Legal, Mythic, and Divine Violence: Post-secular Entanglements in Walter Benjamin’s ‘Toward the Critique of Violence’

Abstract

Walter Benjamin’s essay ‘Toward the Critique of Violence’ (1921) has in the past decades been central to important debates within post-secular philosophical thought. This article explores the intricate connections between legal, mythic, and divine violence in Benjamin’s essay, in light of some of his other theological, literary, and political works from the same period. It suggests that the idea of a ‘divine law-annihilating violence’ should be read in light of Benjamin’s claim that a ‘critique of violence is the philosophy of its history’. This implies amongst other things a critique of the dogma of the sanctity of mere life underlying both the Greek and the Christian tradition.