The Ghost of Totalitarianism

Deconstructing the Pneumatological Nature of Christian Political Theology

by Martin Grassi

Book cover: The Ghost of Totalitarianism

Extent: 453 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Philosophy, Religious Studies

Series: Religion in Philosophy and Theology

Series volume number: 132

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(September 2024)

ISBN: 9783161620577

9.09 x 6.06 inches

Price: $149.00

In stock

In this study Martin Grassi deconstructs the totalitarian paradigm underlying Western political and theological discourses by critically examining the concept of pneuma (spirit) as the principle that turns a plurality of elements into a systematic unity.


Martin Grassi deconstructs the totalitarian paradigm underlying Western political and theological discourses by a critical examination of the concept of spirit (pneuma). This notion plays a paramount role in such Western discourses as biology, cosmology, politics, and theology, for it is the principle that turns a plurality of elements into a systematic unity. Christian political theology finds in the Holy Spirit the principle of efficacy of God’s economy of redemption, which has been ultimately defined as the realization of the Kingdom of God as a perfect and unified political system under the One Ruler. Only through a deconstruction of this semantic performance of the Spirit are we to look for an alternative understanding of God and a Trinitarian dynamics that could stress singularity and relationality without reducing community to a merely organic totality.

  • By (author) Martin Grassi