AN EXPOSITION OF DIALECTICS OF SECULARIZATION





TOPIC: AN EXPOSITION OF DIALECTICS OF SECULARIZATION





              Outline
1.0 INTRODUCTION
2.0 EMERGENCE OF THE DEBATE
2.1 The Principal Substance
2.2 The Profile of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Jurgen Habermas
3.0 JURGEN HABERMAS; PRE- POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTIONAL STATE?
3.1 The Justification Of The Secular Constitutional State On The Basis Of The Source Of Practical Reason
3.2 How Is The Solidarity Of The Citizens Of The State Reproduced?
3.3 When The Societal Bond Breaks
3.4 Excursus                                    
3.5 Secularization As A Twofold And Complementary Learning Process
3.6 How Should Believing And Unbelieving Citizens Treat One Another?

4.0 JOSEPH RATZINGER- THAT WHICH HOLDS THE WORLD TOGETHER
4.1 Power And Law
4.2 New Forms Of Power And New Questions About How These Are To Be Measured
4.3 Presuppositions Of The Law; Law-Nature-Reason
4.4 The Intercultural Dimension And Its Consequences

5.0 EVALUATION
6.0 CONCLUSION





INTRODUCTION
             Man, at the zenith of what seemed like his most possible wonderment, the brilliant dawn of the age of reason, the emancipating power of the enlightenment; made an unprecedented shift in the state of affairs of virtually every domain of human endeavor. As a result, he jilted religion, he absolutely relegated it to a contemptuous background, and he mocked and scorned the faith and challenged it to the proverbial wrestling contest. In other words, reason became the champion over religion and culture. The sovereignty of the church and that of the prince was thwarted. Reason became the definer of standard in the affairs of the state. The question this may arouse within any thinking man is this: how can the common culture of reason and organized freedom be attained in our ultra-luminous age? Is it the case that the place of philosophy and its basic grounding in being and anthropology has been destroyed? Does the enthronement of reason signal an opportunity or a belligerent backlash on religion?[1]
        Those are some of the pertinent questions argued Jürgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, the two great thinkers of our time. It is obvious that these scholars who are authorities in their respective specializations had clear views on the moral foundations of a free state. This gave them the impetus to accept to speak on the controversial topic: “The Pre-political Moral Foundations of a Free State.”
It shall therefore by aim to examine clearly the debate between Habermas and Ratzinger on the title “The Pre-political Moral Foundations of a Free State”. We shall begin by giving a brief history about the emergence of the debate, then discuss the opinions of the two great interlocutors, give an evaluation and finally conclude.
EMERGENCE OF THE DEBATE
        How did this remarkable evening come about? This debate, which has its title “The Pre-political Moral Foundations of a Free State”, although staged in Germany, has a non-German influence.  That is to say the history that led to it had its origin outside of Germany. To begin with, in the 18th century, during the dawn of the Enlightenment, Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758), exchanged many letters (in form of a debate) with Voltaire, one of the key figures of the Enlightenment and critic of the Church.
       Again, because there have been an increasing clarion call by believers and unbelievers in recent times for philosophy and religion to bridge the ever growing gap between them, the “immortals” of the Academie francaise has been opening its doors for this much needed intimacy by welcoming into their rank the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in 1992; and three years later, the Archbishop of Paris, Jean Marie Cardinal Lustiger was accorded the same respect. In line with this development, a left-wing intellectual and political periodical, Micro Mega, has in recent times shown much interest in matters of philosophy and religion so much so that in the famous number 2/2000, it has the following as its forward: “Philosophy is concerned more and more with religion rather than with knowledge, and seeks to enter into a dialogue with religion.”[2]
Closely following the above was the Peace prize acceptance speech of Habermas at Frankfurt, three weeks after the September 11, 2001 event. He demanded that “ the secular society acquire a new understanding of religious convictions, which is something more and something other than mere relics of a past with which we are finished”[3]; thus, having a renewed interest in religion as an alternative supplier of rationality.
Consequently, have been properly schooled in the search for truth through the intellectual and reflective exchange of arguments, the Catholic Academy of Bavaria grasped the much needed opportunity by inviting these two great thinkers in their respective field to talk to each other on the secular and religious descriptions of realities using the topic; “The Pre-political Foundations a Free State.”
The Principal Substance of the Debate.
While Jurgen Habermas arrives from the sphere of the discipline of the ratio (reason) that is Philosophy, Joseph Alois Ratzinger arrives from the horizon of the fides (faith), that is religion to speak on the topic; “The Pre-political moral foundations of a free state.”[4] By way of extension, we mean to say that as interlocutors, the two men of intellectual and scholastic repertoire argued about the “bases of a society worthy of men.” Their argument agreed that state has its ethical foundation on a neutral ground. This means that insofar as the existence of a state is concerned, it is an offshoot of something; its moral foundations came from somewhere.[5]

