“Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings through many centuries; but total liberty for the wolves is death to the lambs . . .”
—Isaiah Berlin

Alan Koenig and Bryan Turner: The Challenge of Apocalyptic Theocracies for Liberal Pluralism

Alan Koenig: “Liberty for the Wolves: The Challenge of Apocalyptic Theocracies for Liberal Pluralism.”

Respondent: Bryan Turner

Joseph Smith’s apocalyptic political theology challenges liberal pluralism both in its inception — by emerging out of American pluralism itself from a seemingly integrated populace — and in the isolating peculiarity of its reactionary theocratic tenets. By engaging Smith’s apocalyptic political theology with the works of contemporary liberal theorists, we can better grasp the strategic cunning of his conservative thinking and how modern liberalism has certain limited ideas of what it has to confront from illiberal elements within its polity. Contemporary apocalyptic movements premised on revelation over reason and distinctly anti-pluralist beliefs will not follow the specific contours of Smith’s political theology, but the Schmittian exceptional politics at its core are not entirely unique among illiberal new religions in their aspirations and general strategies — and illustrate that some theocratic challenges cannot be answered by the traditional liberal solutions of negotiation, rational discussion, and the privatization of religion.