1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910463343903321

Autore

Scherer Matthew <1977->

Titolo

Beyond church and state : democracy, secularism, and conversion / / Matthew Scherer [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2013

ISBN

1-107-23648-7

1-139-61075-9

1-139-60903-3

1-139-62563-2

1-139-61261-1

1-139-61633-1

1-299-39999-1

1-139-62191-2

1-139-19926-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 240 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Religion, politics, and democracy

Disciplina

322/.1

Soggetti

Secularism

Religion and politics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: beyond the separation of church and state: secularism as conversion -- 1. The authorized narrative and crystalline structure of conversion in Augustine's Confessions -- 2. Toleration and conversion in Locke's letters: it is 'above all things necessary to distinguish' -- 3. The crystalline structure of conversion: Henri Bergson's Two Sources -- 4. Saint John (Rawls): the miracle of secular reason -- 5. The wish for a better life: Stanley Cavell's critique of the social contract -- Conclusion: from Supernovas into The Deep: secularism as conversion, a conversion of secularism.

Sommario/riassunto

Secularism is often imagined in Thomas Jefferson's words as 'a wall of separation between Church and State'. This book moves past that standard picture to argue that secularism is a process that reshapes both religion and politics. Borrowing a term from religious traditions,



the book goes further to argue that this process should be understood as a process of conversion. Matthew Scherer studies Saint Augustine, John Locke, John Rawls, Henri Bergson and Stanley Cavell to present a more accurate picture of what secularism is, what it does, and how it can be reimagined to be more conducive to genuine democracy.