From Political Theory to Political Theology by Losonczi, Péter; Singh, Aakash;

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.

Foreword, Graham Ward and Michael Hoelzl (both University of Manchester, UK)

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 (LUISS University of Rome, Italy)
2. Accommodating Pluralism through Public Justification: Moral vs. Practical Considerations, Eszter Kollár (LUISS University of Rome, Italy)
3. Public Reason and Models of Judgement, Daniele Santoro (LUISS University of Rome, Italy)
4. Hannah Arendt and the Problem of Public ReligionI, Gábor Gángó (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary)

Part Two: Challenging the Liberal Secular Paradigm From Within

5. Cultural Identity, Religion, Moral Pluralism and the Law, Herman De Dijn (Harvard University, USA)
6. Can Freedom of Religion Replace the Virtue of Tolerance? Peter Jonkers (Tilburg University, The Netherlands)
7. Democracy and Moral Relativism in a Post-Secular World: Reclaiming Obligation, András Lánczi (Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary)

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 (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
9. Religion after Auschwitz: Jonas, Metz, and the Place of Religion in our World Today, Balázs M. Mezei (Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Hungary)
10. Politics without Dénouement, Faith without Guarantee: A Critical Appraisal of the Politics of Religion of the Left and the Right, Theo de Wit (University of Tilburg, the Netherlands)

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 (John Hopkins University, USA)
12. Genuine or Elitist Democracy? Christianity and Democracy in the Thought of István Bibó and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, András Csepregi (Evangelical-Lutheran Theological University, Hungary)
13. The New Political Theology as Political Theory: Johann Baptist Metz on Public Suffering, Péter Losonczi (University of West Hungary, Hungary)

Bibliography

Index