ABSTRACT
The concept of the need for an enemy can be traced to Carl Schmitt, whose political theology famously rests on the "friend–enemy" distinction. Schmitt accuses liberalism of devaluing this distinction by encouraging the hope for reconciliation between enemies. Liberalism commits the sin of invoking a false neutrality, of trivializing ideological differences in favor of peace and economic exchange values, which then blunt any need for costly disagreement. The current revival of interest in Schmitt has coincided with a resurgence of attention to the works of his onetime philosophical correspondent, Leo Strauss. Schmitt's and Strauss's distinctive insights into political theology help moderns understand what is at stake in embracing or repudiating the synthesis of faith and politics. Strauss is best known for advocating a return to the wisdom of ancient and medieval political philosophy in order to address the various defects of modernity.
