Eschatological Statecraft OS: The Erosion of Secular Rationality and the Rise of a Religious Mobilization System

This study develops the concept of Eschatological Statecraft OS to explain the growing influence of religious eschatology on contemporary U.S. strategy, particularly in relation to Iran and the Middle East. It argues that the traditional Clausewitzian paradigm—grounded in secular rationality, instrumental calculation, and political objectives—is being displaced by a “holy war paradigm” in which military action is framed as the fulfillment of prophetic destiny. The analysis identifies a three-layered institutional mechanism that enables this transformation: (1) the executive and defense establishment, where eschatological narratives increasingly shape strategic reasoning; (2) the U.S. military, where sacred rhetoric and apocalyptic instruction erode secular command culture; and (3) religious organizations and political networks that mobilize public support for prophetic interpretations of geopolitical events. The study further examines the symbolic and strategic volatility of the al-Aqsa Mosque as an eschatological flashpoint, the collapse of diplomatic predictability in an international system confronted with actors motivated by prophetic narratives, and the genealogical roots of American political theology in the seventeenth-century Puritan Revolution. By conceptualizing these developments as an integrated religious mobilization system, the paper argues that eschatological statecraft poses structural risks to alliance cohesion, constitutional governance, and the stability of the international order. The work contributes to political theology, international relations theory, and security studies by offering a new framework for understanding how religious narratives penetrate state institutions and reshape strategic behavior.