THE PROFILE OF JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER AND JURGEN HABERMAS
JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER
Ratzinger was born at Marktl am Inn, Diocese of Passau (Germany) on April 16, 1927(Holy Saturday) and was baptized that same day. His youthful years were marked with harsh treatment from the Nazi regime, so much so that during the last months of the war, he was enrolled in an auxiliary anti-craft corps.
From 1946-1952 he studied philosophy and Theology at the Higher School of Philosophy and Theology of Freising and at the University of Munich. Ratzinger received his Priestly ordination, and a year later began to teach at alma mater- Higher School of Philosophy and Theology of Freising. In 1957, under the direction of the renowned professor of foundational theology, Gottlieb Sohngem, he qualified for university teaching with a dissertation on “The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure”. From 1958 and 1959, he was professor of Dogmatic and fundamental Theology at the Higher School of Freising; from 1959-1963, at Bonn; from 1963-1966, at Muster; from 1966-1969, at Turbingen; and at Regensburg from 1969 -1977 where he became the vice president of the University in 1976.
He made a notable contribution from 1962- 1965 to Vatican II as “expert”, being present as theological adviser of Joseph Cardinal Frings, Archbishop of Cologne. On March 25, 1977, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and was made a Cardinal on 27 June, 1977 by Pope Paul IV. Pope John Paul II named him Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the International Theological Commission on 5th November, 1981.
HABERMAS
             He was born in 1929 in Dusseldorf. It is, known that numerous articles are always written on the day of his birthday one of which reflected once more the consequences of that encounter with Ratzinger on the debate about the foundations of our secular Western society.  Habermas is one of the most influential philosophers of the modern age, he has held several debates with persons who are also great thinkers such as: Gadamer and Putnam, Foucault and Rawls, Derrida and Brandom.[6] Habermas is also known for his conceptual foundations of Western modernity in which hard questions emerged about the predominant modern understandings of reason, subjectivity, nature, progress, and gender. He came of age in postwar Germany with the Nuremberg Trials that exposed to him the depth of Germany’s high moral and political decadence under National Socialism.
             In 1947 the work of his fellow scholars Teodor Adorno and Max Horkhemier on “Dialectic of Enlightenment”, developing the claim that the systematic pursuit of enlightened reason and freedom, had the Ironic long-term effect of engendering how forms of irrationality and repression. In 1954 at the University of Bonn, Habermas completed his dissertation writing on the conflict between the absolute and history in schellings thought. His first public recognition in the world of the academia was with his 1962 publication of Strukturwandel der Offentlichkeit (Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere; English ed.., 1989).
               Jurgen Habermas emerged as the most prominent member of the Frankfurt School in the postwar decades. He tried to open critical theory of developments in analytic philosophy and linguistic analysis, Structuralism, and hermeneutics.[7]
To the dialogue on the following subject: ‘the Pre-political Moral Foundations of a Free State,’ He begins by claiming to be a political liberalist which is a non-religious and post metaphysic[8] justification of the normative bases of the democratic constitutional state, that is, a theory that is in the tradition of rational law that renounces the strong cosmological assumptions of the classical and religious theories of the natural law.
             Jurgen Habermas’ position was organized in sections the first two of these were somewhat repetitive, in the sense that they reiterated many of the philosopher’s older and well know positions. Habermas declares himself a descendent of Kantian republicanism.[9]   From the very beginning, Habermas admits the legitimacy of the question as to whether the secularized and rights-founded state is not nourished from normative premises that are alien to its own nature and antedate it. This would raise some doubts as to the ability of the constitutional democratic state to renew its existential foundations from its own resources, rather than from philosophical and religious, or at least from a general ethical communal prior undergirding.[10]

