Value Pluralism in the Political Form of Roman Catholicism

Abstract

Value pluralism is the view that values are many. Monotheism is the view that God is one. If God is one, and if God is the ultimate source of values, then all values would be ultimately unified. However, that is precisely what value pluralism denies. Monotheism sees the world as a unity, while value pluralism sees the world as a plurality. This paper aims to reconcile value pluralism with monotheism through the concept of complexio oppositorum, as posited by Carl Schmitt in Roman Catholicism and Political Form. This paper will illustrate the operation of the complexio oppositorum through a historical vignette that is drawn from the earliest days of church history. The historical vignette will comprise three characters–martyr, hermit, monk–each of whom embodies a different set of values, but all of whom have been absorbed into the complexio oppositorum that is the Catholic Church.