Seeking the good (peace) of the republic: The violence against and of difference in defining the public space

Abstract

This article will reflect on the role of legitimate and authorised violence in state-making. This violence in the name of the good defines the state (Benjamin�s law-making violence) by the exclusion of others (Benjamin 1996). Law-making violence together with the violence that coerces or binds [religare] the public into a common understanding of the good (Benjamin�s law-maintaining violence) is at the exclusion of other interpretations of the good (Benjamin 1996). As the law-making and law-maintaining violence of the state is always at the expense of the excluded other, the excluded other will produce a counter violence of difference seeking a legitimate place within the common space of the republic (Benjamin�s divine violence). What is the church�s role in such a context of violence? Is the church�s role to help clarify and clearly define the good that will bind [religare] the citizens into a stronger and more prosperous and peaceful state � onward Christian soldiers marching as to war? Or is there another calling, to be disciples of Christ � with the Cross of Jesus going on before � and enter the space of violence beyond the knowledge of good and evil as peacemakers? These questions will be examined by bringing into dialogue �i�ek�s (1997) interpretation of Christianity with Derrida�s (2002) interpretation of hospitality, specifically in the violent South African context.

Keywords

• Public Theology
• Democracy
• Diff�rance
• Violence
• South Africa