The Justification of the Secular Constitutional State On The Basis Of the Sources Of Practical Reason.
             On this point he states that the constitution of the liberal state finds a self-satisfying legitimation out of the cognitive funds of an argumentation budget that is independent of religious and metaphysical traditions. Political liberalism understands itself as a nonreligious and post-metaphysical justification of the normative bases of the democratic constitutional state. This theory is in the tradition of a rational law that renounces the strong cosmological or salvation-historical assumptions of the classical and religious theories of the natural law.[11]   Here the renouncing of natural law is the renouncing of natural law of Aquinas that presupposes Divine Law. Habermas’ argument here is that constitutional self-government in a legal state can be exclusively motivated by and founded on rational and consensual judgments of freely participating citizens and voters, or at least upon those of majorities.
How is the Solidarity of the Citizens of the State reproduced?
            The obedience due to coercive laws concerning people’s freedom is one thing; the motivations and attitudes expected of citizens in their role as democratic legislators are something else.[12]  Citizens are expected to make active use of their rights to communication and to participation,, not only in what they rightly take to be their own interests, but also with an orientation to the common good. This demands a more costly commitment and motivation, and these cannot simply be imposed by law. In the light of this may religion be consulted? For Habermas this does not mean that the liberal state is incapable of reproducing its own motivational presuppositions on the basis of its own secular elements. In fact, citizens are in motivated by ethical programs of living and by cultural ways of life to take part in the political processes whereby an opinion and a common will are formed.[13]
When the Societal bond breaks
             Up to this point, our reflections have shown that the secular nature of the democratic constitutional state displays no internal weakness inherent in the political system as such that would pose a cognitive or motivational threat to the process of self-stabilization.[14] That having considered how practical reasoning, unaccompanied by religion and the solidarity of the citizens can constitute the emergence of a state and its constitution, it is less liable to suffer division or political instability. However still Habermas still sees a chance where instability and disorder can creep into a constituted state of sola ratio. So he writes, ‘if modernization of society as a whole went off the rails, it could well slacken the democratic bond and exhaust the kind of solidarity that the democratic state needs but cannot impose by law.’[15]  This would lead to the transformation of the citizens of prosperous and peaceful liberal societies into isolated monads action on the basis of their own self-interest. Does the collapsing of Habermas’ society this argument now recognize the influence of religion in a constituted society? Still not for Habermas; for him, postmodern theories understand these crises in a manner critical of reason that is not as the consequence of a selective exhaustion of the rational potential that was born in the west in the modern period, but as the logical outcome of the program of a self-destructive intellectual and societal rationalization. He writes:
I do not wish to speak of the phenomenon of the continued existence of religion in a largely secularized environment simply as a societal fact; philosophy must take this phenomenon seriously from within, so to speak, as a cognitive challenge.[16]
Secularization as a twofold and complementary learning process
But we don’t have the full picture yet of Habermas’s view. He advances what he calls a dialogical approach to the relation between theology and philosophy, revelation and reason. He distinguishes this approach from not only the Hegelian or Marxist approach that intends to subsume the substantial truth of faith into philosophy but also the rationalistic one denying “religion any rational content. Post-metaphysical philosophy does not presume “to decide what is true or false in religion,” but rather it “leaves the internal questions of the validity of religion to disputes within rational apologetics. Habermas says, “Faith remains opaque for [philosophical] knowledge in a way which may neither be denied nor simply accepted. This reflects the inconclusive nature of the confrontation between self-critical reason which is willing to learn and contemporary religious convictions. This confrontation can sharpen post-secular society’s awareness of the unexhausted force of religious traditions. Secularization functions less as a filter separating out the contents of traditions than as a transformer which redirects the flow of tradition.”28 So, Habermas holds that a dialogical approach in philosophy to religious traditions is “open to learning from them.” This approach aims “to salvage cognitive contents from religious traditions. All semantic contents count as ‘cognitive’,” he adds, if they “can be translated into a form of discourse decoupled from the ratcheting effect of truth of revelation.

