Abstract

In 2004 a much-publicized discussion took place between the political philosopher Jürgen Habermas and the Catholic theologian Joseph Ratzinger. Essentially, the role of religion in the public sphere was at stake. Habermas, speaking of a “post-secular” age, attempted to find a more vocal place for religious views, subject to a “translation proviso.” Ratzinger, while acknowledging the need for better dialogue between the religious and the secular, argued that there was no longer a common basis for it in “natural reason.” Both figures can be seen as speaking to the practical and the theoretical aspects of the dialogue, respectively. Once this difference is understood, Habermas’s suggestions can be accepted.