Konrad Weiss on the Christian Epimetheus: A Negative Political Theology Adjacent to Carl Schmitt

by Russell A. Berman

Paul Klee, Kreuze und Säulen (1931). Image courtesy of Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Sammlung Moderne Kunst in der Pinakothek der Moderne München. CC BY-SA 4.0

German author Konrad Weiss (1880–1940) left a body of work including poetry, some prose fiction, art criticism, travel essays, and—this is our concern now—his 1933 essay on the “Christian Epimetheus.” This figure of thought makes several appearances in the writings of Carl Schmitt. Schmitt and Weiss both participated in German Catholic thinking of the era, although they take that legacy in alternative directions along the religious spectrum between activism and mysticism: Schmitt’s decisionism versus Weiss’s negative theology. Understanding Weiss can shed light on Schmitt.