 JOSEPH RATZINGER
That which holds the world Together- Pre-Political Moral Foundations of a Free State
            For Joseph Ratzinger, the twin factors of inter-dependence of political, economic and cultural powers and the development of the human capacity and possibilities of destruction and creation due to the advancement in technology lies at the foundation of the rapid developmental process of today. Since this interdependence poses the question of ethical and legal control of power, he stresses the need for different cultures to work at building a common structure that will help tame power and impose a legally responsible order on its exercise. Also, the question of what the good is and why one must do good especially when it entails harm continues unanswered and while science has its many benefits in our world and lives, it cannot bring about the kind of ‘world ethos’ which Hans Kung speaks of. Ratzinger therefore advocates that philosophy must guide science since science can only show a fraction of our existence. [17]
Power and Law
            According to Ratzinger, the application of the criterion of the law to power to ensure that the strength of the law always holds sway and to avoid violence which may be propelled by lawless powers which opposes laws is the proper task of politics. He therefore maintains that for any society to experience freedom in common and avoid arbitrariness, it must overcome suspicions of its laws and regulations.   
              According to Aquinas, law is an ordinance of reason,[18] but what is the genesis of law and if it must be a vehicle of justice, what must it entail? If Justice is the virtue which observes the rights of all,[19] how can our laws be made to promote this rather than for the few in power. He adds that though the democratic system of government at first sight seemed to have resolved the problem of the law being an instrument of the powerful, since all collaborate in the making of laws, it still falls short. This is because total consensus is always hard to find and so it ultimately falls on delegated people or the majority and since these can make laws to oppress the minority, we still cannot be sure of justice on the basis of democracy.
           Moreover, John Stuart Mill says “that if all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”[20]  A fundamental question then arises as to whether there exists a primal thing antecedent to every majority decision which must be respected by all other decisions,[21] since obviously all quest for lasting answers to issues relating to right law and justice which has also been attempted by many in the modern period even in the religious spheres has proved futile; some even now ask whether ‘human rights’ is a western invention and whether it must even be given this much attention.
 New forms of Power and New Questions about how these are to be mastered
             The phenomenon of power itself and the challenges that has emerged from new forms of power especially in the last fifty years was Ratzinger’s next point of discussion. Firstly, he mentions the seemingly sudden realization that dawned on man with the start of the second world that he could destroy himself and his planet. We then seek answers as to whether there exists a proper political mechanism, how such can be discovered and how effective such a mechanism will be to prevent such destructions? However, the mutual limitation of power and fear for one’s life has to some extent proved powerful enough to save the world.
             Recent fear however is heightened more by the presence of mass weapons which are used criminally for unleashing chaos in the cosmos, activities which are independent of political structures. With such happenings in which terror even offers moral legislation for its actions, new questions arise; How can we succeed in eliminating from within this new chaos brought by man? Osama Bin Laden and his activities is a practical example of this. He portrayed terror as the only response that the oppressed of our societies could offer to their mighty, arrogant and powerful oppressors and for those oppressed under social and political situations, this method seemed most persuasive and probably the only way. He adds that, “In part, terrorists actions are portrayed as the defense of religious traditions against the godlessness of western society.”[22]  Religious fanatism then has become one of the sources of terrorism and if so, can religion be a healing and saving force for our world? Or is it an old and dangerous means which will ultimately leads to intolerance. If the answer is the latter, then reason must certainly guide religion. Moreover, the gradual abolishment of religion will be a true path to freedom and tolerance. However, reason cannot be said to be the alternative way out. Reason has turned man into his own products; he is able to make other human beings in test tubes, and this he says an entire alteration of man’s relation to his own self, also these deadly atomic bombs are the handiwork of reason, a minute part of its destructive mechanisms.
         Thomas Aquinas says “It is proper to justice, as compared with the other virtues, to direct man in his relations with other: because it denotes a kind of equality, as its very name implies.”[23]  If this is to be achieved however, with true respect for each person’s dignity and rights, Ratzinger suggest that the safer path is for reason and religion to check each other to show each other’s limits; this, he calls a positive path.
Presupposition of the law:  law- nature- reason
Ancient Greece philosophy began with wonder on cosmology and pure reasoning was the ultimate means to arrive at a conclusion.  Thus whatever is reasoned out becomes a universal law. This period also experience some enlightenment of which a divinely law becomes necessary. That is the medieval era which tries to balance this secular application of sole reason with faith; that is faith and reason.
          Closer to our own times, we have the first double rupture of the European consciousness that occurred at the beginning of the modern period and made necessary a fundamental reflection on both the content and the source of law.   The second rupture took place within Christianity itself through the division of faith that led to disintegration of the on fellowship of Christians into a number of distinct fellowships. It was necessary to elaborate a law at least a legal law antecedent of dogma; the source of this law no longer lies in faith but in natural law and human reason. This natural law has also remained in the church the key issue of dialogue between the church and the secular society. The idea of natural law presupposed a concept of nature and reason overlap, since nature itself is rational. But the secular question is interested, concerned on the specifically human tasks that the reason of man has created and that cannot be resolved without reason. However, for Christian this dialogue with the secular society is the rupture of the creator and the creature.
