How long is ‘now’? Time, narration and eschatological promises of ‘Messianic salvation’ within international law of, in and after war

In English This paper examines how the International laws of, in and after war are, as a Schmittian political theology, instructed by a Christian eschatological concept of time. The paper uncovers how Christian remnants are present in both international law and in our Nordic societies, suggesting that we ought to consider carefully how our understanding and narration of time is furthering the eschatological problem of coming out of the “Messianic time”, and what part we want, or indeed expect, law to play in that transformation. The “now” of the paper is the Iraq war of 2003, and how the eschatological narration has been furthered in both international law and the Nordic societies during this “now”.