Il censimento tra esegesi e teologia politica: un inquadramento preliminare

This essay offers some introductory remarks on the history of the concept of census and the related notions of rank and profession. Focusing on the Roman law institution of professio census, the paper examines its use in the exegeses of the infancy narrative in the St Luke’s Gospel given by Christian authors (Origen, Ambrose, Bede among others), who link the universal census taken at the moment of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2, 1-5) to spiritual inclusion within Christianity and submission to authority; some Christian practices (i.e. confession and monastic life) are also shown to be connected with the professio census. We can thus better understand some of the historical conditions of possibility of both modern governmentality and the valorisation of the profession/Beruf. This analysis reveals the close connections between the polit- ical, theological and economic aspects of the concept of census, the association of which with the idea of inclusion within a redeemed and redeeming order – whether on heaven or earth – is also demonstrated.