'This is an impressive collection of interesting essays on political theology, covering a spectrum of possibilities from the more liberal to the more conservative. These essays diversely address the major issues that have been intensely discussed since the return of religion as an urgent concern for recent political developments. The editors have done a fine job in choosing essays which reflect current debates where a pluralism of possibilities vie for consideration and favor.'

​– William Desmond
​

'...this is a fine collection of essays which will receive a grateful readership among political philosophers and theologians alike.'

–  Reviews in Religion & Theology

From Political Theory to Political Theology

During the last two decades we have witnessed what José Casanova has characterised as "religion going public". This has not been a trend exclusive to traditionally religious nations. Rather, it has been visible in as diverse environments as that of the construction of the new Russian political identity or in the "post-9/11" political discourses of the USA. 

Surprisingly, important religious manifestations also influenced the political discourses in Britain and, more recently, in France. Partly as a consequence of these phenomena an intensive debate is now evolving about the compatibility of the neutrality of liberal democracy in relation to religiously motivated opinions in public discourses, and the conditions under which such religiously driven contributions could viably "go public". 

This book offers a collection of essays on Religion and Democracy which critically discusses the most important questions that characterize these debates at the points of their  intersection within political theory, political theology and the philosophy of religion , and considers both the challenges and the prospects of this new era which, following Habermas, one may call post-secular.


Contents

Foreword by Graham Ward and Michael Hoelzl 

Editor's Introduction 

POLITICAL THEORY 

Part One: Liberal Accommodations to the Religious Challenge 
1. Religion and Liberalism: Public Reason, Public Sphere and Cultural Pluralism
Sebastiano Maffettone 
2. Accommodating Pluralism through Public Justification: Moral vs. Practical Considerations
Eszter Kollár 
3. Public Reason and Models of Judgement
Daniele Santoro 
4. Hannah Arendt and the Problem of Public Religion
Gábor Gángó 

Part Two: Challenging the Liberal Secular Paradigm From Within 
5. Cultural Identity, Religion, Moral Pluralism and the Law
Herman De Dijn 
6. Can Freedom of Religion Replace the Virtue of Tolerance?
Peter Jonkers 
7. Democracy and Moral Relativism in a Post-Secular World: Reclaiming Obligation
András Lánczi 

FROM POLITICAL THEORY TO POLITICAL THEOLOGY 

Part Three: Radicalizing the Challenges: Recuperating Religion 
8. Religion, Democracy and the Empty Shrine of Pluralism: Some Reminders
Walter Van Herck 
9. Religion after Auschwitz: Jonas, Metz, and the Place of Religion in our World Today
Balázs M. Mezei 
10. Politics without Dénouement, Faith without Guarantee: A Critical Appraisal of the Politics of Religion of the Left and the Right Theo de Wit 

Part Four: Political Theology as Political Theory: Prospects 
11. Reinhold Niebuhr and the Crisis of Liberalism: Augustinian Realism and Democratic Politics in the Age of Post-Enlightenment Alexander Rosenthal 
12. Genuine or Elitist Democracy? Christianity and Democracy in the Thought of István Bibó and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
András Csepregi 
13. The New Political Theology as Political Theory: Johann Baptist Metz on Public Suffering
Péter Losonczi 

Bibliography 
Index

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