The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (A Columbia / SSRC Book)

Very good, broad-minded and deep in general. I can point as jewels: Cornel West descripion af a poet in pag. 93 (complemented in p.98) and its dissection of prophetic religión in pag. 99; tough I do not agree with his opinión that President Obama is mesmerized by the braininess of technocratic elites.

An alternative title for this book could be: "how can left-wing intellectuals cope with religious arguments in public political debate in a liberal post-christian democracy." The speakers are clearly extermely intelligent and arctiuclate and with deep understanding of the topics. They don't agree on everything, but the spectrum of views is rather narrow. They also acknwoledge their bias, but what is a discussion worth when the conclusions are foregone?A case in point, which curiously enough is not addressed in any of the talks, is the Muhammad cartictaures affair. There is a tension between a view that holds that speech and actions in the public sphere entail responsibility - for example, when public figures in the the U.S. are expected to be "policially correct" and not speak as freely as they do in private - and the secular interpretation of freedom of speech in which "blasphemy" is meaningless, and in which the most you can say about the Muhammad caricatures is that they offended the feelings of some people - which of course misses the point. I didn't find that this book really addresses such issues. To the extent that it does it does so from a purely secular point-of-view.

When I received this in the mail, I was a little put-off by how small the book was. But the quality of the content won me over: Not only are the essays themselves important and thought provoking, but the editing is amazing. Each pair of essays is situated with a transcript of a debate between the two authors. This encouraged me to think of each essay in relation to the other essays in the book--to compare each take on the role of religion and the purview of the public sphere.

I bought this book out of a requirement for a university course.These thinkers bloviate incessantly, forming a insipid word salad. In addition, this left wing academic thought they mostly have is also detached from reality.

Great insight...still reading it. I read what I needed for my research paper, but I definitely plan to go back and finish reading all of it.

I expected a more interesting book about the matter, it is superficial and doesn't pose anything new about secularism and religion.

Judith Butler reduces the level of discussion considerably. Her eccentricities simply do not pass for serious intellectual examination of the topic.

Not a light read. Some good information but densely written.

No problems!!

Simplemente horrible, parece de segunda mano, golpeado y sin emplayado para al menos conservar bien el libro, más aún que es un regalo y dar un libro así se me hace de pésimo gusto, en Gandhi protegen mejor los libros pero esto es un insulto para cualquier lector.

Excellent book from leading experts on the Public Sphere. The exchange of views between the contributors to the book, the concluding discussion and Craig Calhoun's Afterword bring great clarity to a complex area that deserves the critical analysis it has received.Michael Madigan

le sujet du livre est d'actualité; j'avais déjà lu des livres de Habermas et de Taylor et étais intéressé par leur dialogue ainsi que par l'intervention de j Butler la quelité de leurs interventions a répondu à mon attente

Dieses Buch ist ein absolutes 'must' für Politik-interessierte.Es zeigt auf, wie täglich religiöse Denkstrukturen angesprochen werden, wie mit dem Rückgriff auf religiöse Prägung argumentiert und manipuliert wird.Der Begriff der Schuld wird im öffentlichen Bereich beliebig eingesetzt, verkleidet in Sprache,die nicht klar auf den Inhalt hinweist ,sondern nur suggeriert-gefährlich. Daraus entwickelt sich im Menschen eine Haltung, die mit aufrechtem Gang nichts zu tun hat