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Thirty-five years ago the distinguished sociologist Robert Nisbet made the bleak assessment that the liberal era, much like any era, was certain to face its "twilight," namely, the weakening of conventional experiences of order and the ensuing moral vacuum in which community life was threatened. The concern that Nisbet raised then remains a salient topic within political theory today: the liberal era, much like any other epoch in Western Civilization is certain to face its twilight-or, in technical language, the waning of the "socially predominant experience of order and its symbolization." This paper will reexamine political representation in relation to the modern political-theological problem at a time when the very basis of the liberal order is under scrutiny. Moreover, it will argue that to the degree to which the state remains the dominant institution in liberal society-and at this point in time there is no indication that any other institution, be it the market, the Church, or others, can challenge the power and authority of the modern state-civil theology, that venerable concept of political thinking, will remain a key feature in Western political thought and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reexamines civil theology, a venerable concept in the field of political science and how it is symbolized in contemporary political practice. Civil theology forms the basis of politics for political society and is reflected in its myths and how a society interprets itself within the greater structure of reality. It is during periods of moral crisis, however, when this myth structure and society's understanding of itself comes into question that civil theology presents itself as a salient topic for theoretical analysis and speculation. This paper considers one particular response to the moral crisis associated with the breakdown of the "traditional" American civil theology and its impact on political thought and practice. From an understanding of this response may come a broader understanding of the problems confronting modern societies as well as potential resolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the recent attempt by contemporary conservatives to arrest the decline in the moral character of American political society. The effort has resulted in a contrivance that only appears to be a restoration of the traditional civil theology but, in realty borders on an ideological construction of the type typically anathema to American political thought and practice.