An Awareness of What is Missing: Faith and Reason in a Post-secular Age [Paperback]

Jurgen Habermas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0745647219 | ISBN-13: 978-0745647210 | Edition: 1

In his recent writings on religion and secularization, Habermas has challenged reason to clarify its relation to religious experience and to engage religions in a constructive dialogue. Given the global challenges facing humanity, nothing is more dangerous than the refusal to communicate that we encounter today in different forms of religious and ideological fundamentalism.

Habermas argues that in order to engage in this dialogue, two conditions must be met: religion must accept the authority of secular reason as the fallible results of the sciences and the universalistic egalitarianism in law and morality; and conversely, secular reason must not set itself up as the judge concerning truths of faith. This argument was developed in part as a reaction to the conception of the relation between faith and reason formulated by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2006 Regensburg address.

In 2007 Habermas conducted a debate, under the title ‘An Awareness of What Is Missing', with philosophers from the Jesuit School for Philosophy in Munich. This volume includes Habermas's essay, the contributions of his interlocutors and Habermas's reply to them. It will be indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand one of the most urgent and intractable issues of our time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Social scientists spent most of the past century trying to work out why the world was failing to live up to their expectations: why was there still so much rural idiocy, and why was religion refusing to go away? No one has brought more intellectual heft to these problems than Jürgen Habermas."
Jonathan Rée, New Humanist

"The book contains five insightful essays and begins with an excellent overiew of Habermas's new view of religion, its development, and the subsequent discussion."
The Ecumenist

From the Back Cover

In his recent writings on religion and secularization, Habermas has challenged reason to clarify its relation to religious experience and to engage religions in a constructive dialogue. Given the global challenges facing humanity, nothing is more dangerous than the refusal to communicate that we encounter today in different forms of religious and ideological fundamentalism.

Habermas argues that in order to engage in this dialogue, two conditions must be met: religion must accept the authority of secular reason as the fallible results of the sciences and the universalistic egalitarianism in law and morality; and conversely, secular reason must not set itself up as the judge concerning truths of faith. This argument was developed in part as a reaction to the conception of the relation between faith and reason formulated by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2006 Regensburg address.

In 2007 Habermas conducted a debate, under the title ‘An Awareness of What Is Missing’, with philosophers from the Jesuit School for Philosophy in Munich. This volume includes Habermas’s essay, the contributions of his interlocutors and Habermas’s reply to them. It will be indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand one of the most urgent and intractable issues of our time.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Polity; 1 edition (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745647219
• ISBN-13: 978-0745647210
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an intrepid dialogue that should be required reading, July 1, 2010

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o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Awareness of What is Missing: Faith and Reason in a Post-secular Age (Paperback)

... for every head of state, every spiritual leader, and the entire Jesus belt of the United States. One might consider this a companion piece to his remarkable books, The Divided West and The Inclusion of the Other. For those confounded with an obstinacy peculiar to religious fundamentalism, these texts offer compelling arguments for disarming the knee jerk defensiveness that inspires religious as well as political intolerance.

I fear Jurgen is a voice calling out in the wilderness. May it not be so.