Abstract:
What is the practical relationship between governance, faith, kingdom theology, and discourse ethics? Drawing on insights gleaned from a decade of work in grassroots political organizing, this paper argues that the utopian ideal embedded in the discourse ethics of Jürgen Habermas can find a measure of practical fulfillment in history by being taken up within the proclamation of Christ’s inaugurated, eschatological Kingdom. However, this theological appropriation/fulfillment doesn’t leave our discourse ethics unchanged. By exploring the centrality of faith/pistis in both discourse (as persuasion) and governance (as covenant faithfulness), this theologically recovers Habermasian democratic ideals, while holding them in a ‘negatively dialectical’ tension, taking up critical insights from both Theodor Adorno and Jürgen Habermas in a Discourse Ethic of the Kingdom. It then explores an accessible outworking of this theological and political-theoretical framework, in a dialogue between a liberal and a Christian fool. The dialogue explores the relationship between the Kingdom, nationalism, Christendom, and Islamic law, opening up fresh avenues for discursive and practical political engagement across secular, Christian, and Islamic faith traditions.
The full paper is attached to this post.
This post has 1 attachment(s) that you cannot view or download. Please join SVS, and then try again.Daniel L. Heck. Who Governs You? Discourse Ethics in Kingdom Theology, Faith, and Governance.pdf
