One of the central theological challenges facing Erik Peterson was to help the mid-twentieth century Catholic Church define its relationship with the wider world. He responded by advancing a distinctive understanding of the ‘polis.’ In this essay, I critically analyze Peterson's central and perhaps best known proposal about how the Church ought to negotiate the modern world — encapsulated in his expression, the ‘liquidation of political theology.’ I contend that Peterson's proposal is not congruent with a right understanding of patristic trinitarian monarchy, although a view that stands in sharp contrast to that of Carl Schmitt. Notwithstanding the effectiveness of Peterson's critique of Schmitt's political theology, I argue that Peterson nonetheless fails in his exposition of the thought of Gregory of Nazianzus and therefore in his interpretation of the role of the Church in what we have learned to call the ‘political’ and the ‘social.’ I conclude by outlining several ways that the Church today might take up the challenge of regaining a truly political thought, a new ekklesioteia, nourished by the monarchy of the triune God.

中文翻译：

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超越政治神学及其清算：从神学一神论到三位一体论

埃里克·彼得森 (Erik Peterson) 面临的主要神学挑战之一是帮助 20 世纪中叶的天主教会定义其与更广阔世界的关系。作为回应，他提出了对“城邦”的独特理解。在这篇文章中，我批判性地分析了彼得森关于教会应该如何谈判现代世界的核心建议，也许是最著名的建议——概括在他的表达中，“政治神学的清算”。我认为彼得森的提议与对教父三位一体君主制的正确理解不一致，尽管这种观点与卡尔施密特的观点形成鲜明对比。尽管彼得森对施密特的政治神学的批判是有效的，尽管如此，我认为彼得森在阐述纳齐安苏斯的格雷戈里的思想时失败了，因此在他对教会在我们所学的所谓“政治”和“社会”中的作用的解释上失败了。最后，我概述了今天的教会可以接受挑战的几种方式，即重新获得真正的政治思想，一种新的 ekklesioteia，由三位一体上帝的君主制所滋养。