The Authority of the Holy Revisited: Habermas, Religion, and Emancipatory Possibilities

Abstract

This article argues that Jürgen Habermas's view of religion as anathema to rational critical discourse reflects his misunderstanding that religion comprises a monolithic and immutable body of dogma that is closed to reason. Illustrative data from Catholic history and theology and empirical data gathered from contemporary American Catholics are used to show the weaknesses in Habermas's negation of the possibility of a self-critical religious discourse. Specifically, I highlight the doctrinal differentiation within Catholicism, its longstanding theological emphasis on the coupling of faith and reason, institutional reflexivity, and the doctrinally reflexive reasoning that contemporary Catholics use in negotiating what might appear as "contradictory" identities (e.g., being gay or lesbian and Catholic). Although the data presented take issue with Habermas's disavowal of religion, the article shows that the practical relevance of doctrinal reasoning at both the institutional and the individual level vindicate Habermas's faith in the emancipatory potential of reasoned argumentation to advance participative equality.

“Ni la pareja, ni la familia, ni la Iglesia deciden por mí”: la experiencia del aborto en mujeres Católicas

“…En consonancia con Dillon (1999), la IC no es una institución monolítica, así como sus discursos tampoco operan de un modo unívoco. Ello pudo observarse en las diferentes maneras en que cada relato daba cuenta de una trayectoria diferente con la Iglesia así como con sus agentes pastorales: desde el Papa Francisco hasta sacerdotes con quienes tomaron contacto.…”

Offentligheder og forandring i studier af arabiske medier

“…52 Frem for at fremstille det arabiske publikum som en monolitisk størrelse, må vi udforske betydningen af ulige magtrelationer i den sociale interaktion samt de forskellige interesser, erfaringer, følelser og sprogkapaciteter, som hver enkelt deltager bringer med sig ind i en specifik kommunikativ sammenhaeng. 53 For det tredje må forskningen gøre op med tendensen til kun at studere de medier, som tilskrives forandringspotentiale. Hvor der er skrevet adskillige bøger og artikler om faenomenet alJazeera, er der hundreder af andre satellitkanaler, som aldrig eller kun i begraenset omfang er blevet studeret.…”

“It Just Always Seemed Like it Wasn't a Big Deal, Yet I Know for Some People They Really Struggle with It”: LGBT Religious Identities in Context

“…While social actors cannot ignore power, power is not fixed and we should treat discourses as sites of struggle and resources in identity construction and conflict, not as taken‐for‐granted statements of truth (Dillon ). By starting with the lived experiences of LGBT religious people, we create the analytical space to eschew reifying the perspectives of certain religious authorities by seeing LGBT religious identities as an inherent contradiction (Dillon b; Yip and Nynäs ).…”

“…Focusing on official doctrine presents religion (typically Christianity) as less diverse than it is on LGBT issues, and does not fully consider the religious understandings of the research subjects (Ammerman ; Avishai ; Browne ; McGuire ). This has the effect of (typically unintentionally) reifying condemnatory religious stances on sexuality and gender identity by taking these ideologies for granted, rather than examining the diversity of religious perspectives on LGBT issues (see Dillon b; Fuist, Cooper Stoll, and Kniss ; Wilcox ). By contextualizing religious ideologies within communities, structures, and historical moments to deconstruct those ideologies, we instead acknowledge that what social actors understand as “truth” is often less a quality of the statement itself and is instead a result of how it emerges from a powerful position or corresponds with other powerful statements to construct systems of knowledge (Foucault ).…”