The Mystery of Evil: Benedict XVI and the End of Time
Author: Giorgio AGAMBEN, Italian contemporary philosopher and scholar
Abstract:
(2013), re-evaluates the exemplary significance of Benedict XVI’s “Gran Rifiuto,” and in a theological and ecclesiological context proper to him, calls into question the two principles of our society, namely “legitimacy” and “legality.” According to Agamben’s analysis, St. Paul’s “mystery of evil” is not a dark theological drama that withholds the end of time or paralyzes every action, veiling every action with an enigmatic and ambiguous cover. Rather, it is a historical drama in which the Last Day coincides with the present and everyone is called to do his/her part unreservedly and unambiguously. The author acutely renders legible traces of Tyconius’s theory on “the two bodies of the Church” behind the theology of Benedict XVI, which provides a new eschatological light for our time.
Keywords:
Benedict XVI, Ecclesiology, Legitimacy, Tyconius, Eschatology
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