Resurrecting Democracies: Secularity Recast in Charles Taylor, Paul Valadier, and Joseph Ratzinger
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
In this article, the alternative conception of secularity of Charles Taylor, Paul Valadier and Joseph Ratzinger (former Benedict XVI) is explored. A secularized society, which they take as an established condition, does not necessarily exclude religion, Christianity or Christian transcendence, in particular. On the contrary, the spirit of democracies and citizens needs to be constantly kindled, and to this end, the Christian message and traditions can be relevant. Rather than strictly comparing and contrasting these three men’s thoughts, I deem it more fruitful to show how they complement each other. Though they certainly differ from each other, there is a remarkable overlap in their theological and philosophical anthropologies in which the notion of gift or gratuity is so central. The ideal of solidarity and justice that stems from this understanding of the human differs from conceptions that rely on the idea of the rational and self-sufficient agent.
Keywords: Christian humanism, gift, imago dei, secularity, transcendence
Article Details
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).