History will remember Professor Daniel Barba as a courageous intellectual who laid the foundations of political science in the Romanian academic environment, a discipline that he believed was nourished by political theology, conceptual archeology and mature only to the extent that he found the intellectual tools to to say “no” to the authorities.

Scientist, polyglot and encyclopedist. He created a veritable vocation school for ideas at the University of Bucharest and had ambitions to raise the standards of political science in exchange for the academic mainstream. He saw himself as opposed to the spirit of this world, and although he was constantly abreast of the latest international studies, he often chose to return to the canonical authors of liberalism and democracy.

Uncomfortable as an intellectual in the public space, fascinating as a teacher, devoted as a friend, Daniel Barbeau intellectually hovered over the university moon, which he suspected of accelerated impostorism, and criticized its extreme segmentation and ultra-specialization. He saw the vocation of science to bear witness to the truth, but especially to a Truth that had failed in a society that was increasingly rushed and bureaucratized, even wasted in its own details.

Persuasive as a speaker, extremely disciplined in writing, he often seemed embarrassed in situations where he had to list his achievements. He often wiped his disgust from his forehead and rallied around faith and science, despite the many difficulties that stood in his way.

Intellectually grounded in the (rather controversial) relationship between political liberalism and Christianity, Professor Barbu linked heaven and earth through his work, transforming the possibility of imperfect fullness on earth into the state of the Kingdom of Heaven. Probably his hidden approach was to transfer knowledge from Heaven to earth and vice versa, to make theologians take into account forms of belief in society, and political scientists (though he hated the word) to see beyond the imperfections of research methods, rigidified and standardized. up to the point of losing their meaning.

Like no one else, he succeeded in this cyclical approach of theological explanation in a secular environment and simultaneously filling the secular environment with tools for understanding social and political realities through the lens of the Gospel. He was convinced of the transcendental power of liberal democracy for the present imperfect world, and at the same time of the fact that any attempt to know the other world must be framed in the logic of the continuum between earth and heaven.

Cold in appearance, but not hostile, he can hardly agree to lower the formal level and address someone, even a student, in the second person singular, while maintaining aristocratic discretion. With Daniel Barba, you were never too close to be able to intuit all his thoughts, and you were never too far away to be able to surprise you in a negative way. He lived out his intellectual maturity in the liturgical interval between the “now” of democracy and the “not yet” of the Kingdom of Heaven, often as an old-fashioned urban gentleman ascetic.

He had the joy of encountering a hidden but not cunning idea of ​​friendship. He was happy to welcome you into his home and into his heart, even for the slightest academic advice. Daniel Barba was loved and admired. Many only from afar, not daring to go beyond their great discretion.

May God give him joy in the Kingdom of Heaven!

N.Red: Cătălin Raiu is lect.univ.dr. in the Faculty of Administration and Business of the University of Bucharest and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Anti-Discrimination Council