Immodest proposals: Learned liberal consensus as a cannibalistic theological system
This article considers imperial Roman and German forms of liberal elite consensus on “proper religious diversity” to set the stage for an examination of the contemporary form of liberal consensus discernible in a recent public talk given by Charles Taylor and Rowan Williams. In each case, attention...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
[2020]
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| In: |
Critical research on religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 8, Issue: 2, Pages: 178-195 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Williams, Rowan 1950-
/ Taylor, Charles 1931-
/ Roman Empire
/ Political elite
/ Germany
/ Religious pluralism
/ Liberalism
/ Religious identity
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| IxTheo Classification: | AA Study of religion AD Sociology of religion; religious policy FA Theology |
| Further subjects: | B
Charles Taylor
B liberal consensus B Rowan Wiliams B crypto-theology B Religious Diversity B Religious Studies |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article considers imperial Roman and German forms of liberal elite consensus on “proper religious diversity” to set the stage for an examination of the contemporary form of liberal consensus discernible in a recent public talk given by Charles Taylor and Rowan Williams. In each case, attention is drawn to the ways in which “proper religious diversity” is defined to serve ideological and theological agendas. Romanitas, Germanentum, and the Taylor-Williams consensus are cannibalistic theological systems: each uses a public stance of reasonable openmindedness regarding “proper religious diversity” to build and police a theological position that arrogates the perceived value of selected “religious” traditions by re-making them in its own image. Imperial Romanitas and Germanentum served in this way to absorb a diversity of traditions deemed palatable and digestible into overarching theological visions which were convenient to those in power. When Taylor and Williams use the platform of Religious Studies to promote the modern liberal view of “diversity in (true) religion” as a source of pro-social order, their efforts serve a similar crypto-theological and imperialist project. |
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| ISSN: | 2050-3040 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Critical research on religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/2050303219900237 |