Abstract

This chapter is the second part of a diptych on creation order in relation to new creation. It takes its starting-point in New Testament teaching about the reality of the kingdom of God and new creation in the here and now. Its main concern is to understand the philosophical implications of this teaching. For that reason, it analyses a contemporary discussion in political philosophy which connects a social-political critique with basic themes of Jewish and Christian faith, and as such, is part of “philosophy’s turn to religion.” Much attention is paid to the wider philosophical background of this discussion. Three issues especially come to the fore: The interpretation of transcendence in its connection with the highest good and the impact of the critique of religion in this respect; the continuation of the transcendental urge of Kantian philosophy in Heidegger and his critical followers such as Derrida and Agamben, and its connection with the theme of the particular and the universal ; the ideas of sovereignty and power. It is argued that the philosophical idea of transcendence leads to an understanding of “messianic hope” and “ultimate redemption” which necessarily differs from New Testament teaching about the kingdom of God because transcendency is interpreted in impersonal terms. Furthermore, an interpretation of justice, sovereignty, and power is suggested by making use of the creational perspective of promise-command and response, the correlation of law-side and subject-side, and the idea of the good as intrinsic to relations.