Beyond Church and State - Democracy, Secularism, and Conversion

Informationen zum Autor Matthew Scherer is Assistant Professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University. Klappentext Secularism is often imagined in Thomas Jefferson's words as 'a wall of separation between Church and State'. This book moves past that standard picture to argue that secularism is a process that reshapes both religion and politics. Borrowing a term from religious traditions, the book goes further to argue that this process should be understood as a process of conversion. Matthew Scherer studies Saint Augustine, John Locke, John Rawls, Henri Bergson and Stanley Cavell to present a more accurate picture of what secularism is, what it does, and how it can be reimagined to be more conducive to genuine democracy. Zusammenfassung Secularism is often imagined in Jefferson's words as 'a wall of separation between Church and State'. Scherer argues secularism is a process of conversion that reshapes religion and politics. He presents a picture of what secularism is and how it can be reimagined to be more conducive to genuine democracy. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgments; Introduction: beyond the separation of church and state: secularism as conversion; 1. The authorized narrative and crystalline structure of conversion in Augustine's Confessions; 2. Toleration and conversion in Locke's letters: it is 'above all things necessary to distinguish'; 3. The crystalline structure of conversion: Henri Bergson's Two Sources; 4. Saint John (Rawls), the miracle of secular reason; 5. The wish for a better life: Stanley Cavell's critique of the social contract; Conclusion: from Supernovas into The Deep: secularism as conversion, a conversion of secularism; Index.

Product details

• Authors: Matthew Scherer, Matthew (George Mason University Scherer, Scherer Matthew
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2015
• EAN: 9781107579439
• ISBN: 978-1-107-57943-9
• No. of pages: 252
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, RELIGION / Religion, Politics & State, Political science & theory, Religion & politics, Religious and theocratic ideologies, Religion and Politics, Political science and theory, Religious & theocratic ideologies