Taking Leave of Abraham: An Essay on Religion and Democracy

Cover\r......Page 1
Titlepage\r......Page 4
Copyright\r......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS\r......Page 8
INTRODUCTION......Page 10
Contemporary Artistic Interpretations: Two Songs and a Movie......Page 16
The Aqedah and the Abrahamic Religions......Page 22
Is There a Price to be Paid for Monotheism?......Page 25
Genesis 22 in the New Testament......Page 29
The Theology of the Beloved Son......Page 31
Interpretations in Antiquity......Page 35
Later Interpretations: From Religion to Morality......Page 40
KIERKEGAARD\'S FEAR AND TREMBLING......Page 46
Kierkegaard\'s General Approach to Genesis 22......Page 50
The Portrait of Abraham......Page 52
The \'Teleological Suspension\' of the Ethical......Page 55
The Absolute Duty towards God......Page 59
The Solution to Abraham\'s Dilemma: The \'Double Movementy of Faith......Page 60
CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATIONS OF FEAR AND TREMBLING......Page 72
Saving Abraham, God - and Kierkegaard......Page 73
Divine Commands and Pluralist Democracy......Page 77
Saving Isaac......Page 80
Saving the Internal Coherence of the Bible......Page 84
Major Issues in Contemporary Interpretations......Page 88
My Personal Conclusion......Page 95
CULTURAL EVOLUTION AND THE SECULARIZATION OF RELIGION......Page 100
The Return of Religion and the Death of Secularization?......Page 102
The Historical Process of Secularization......Page 106
Multiculturalism as Anti-Evolutionism......Page 112
The \'Early\'Habermas on the Evolution of Religion......Page 115
II. Early High-Cultures......Page 116
IV. Modernity......Page 117
Meme-Theory and Religion......Page 120
Conclusion......Page 123
RAWLS AND HABERMAS ON LIBERAL DEMOCRACY AND RELIGION......Page 128
Rawls: Political Liberalistn and Religion......Page 129
The Reasonable Citizen and Civic Virtues......Page 132
Reasonable Comprehensive Doctrines......Page 134
Overlapping Consensus and Stability for the Right Reasons......Page 137
The Public Political Forum and Public Reason......Page 142
The Role of Religion in the Public......Page 146
Habermas: Deliberative Democracy and Religion......Page 151
Democracy and Its Foundation......Page 152
What is Implied in *Secularization......Page 154
From a Theory of Evolution to Historical \'Learning Processes\'......Page 157
The Distinction between Faith and Knowledge......Page 159
The Role of Religion Revisited......Page 161
Conclusion: Rawls\r or Habermas?......Page 169
CRITICAL DEBATES ON POLITICAL LIBERALISM AND RELIGION......Page 172
Interpreting Liberalistn......Page 173
The Separation between Church and State......Page 176
The Nature of Religious Obligations......Page 181
The Constraints on Religious Reasons......Page 182
Civic Virtue: The Ethical Role of Citizens......Page 186
Interpreting Historical Background and Current Problems......Page 190
Jeffrey Stout......Page 192
J.Judd Owen......Page 198
Troy Dostert......Page 200
Public Religion in a Pluralistic Democracy?......Page 204
Must Faith Be Privatized?......Page 208
Conclusion......Page 211
INTEGRATING POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION......Page 218
Theological Consequences of Rawlsian Political Liberalism......Page 220
Kierkegaard\'s Fear and Trembling Revisited......Page 225
The Realm of Caesar and the Realm of God: Reconciling Human and Divine Freedom......Page 228
Conclusion......Page 236
CONCLUSION......Page 238
REFERENCES......Page 244
INDEX......Page 250