Rawls and Religion

John Rawls's influential theory of justice and public reason has often been thought to exclude religion from politics, out of fear of its illiberal and destabilizing potentials. It has therefore been criticized by defenders of religion for marginalizing and alienating the wealth of religious sensibilities, voices, and demands now present in contemporary liberal societies.

In this anthology, established scholars of Rawls and the philosophy of religion reexamine and rearticulate the central tenets of Rawls's theory to show they in fact offer sophisticated resources for accommodating and responding to religions in liberal political life. The chapters reassert the subtlety, openness, and flexibility of his sense of liberal "respect" and "consensus," revealing their inclusive implications for religious citizens. They also explore the means he proposes for accommodating nonliberal religions in liberal politics, developing his conception of "public reason" into a novel account of the possibilities for rational engagement between liberal and religious ideas. And they reevaluate Rawls's liberalism from the "transcendent" perspectives of religions themselves, critically considering its normative and political value, as well as its own "religious" character. Rawls and Religion makes a unique and important contribution to contemporary debates over liberalism and its response to the proliferation of religions in contemporary political life.

Tom Bailey teaches philosophy at John Cabot University in Rome. His research focuses on contemporary political philosophy, ethics, and the history of modern philosophy. He is the editor of Deprovincializing Habermas: Global Perspectives. Valentina Gentile is vice director of the Center for Ethics and Global Politics at LUISS University in Rome. Her research focuses on liberal tolerance, reasonable pluralism, and moral stability in divided societies, and on justice and recognition. She is the author of From Identity Conflict to Civil Society: Restoring Human Dignity and Pluralism in Deeply Divided Societies.