THE POLITICAL PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
AND WHY PHILOSOPHERS CAN’T SOLVE IT
by Thaddeus J. Kozinski
Foreword by James V. Schall, SJ
ABOUT THE BOOK
In contemporary political philosophy, there is much debate over how to maintain a public order in pluralistic democracies in which citizens hold radically different religious views. The Political Problem of Religious Pluralism deals with this theoretically and practically difficult issue by examining three of the most influential figures of religious pluralism theory: John Rawls, Jacques Maritain, and Alasdair MacIntyre.
Drawing on a diverse number of sources, Kozinski addresses the flaws in each philosopher’s views and shows that the only philosophically defensible end of any overlapping consensus political order must be the eradication of the ideological pluralism that makes it necessary. In other words, a pluralistic society should have as its primary political aim to create the political conditions for the communal discovery and political establishment of that unifying tradition within which political justice can most effectively be obtained.
*
“In this rigorously argued book, Thaddeus Kozinski suggests that critiques of liberalism must find their resolution in the idea of a confessional state. Those of us who disagree will be forced to offer equally rigorous defenses of a Christian politics that is neither liberal nor state-centered. Any contemporary vision of a theological politics must take this book’s stimulating and provocative argument into account. “
—William T. Cavanaugh, Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology and DePaul University
“A sophisticated, cumulative case for the moral limitations and metaphysical bankruptcy of liberal political philosophy-even in its Catholic (Maritainian) form. Drawing on the much-discussed MacIntyre but going beyond him, the author shows why civil society, and the State, need a sacral keystone to complete the arch of a comprehensive human good. My only disappointment is that the book ended so soon, before displaying what a humane theopolitically legitimated State might look like: I await with eagerness a sequel where the author will do justice to his constructive as well as analytic gifts. ”
—Aidan Nichols OP, Blackfriars Cambridge
“Thaddeus Kozinski belongs to a new generation of Catholic scholars for whom the social consensus of the 1950s is something known only from oral history and old movies, and the Catholic social theory formulated within that context is woefully inadequate to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. This work brings the theories of John Rawls, Jacques Maritain and Alasdair MacIntyre into dialog and reaches the conclusion that there are problems within the realm of political theory that cannot be solved philosophically—solutions need to be found elsewhere. Kozinski’s book is on the cutting edge of a new generation of Catholic political theory and will be valuable for students of political theory everywhere regardless of their theological backgrounds.”
—Tracey Rowland, John Paul II Institute
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thaddeus J. Kozinski is assistant professor of humanities and philosophy at Wyoming Catholic College.