The intercultural dimension and its consequences.
       The intercultural dimension seems to be absolutely essential in our discussion. Such a discussion cannot be carried on exclusively either within the Christian realm or within the western rational tradition (secular society). Both entities regard themselves to be universal and they perform the universal de facto. However they obliged to acknowledge they accepted only in one part man-kind, that which is comprehensible only in mankind
         The most important point is that, there no longer exists any uniformity within the individual cultural sphere; that is there is tension between this two western sphere or power. The secular society or culture is largely dominated by strict rationality. For, Jurgen Hebermas, rationality as the element that binds people together. This tension to this pole varies; sometimes they seem to agree to learn from each other’s, other times they disagree.  At present, no rational, ethical or religious formula that would embrace and unite all persons exist; a much reason why Ratzinger rejected Hans Kung’s world ethos as an abstraction. But all hope is not lost, if the western cultures include the other cultures to from a polyphonic relatedness, in which they are receptive to the common unitary aspects of reason and faith, a universal process of purification can then proceed so, that which holds the world together can renew its effective force in man. 
EVALUATION
             The concept of secularization continues to be used, often to explain the religion-and-society relationship. Because it refers to such crucially important issues, some say that secularization spells the slow death of religion. It is vital that constant attention is paid to the development of the concept in the light of contemporary social and philosophical transformations and current research. The idea of secularization developed in the modern world as cultural critics and social scientists attempted to analyze the complex changes which led to the urban and industrial societies we know today.
            Following the strong wave of circularization in the contemporary times therefore, a lecture was organised deliberate of this topic. In this paper, we focused on the Habermas and Ratzinger debate in Munich, at the invitation of the Catholic Academy of Bavaria, on January 19, 2004.[24]  The then Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinal-theologian, Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and now Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, and Jurgen Habermas, who for decades has been a leading figure in German and Continental philosophy as a whole addressed the question regarding the pre-political normative presuppositions of the democratic constitutional state and whether or not it can justify those presuppositions without appealing to religious or metaphysical foundations. This debate came as a result of an increasing clarion call by believers and unbelievers in recent times for philosophy and religion to bridge the ever growing gap between these great disciplines. During the lecture, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, posed this provoking question to his audience: Is religion “an archaic and dangerous force that builds up false universalisms, thereby leading to intolerance and acts of terrorism”?[25]  The bulk of this debate geared towards the relationship between faith and reason because that understanding shapes their reflections on secularization and the role of religion and reason in a post-secular society (post modernity or contemporary society), meaning thereby a pluralist society.
            Corresponding to the epistemological distinction between faith and reason are the lines of demarcation between the disciplines of theology and philosophy. Theology, which presupposes the truth of the Christian faith, is the disciplined exploration of the content of revelation; it is faith seeking understanding of that truth-content received from revelation, with the aim of understanding the truths of revelation in their inner coherence, intelligibility, and justification. Philosophical knowledge, in contrast, remains within the bounds of unaided reason, that is, independent of the truths of revelation, aiming at the kind of knowledge that reason as such can gain by itself.[26]  Furthermore, a question was raised by Ratzinger thus: “Can philosophy and theology (and hence faith and reason) still enter into any kind of mutual relationship at the level of methodology?”[27]  The attempts made by Habermas in answering the above question will be discussed below.
            In his response on the topic of religion, Habermas assumed a nuanced position that continues to develop. First, he treated religion from a sociological point of view, as an archaic mode of social integration. In considering the role of religion in politics and the relationship between religious and philosophical modes of discourse, Habermas writes: “indispensable potentials for meaning are preserved in religious language” – potentials that, at least so far, have not been fully reduced to philosophical and secular reason. He surprised the audience by daring to state during the debate that Western philosophy owes much to its Christian heritage. Habermas further demanded that “the secular society acquire a new understanding of religious convictions, which are something more than mere relics of a past with which we are finished”[28]  thus, having a renewed interest in religion as an alternative supplier of rationality.
            It is important to conclude this evaluation by acknowledging that while Habermas arrives at the debate from the sphere of the discipline of ratio (reason) or philosophy, Ratzinger arrives from the horizon of the fides (faith) or religion to speak on the topic “The Pre-political moral foundations of a free state.”[29]  The two men of intellectual and scholastic repertoire argued about the bases of a society worthy of men.[30]  Their argument reached a point of agreement that no state has its ethical foundation on a neutral ground. This means that the existence of a state is an offshoot of something; thus, its moral foundation emanates from somewhere. For Habermas, he assumes that the practical force behind this is “the practical reason of a post metaphysical, secular thinking.[31] Ratzinger on the other hand holds that every decision to be taken by a society is based on a reality that exists prior to it; a reality which is by its nature a Being qua Being. He concludes that since man who takes those decisions is a creature, it then follows that he receives his life from a creator. This creator thus becomes “That which holds the world together.[32]


