True doctrine and false documents, holy wars and diplomatic art: the Catholic Church knows the abysses of politics; after all, it was born out of messianic anti-politics. But how could a persecuted migrant sect from the Middle East become the largest institution in world history? Why is the ever-endangered papacy the embodiment of continuity today? The philosopher and political theorist Otto Kallscheuer analyses the church as a corpus, tells of orthodoxy as an invention, of the clergy as the backbone and of the salvation of Catholicism by women. He reports on the popes as warlords and peace brokers, as enemies of the Enlightenment and liberators from secular ideology – and of their despair in the face of the world wars of the twentieth century. His problematic history of ecclesiastical Rome also brings to light the spiritual grammar of the West.
The centre of gravity of Catholic Christianity has long since shifted to the global South. Can a Latin American pope today succeed in becoming a peacemaker in the new-old world conflicts, in the face of the hatred of current ethnic and religious wars?
Pope and Time provides the historical and political background to the current debates in the Catholic Church – and also to the rifts in the Vatican. To understand the papacy, you need world history and theology.
Non-fiction
Otto Kallscheuer, philosopher and political theorist, lives in Berlin and Rome. His publications include Die Wissenschaft vom Lieben Gott, Zur Zukunft des Abendlandes, Das Europa der Religionen, Gottes Wort and Volkes Stimme. He has been a regular contributor to Die Zeit, NZZ, FAZ, Kursbuch and Merkur, and is currently a member of the Green Academy and the "Non-Fiction of the Month" jury for Die Welt and rbb. He is interested in building discursive bridges between different disciplines and scientific fields – beyond disciplinary boundaries and national or continental "research bubbles".
