The Authority of the Holy Revisited

Habermas, Religion, and Emancipatory Possibilities

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2247271
AutoresMichele Dillon (0000-0001-8484-5999, Yale University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen17
Número3
Páginas290-306
Fecha de publicación1999-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0735-2751 • E-ISSN: 1467-9558
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/0735-2751.00081
OpenAlexW1973601137
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas42
Referencias citadas32

This article argues that Jürgen Habermas's view of religion as anathema to rational critical discourse reflects his misunderstanding that religion comprises a monolithic and immutable body of dogma that is closed to reason. Illustrative data from Catholic history and theology and empirical data gathered from contemporary American Catholics are used to show the weaknesses in Habermas's negation of the possibility of a self-critical religious discourse. Specifically, I highlight the doctrinal differentiation within Catholicism, its longstanding theological emphasis on the coupling of faith and reason, institutional reflexivity, and the doctrinally reflexive reasoning that contemporary Catholics use in negotiating what might appear as 'contradictory' identities (e.g., being gay or lesbian and Catholic). Although the data presented take issue with Habermas's disavowal of religion, the article shows that the practical relevance of doctrinal reasoning at both the institutional and the individual level vindicate Habermas's faith in the emancipatory potential of reasoned argumentation to advance participative equality

Argumentation theory · Argumentative · Epistemology · Faith · Negation · Negotiation · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religious Education and Schools