"The Bold Arcs of Salvation History": Faith and Reason in Jürgen Habermas’s Reconstruction of the Roots of European Thinking

Maureen Junker-Kenny

Published by De Gruyter 2022

"The Bold Arcs of Salvation History"

Faith and Reason in Jürgen Habermas’s Reconstruction of the Roots of European Thinking

Maureen Junker-Kenny

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110746679

Overview
Contents

About this book

Now in Paperback

This book offers the first in-depth treatment in English language of Habermas’s long-awaited work on religion, Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie, published in 2019. Charting the contingent origins and turning points of occidental thinking through to the current "postmetaphysical" stage, the two volumes provide striking insights into the intellectual streams and conflicts in which core components of modern self-understanding have been forged. The encounter of Greek metaphysics with biblical monotheism has led to a theology of history as salvation, expanding in bold arcs from Adam’s Fall to Christ and the Last Judgement. The reconstruction of key turns in the relationship between faith and knowledge ends, however, with locating the uniqueness of religion in "ritual" and defining reason as inherently secular.

The book exposes the sources and trajectories, analysed by Habermas with great erudition, to different assessments in biblical studies, theology, and philosophy of subjectivity. Apart from Paul and Augustine, key lines of continuity are identified in the Gospels, early patristic theology, Duns Scotus and Schleiermacher that retain the internal connection of faith to autonomous freedom.

Author / Editor information

Maureen Junker-Kenny, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Reviews

"From her dual competence in theology and philosophy, Maureen Junker-Kenny analyses with great acuity the premises and conclusions of Jürgen Habermas’s major work of tracing the origins of postmetaphysical thinking in the interaction between "faith" and "knowledge". Indispensable for assessing the decisive turns in this relationship, the alternative readings she supplies from biblical studies and theology make for an exciting and innovative study."
Herta Nagl-Docekal, Professor em. of Philosophy, University of Vienna

"Prof. Junker-Kenny’s new book puts Habermas’s encyclopedic Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie in the context of the most recent debates in theology, as it also explains from a theologian’s perspective what is vital, revealing and challenging in Habermas’s new magnum opus. Her work may be one of the fi rst book length treatments of Habermas’s contribution to the ceaseless dialogue between religion and philosophy, but it will without question continue to be indispensable as we sift through what his contribution means, entails and commands of us in our postsecular societies."
Eduardo Mendieta, Professor of Philosophy, Penn State University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	XVII
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Recent Philosophical Debates on the Hermeneutics of Past Events and Their Relevance for Biblical Research Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
2 Reconstructing the Position of Paul in Early Christianity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
3 Tracing the Origins of the Doctrine of Christ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
4 Assessing the Pauline Strand: Exegetical, Methodological and Theological Disputes and Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
5 The Patristic Era as Setting the Course for Relating Religion to Reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
6 The Origins of Modernity in the Late Middle Ages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
7 “Faith” and “Knowledge” after the Copernican Turn in Kant’s Critiques of Reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
8 Post-Kantian Theories of Language – Pacemakers for the Paradigm Change from Subject Philosophy to Linguistic Interaction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
9 Reappraising the Counterparts: Secular Reason as the Default Position, Religion as “Other”? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
Person Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
Subject Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	282

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Pages
- Front matter: 18
- Main content: 288
Keywords: Habermas; Philosophy; Religious history

eBook

Published: January 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110746679

Hardcover

Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110746297

Paperback

Published: October 24, 2023
ISBN: 9783111358505