Abstract

Eric Voegelin and Herman Dooyeweerd focus their philosophical work on a single project: the reconstitution of the divine ground of existence. Voegelin and Dooyeweerd combat the groundless spirit of modernity by developing political theories which are grounded in transcendence. They argue that an openness to transcendence will foster healthy, open, and pluralistic societies. ;Comparable in this respect, Voegelin and Dooyeweerd approach the relationship between transcendence and politics from different starting points. Voegelin approaches questions of political life from a Classical perspective, while Dooyeweerd approaches these questions from a Creation-Order framework. This difference explains their diverging analysis of politics. Dooyeweerd develops systematic and structural theories of society and the state. Voegelin develops more fluid theories of the society and the state. ;In this dissertation, I explore this relationship and argue that by grounding a theory of politics in transcendence, Voegelin and Dooyeweerd offer a viable approach that surpasses some of the impasses in contemporary political theory. ;In Part I, I articulate and analyze their views of transcendence. In Part II, I describe and assess their analyses of the relationship between transcendence and society. In Part III, I explain and evaluate their respective understandings of the relationship between transcendence and society. Although they spent their lives in philosophical obscurity, Voegelin and Dooyeweerd rediscover the transcendent foundations of politics and demonstrate its concrete implications