In recent years, several scholars have analyzed the causes and aftermath of the 2013 coup in Egypt. Some employ analytic frames that focus on the interaction between authoritarian state structures and revolutionary movements (Cook, 2017; El-Gobashy, 2013; Masoud, 2014). Others examine interactions with the state “from below,” for example, how youth and youth movements such as the 6 April Movement negotiate authoritarian state oppression (Sonay, 2018; Schielke, 2015). A third group of studies examines Islamist, specifically Muslim Brotherhood, interactions with the state (Hamid, 2014; Trager, 2016). This paper contributes to this body of scholarship by examining the political theology of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from the analytic lens of religious studies, taking a bottom-up approach. Through an examination of the Muslim Brotherhood’s particular blend of the theological and the political, we learn how the Brotherhood has created a particular version of Islam. This paper takes it as a starting point that there are multiple expressions of Islam in Egypt, including traditional sufi orders, the traditionalist -- and, starting in the twentieth century -- state-influenced version championed by Al-Azhar, the output of popular preachers such as Dr. Amr Khaled, expressions of Islam that are influenced by salafi trends, and syncretic manifestations of some or all of the above. This paper situates the Muslim Brotherhood in this social-religious landscape. This paper therefore asks, “How does an understanding of the political theology of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt help us make sense of their rapid rise and fall from power in Egyptian society?” Here this paper focuses not so much on state oppression of the Muslim Brotherhood, but the rise and fall of social acceptance of the group. This presentation analyzes three main points to this end: 1. How the populist nature of the group by necessity simplified certain theological questions, such as determinism versus free will (qa??’ vs. qadar); 2. The ways in which the establishment of strict political hierarchies, (for example, the process by which one can move up in rank within the organization) influences approaches to theology, such as discouragement of obscurantist thinking in favor of clearer, actionable directives; and 3. How political repression in Egypt may have led to an emphasis on the social, or outward manifestations of faith (hijab, public prayer), and the effect this emphasis has on Egyptian society (and politics).