, as an archaeology of the modern paradigm of power as government. However, the goal of this article is to set forth the thesis according to which the scope of the political theology can only be fully understood if the role of the Holy Spirit within the Trinitarian Dogma, is taken into account. Starting from an analysis of some relevant ancient and medieval sources, the Holy Spirit is postulated as the key element in the Christian theory of power and as an ineluctable antecedent of modern sociological conceptions about symbolic power.