Religion and the demise of liberal rationalism : the foundational crisis of the separation of church and state / J. Judd Owen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Owen, J. Judd.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberalism.

Church and state.

Dewey, John, 1859-1952.

Dewey, John.

Rawls, John, 1921-2002.

Rawls, John.

Rorty, Richard.

Fish, Stanley Eugene.

Political science.

Physical Description:

ix, 218 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2001.

Summary:

At the same time that dissatisfaction with the shape of church/state relations is on the rise, liberalism is witnessing ever-spreading postmodern skepticism regarding the theoretical soundness of its core principles. What do these two trends have to do with each other? Potentially a great deal, according to J. Judd Owen, who contends that the liberal posture to religion cannot be divorced from, but rather lies at the deepest level of, the serious questions confronting liberalism's original rationalist basis.

Through a careful critique of Richard Rorty, John Rawls, and Stanley Fish, Owen argues that today's "post-rational" liberalisms can only evade or obscure, but cannot resolve, liberalism's perennial difficulty with religion. Yet by politically fostering an indifference to the question of religious truth, liberal rationalism itself shares blame for its present crisis. Antifoundationalism is thus not a radical alternative to liberal rationalism, but its unintended byproduct.

Presenting an original map of the current landscape of political thought, Owen's provocative book cuts across political science, philosophy, religion, and constitutional theory.

Contents:

If liberalism is a faith, what becomes of the separation of church and state?

Pragmatism, liberalism, and the quarrel between science and religion

Rorty's repudiation of epistemology

Rortian irony and the "de-divinization" of liberalism

Religion and Rawls's freestanding liberalism

Stanley Fish and the demise of the separation of church and state

Fish, Locke, and religious neutrality

Reason, indifference, and the aim of religious freedom

Appendix : a reply to Stanley Fish.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-205) and index.

ISBN:

0226641910

0226641929

OCLC:

45418881