CONCLUSION
           What would have made these scholars wished to meet and exchange ideas? What would have prompted them to accept to speak on the chosen topic? These and similar questions would have been provoked through the course of this presentation. However, no particular answer could be given to such questions, worthy of note is that both speakers, prior to the debate, had been interested in the chosen area of the debate (the subject matter).
          For Habermas, it is seemingly viewed as a natural development in his renewed interest in religion; shown in the reflection of his paper “Glauben and Wissen” (Faith and Reason) delivered in Frankfurt in 2001. There, he explored the relationship between religion and philosophy and their modes of discourse. At the end he came to the knowledge that in religious language, indispensable potentials for meaning are ever and forever preserved. Thus this debate was yet another ample avenue to advance further his ever growing insights in the religious descriptions of realities, in his “post-secular society”.[33]
           On the part of Ratzinger, seeing the importance of meeting with Habermas, given the topic that was to be discussed; the relationship between faith and reason and the foundational values for society. Thus, we can say that faith and reason are necessary necessities which harmonize science, morality and art. This is the case because some issues of faith needs the clarification of reason and for reason to attain its perfection, faith is needed.

















BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hent De Vries and Lawrence E. Sullivan. Political Theologies, Public Religions in a Post-Secular World. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, “Faith, Philosophy and Theology,” in The Nature and Mission of Theology, Translated by Adrian Walker San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995.
Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization, On Reason and Religion. Translated by Brian McNeil, C.R.V., Edited with a Foreword by Florian Schuller, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006.
Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, Dialektik der Sakularisierung, Ignatius Press,San Francisco,2006.
Katholische Akademie. The Church and the Secular Establishment. San Francisco, Igantiius Press. 2006.
Paul J. Glenn, A Tour of the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers Inc., 1978.
Samuel Enoch Stumpf, Philosophy, History and Problems, New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1971.
The Cambridge Companion to Habermas Ed, by: Stephenk k. white, Cambridge University press, 1995.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Benziger Bros. edition, 1947.
Virgil Nemoianu. The Church and the Secular Establishment; A philosophical dialog between Joseph Ratzinger and Jurgen Habermas. Bayern, Katholishce Akademie, 2004.
http;//www.katholische-akademie-bayern.de/ zur dabatte
 
