Between Christian Democracy and Critical Theory: Habermas, Böckenförde, and the Dialectics of Secularization in Postwar Germany

Over the last twenty years, the classical theory of secularization has suffered a series of near fatal humiliations. It was Max Weber who deserves greatest credit for the orthodox thesis, according to which modernization brought an inevitable differentiation of value spheres, a thoroughgoing rationa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social research 2013-04, Vol.80 (1), p.173-202
Main Author: Gordon, Peter E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authority
Charisma
Christian morality
Christianity
Christians
Conservatism
Credit
Critical theory
Democracy
Dialectics
Differentiation
Essays
Federal Republic of Germany
German language
Germany
Habermas, Jurgen
Ideology
Islam
Legitimacy
Liberalism
Metaphysics
Militant democracy
Mitchell, Maria
Modernization
Nazism
Normativity
Norms
Participation
Philosophers
Politics
Rationality
Rationalization
Ratzinger, Joseph
Recall
Recall of government officials
Religion
Religion & politics
Religion Politics Relationship
Religious orthodoxy
Secularism
Secularization
Theory
Trauma
Values
Weber, Max
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Summary:Over the last twenty years, the classical theory of secularization has suffered a series of near fatal humiliations. It was Max Weber who deserves greatest credit for the orthodox thesis, according to which modernization brought an inevitable differentiation of value spheres, a thoroughgoing rationalization of procedure, and the consequent disenchantment of the world. The classical theory presupposed that the comprehensive metaphysical and normative authority of religion could not long survive once it stood exposed to the disarticulating processes of rationalization: charisma would yield to bureaucratic routine and, without the requisite authorization for normative consensus, the social whole would shatter into a mosaic of incommensurable parts. It is crucial to recall that German Christian Democracy gained institutional and ideological legitimacy in the early years of political trauma when a clean break from the Third Reich seemed a prerequisite for democratic participation. German conservatives who might otherwise have suffered from the stigmas of the past developed a legitimizing political-theological narrative that saw Nazism as the denouement of secularization. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0037-783X
1944-768X
1944-768X
DOI:10.1353/sor.2013.0026