Table Of ContentFrom Political Theory
to Political Theology
Continuum Resources in Religion and Political Culture
Series Editors: Graham Ward and Michael Hoelzl, The University of Manchester,
UK
Aimed at undergraduates studying in this area, titles in this series look specifically at
the key topics involved in the relationship between religion and politics, taking into
account a broad range of religious perspectives, and presenting clear, approachable
texts for students grappling with often complex concepts.
The New Visibility of Religion, Graham Ward and Michael Hoelzl
Remoralizing Britain, edited by Peter Manly Scott, Christopher R. Baker and Elaine
L. Graham
From Political Theory
to Political Theology
Religious Challenges
and the Prospects of Democracy
Edited by
Péter Losonczi and Aakash Singh
Continuum International Publishing Group
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11 York Road Suite 704
London SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
© Péter Losonczi, Aakash Singh and Contributors 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4411-1720-5
PB: 978-1-4411-8744-4
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
From political theory to political theology : religious challenges and the prospects of
democracy / Edited by Aakash Singh and Péter Losonczi.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4411-1720-5 (HB)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4411-8744-4 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-4411-1720-2 (HB)
ISBN-10: 1-4411-8744-8 (pbk.)
1. Religion and politics. 2. Democracy--Religious aspects. I.
Singh, Aakash. II. Losonczi, Péter. III. Title.
BL65.P7F77 2010
201’.72--dc22
2009035301
Typeset by Free Range Book Design & Production Ltd
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Contributors ix
Foreword by Graham Ward and Michael Hoelzl xiii
Editors’ Introduction xv
POLITICAL THEORY
Part One: Liberal Accommodations to the Religious Challenge
1 Religion and Liberalism: Public Reason, Public Sphere and
Cultural Pluralism 5
Sebastiano Maffettone
2 Accommodating Pluralism through Public Justification:
Moral vs. Practical Considerations 22
Eszter Kollár
3 Public Reason and Models of Judgement 31
Daniele Santoro
4 Hannah Arendt and the Problem of Public Religion 47
Gábor Gángó
Part Two: Challenging the Liberal Secular Paradigm from Within
5 Cultural Identity, Religion, Moral Pluralism and the Law 61
Herman De Dijn
6 Can Freedom of Religion Replace the Virtue of Tolerance? 73
Peter Jonkers
7 Democracy and Moral Relativism in a Post-secular World:
Reclaiming Obligation 85
András Lánczi
vi Contents
FROM POLITICAL THEORY TO POLITICAL THEOLOGY
Part Three: Radicalizing the Challenges: Recuperating Religion
8 Religion, Democracy and the Empty Shrine of Pluralism –
Some Reminders 101
Walter Van Herck
9 Religion after Auschwitz: Jonas, Metz, and the Place of
Religion in our World Today 111
Balázs M. Mezei
10 Politics without Dénouement, Faith without Guarantee:
A Critical Appraisal of the Politics of Religion of the
Left and the Right 122
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 Post-Enlightenment 139
Alexander Rosenthal
12 Genuine or Elitist Democracy? Christianity and Democracy
in the Thought of István Bibó and Dietrich Bonhoeffer 152
András Csepregi
13 The New Political Theology as Political Theory:
Johann Baptist Metz on Public Suffering 162
Péter Losonczi
Notes 175
Bibliography 183
Index 197
Acknowledgements
The editors would like to acknowledge the financial and technical support
of the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture (Budapest), the LUISS
University (Rome), and the Evangelical-Lutheran Theological University
(Budapest). We are especially grateful to Mrs Lengyel, Magdolna Juhász, and
to Dr Gábor Galik, whose assistance has been invaluable. We also wish to
thank Walter Van Herck and Herwi M. Rikhof for permission to republish
Herman De Dijn’s paper, which originally appeared in Bijdragen: International
Journal in Philosophy and Theology 64:3 (2003), 286–98. This project was
undertaken within the framework of the International Research Network on
Religion & Democracy (IRNRD).
Contributors
András Csepregi teaches Systematic Theology at the Evangelical-Lutheran
Theological University of Budapest. His research and publications focus on
interpretation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and István Bibó, the relation of religion
and democracy, non-violent practices and their theological resources.
Herman De Dijn is Professor at Catholic University of Leuven’s Higher
Institute of Philosophy. His most recent book is entitled Modernité et
tradition. His journal publications include essays on modernity and
postmodernity, tradition and progress, toleration and democracy, religion
and politics.
Michael Hoelzl is Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at the University of
Manchester. He teaches continental philosophy, political philosophy, and
his recent publications are on political theology, Christian anthropology
and critical theory.
Gábor Gángó is a Senior Research Fellow and scientific advisor at the
Institute for Philosophical Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
in Budapest. He is the author of several books on nineteenth-century
Hungarian intellectual history and of articles on Central European political
thought and seventeenth- to twentieth-century history of philosophy.
Peter Jonkers is Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Catholic Theology
of Tilburg University. He teaches systematic philosophy, metaphysics, and
philosophy of religion. His fields of research include the philosophy of Hegel
and his contemporaries, contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of religion,
and philosophy of culture. Some recent publications include Religions
Challenged by Contingency (2008) and Justifying Sacrifice (2008).
