The (Under)grounds of Social Life: An Examination of Theological Critique and its Landscapes of Possibility

This dissertation examines landmark theorizations of critique, beginning with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, the Romantic and religious thought of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and finally the theology of Karl Barth. With the question of abolition in mind, it analyzes the mechanisms by which these iterations of critique problematize, uncover, or establish social possibility. In particular, this dissertation explores how these thinkers relate social possibility to the State and its police power. Chapter 1 outlines the political theory of Kant’s critical philosophy, interrogating specifically the racial dimensions of his theory of the State and state violence. Chapter 2 turns to Schleiermacher’s appropriation of Romantic thought to develop a specifically religious form of critique. Chapter 3 examines Karl Barth’s reformulation of critique as a divine act, directed against the sociopolitical orders of the fallen world. While locating points in these authors’ thought that might resource projects abolition, this dissertation contends that these forms of critique proceed on grounds that not only render this antiblackness invisible but rely on its invisibility. Engaging with recent literature in Black Studies, this dissertation concludes by gesturing towards a mode of theological critique envisions and pursues social possibilities beyond state violence.