 
 


[1]Cf. Hent De Vries and Lawrence E. Sullivan. Political Theologies, Public Religions in a Post-Secular World. (New
York: Fordham University Press, 2006).
[2]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Ratzinger Joseph, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion (San Francisco: Ignatious Press, 2006), p. 9.
[3] Jurgen Habermas and Ratzinger Joseph, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, p. 11.
[4] Jurgen Habermas and Ratzinger Joseph, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, p. 15.
[5] Jurgen Habermas and Ratzinger Joseph, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, p. 15.
[6]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, Dialektik der Sakularisierung (Ignatius Press,San Francisco,2006).pp. 717.
[7]Cf. The Cambridge Companion to Habermas Ed, by: Stephenk k. white,( Cambridge University press, 1995).pp. 5-10
[8]Cf. The fundamental insight of a post-metaphysical approach is that we start from ‘within.’ There is no way to circumvent our own way of life or form of life.
[9]Cf. Virgil Nemoianu. The Church and the Secular Establishment; A philosophical dialog between Joseph Ratzinger and Jurgen Habermas. Bayern, Katholishce Akademie. 2004 pg 24
[10]Cf.  http;//www.katholische-akademie-bayern.de/ zur dabatte
[11] Katholische Akademie. The Church and the Secular Establishment. San Francisco, Igantiius Press. 2006. Pg 24
[12]Cf. Katholische Akademie. The Church and the Secular Establishment, P. 30
[13]Cf. Katholische Akademie. The Church and the Secular Establishment, P. 31
[14]Cf. Katholische Akademie. The Church and the Secular Establishment, P. 31
[15]Cf. Katholische Akademie. The Church and the Secular Establishment, p. 35
[16]Cf.  Katholische Akademie. The Church and the Secular Establishment, P. 38
[17] Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, p. 55-56
[18]  Cf. Paul J. Glenn, A Tour of the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas, (Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers Inc., 1978), p.166
[19] Cf. Paul J. Glenn, A Tour of the Summa Of St. Thomas Aquinas,p.222
[20] Samuel Enoch Stumpf, Philosophy, History and Problems, (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1971), p. 834.
[21] Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, p. 60.
[22]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, p. 64
[23]Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Benziger Bros. edition, 1947), II-II q. 57, a. 1

[24]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization, On Reason and Religion. Translated by Brian McNeil, C.R.V., Edited with a Foreword by Florian Schuller, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006.
[25]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization, On Reason and Religion.
[26]Cf.  Hent De Vries and Lawrence E. Sullivan. Political Theologies, Public Religions in a Post-Secular World. (New York: Fordham University Press, 2006).
[27]Cf. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, “Faith, Philosophy and Theology,” in The Nature and Mission of Theology, Translated by Adrian Walker (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995), 13-29.
[28]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger. The Dialectics of Secularization, On Reason and Religion, p. 11.
[29]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization, On Reason and Religion. p. 15.
[30]Cf.  Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization, On Reason and Religion. p. 15.
[31]Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization, On Reason and Religion. p. 15.
[32]Cf. The expression “That which holds the World Together”, was the title given by Ratzinger to the paper he presented during the debate with Habermas
[33] Cf. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, p. 47

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

SUMMARY OF PROVIDENTISSIMUS DEUS, ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE STUDY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE.

summary and appraisal of chapters one, two and three of the book The African Origin of Greek Philosophy: An Exercise in Afrocentrism, by Innocent C. Onyewuenyi.

THE LAST THREE WAYS TO PROVES GOD'S EXISTENCE BY THOMAS AQUINAS