The dark night of liberalism

04 February 2026, The Tablet

In the face of a critique that blends left- and right-wing thought, is liberalism exhausted?

Kenneth Lu, Flickr/cCreative Commons

Catholic features in The Tablet: Christianity and politics, by Theo Hobson

I am no fan of post-liberal theology. But in a sense I am grateful to it. It has reopened the question of theopolitics, Christianity’s relationship to politics. Conventional theology has evaded this. It has vaguely affirmed liberal democracy, and it has vaguely bemoaned aspects of liberalism. It has allowed itself to be diminished by the reign of liberalism, deprived of a coherent politics. It has failed to develop a grand account of its civilisational purpose, incorporating the good of liberalism. That is why the ghostly reactionary version of Christian politics has bounced back.

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