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`Ruled By the Spirit': Hans Ulrich's Understanding of Political Existence

Harris Manchester College, Oxford OX1 3TD, UK, bernd.wannenwetsch{at}harris-manchester.oxford.ac.uk

This essay introduces the political thought of Hans G. Ulrich as it is presented in his seminal work Wie Geschöpfe leben. What sets Ulrich's thought apart from most other authors in the field is that his interest is not in an account of community or citizenship, but in the status politicus — the political form of existence that is bestowed on human beings as God's creatures who are called to be `ruled by the spirit' instead of succumbing to any form of rule by which human beings exert dominion over human beings. Drawing from Biblical sources and a fresh reading of Luther's doctrine of the two regimes in the spirit of the Confessing Church, Ulrich arrives at a highly emancipative account of political existence that does not derive its rationale from the necessity for co-existence or common action, but from the liberation from `ungodly ties' that prevent people from free discourse and cooperation.

Key Words: bio-politics • freedom • justice • Lutheran ethics • political existence • political theology • politics • two regimes • two regiments

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