Reasoning between Athens and Jerusalem

Abstract

Jürgen Habermas, in his recent work on post-secular public reasoning, attempts to craft a model of democratic deliberation in which theistic and non-theistic selves can learn from each other and develop bonds of democratic solidarity. His proposed model raises questions about the abilities of democratically oriented individuals in the twenty-first century to reflect critically upon their own cherished beliefs, to comprehend the beliefs of others, and then to engage critically with the beliefs of others during deliberations about matters of common concern. I argue that these questions are best addressed by focusing on how individuals reason from within and through (rather than independently of) the cultural and ethical forces that make the subjects what they are. The work of many grassroots organizers today illustrates this lesson.Over the past decade, a number of Western-based political theorists have urged their colleagues to open their eyes to the difficulties of distinguishing faith discourses from those of public reason. One such thinker is Jürgen Habermas. He has recently promoted what he calls a "post-secular" 1 brand of public reasoning, in which nontheistic and theistic citizens-such as those he describes as adherents of the tradition of reason that originated in Athens, and those whose theistic traditions he says originated in Jerusalem-can debate matters of common concern in a manner that allows each camp to be receptive to and learn from the ethical impulses of the other camps. Habermas hopes that such deliberations will nourish the slender bonds of democratic solidarity that democratic practices, such as his model of a global domestic politics, require.Habermas's work on post-secular public reasoning is interesting not only because he attempts to craft a model of public reasoning in which theistic and 1. Habermas uses the term "post-secular" to depict a collective "shift in consciousness in largely secularized or 'unchurched' societies that by now have come to terms with the continued existence of religious communities, and with the influence of religious voices both in the national public sphere and on the global political stage." Jürgen Habermas, "Reply to My Critics," in Habermas and Religion, ed.