Redenzione e rivoluzione

This contribution investigates the use of the term “redemption” within Western revolutionary literature from the Early modern period onwards. The analysis of a number of texts shows that the term occurs rarely, and mainly refers to the original, juridical, meaning of redemptio ab hostibus; in fact, it is used to indicate concrete cases of redemption from imprisonment/slavery, or the independence of a people from foreign subjection. The theological meaning of the term, and in particular the sacrificial dimension which is often implied in the political theology of redemption (e.g. in De Maistre and Donoso Cortes), is far from being secularized by revolutionary thinkers in their conceiving of political and social revolution; on the contrary, it is severely criticized by many authors (among which Paine, Proudhon and Mazzini).