Science, Action and Fundamental Theology: Toward a Theology of Communicative Action (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought) - Tapa dura

"Helmut Peukert's "Science, Action, and Fundamental Theology" is almost the first--it could be the best--serious application of Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action to recent developments in theology. This unlikely wedding between political theology and critical theory constitutes a new synthesis which will certainly endure."--David M. Rasmussen, Boston College

This book offers a rigorous examination of the possibility of a theology based on contemporary conceptions of rationality, with special attention given to Jurgen Habermas's idea of a communicative rationality. The title underscores the interdisciplinary nature of the author's attempt to formulate a foundational theory of theology in response to the challenges of the theories of science and action in this century.The opening section discusses the reception of analytic philosophies of science and language in Germany. A convergence is then established between the theory of science and fundamental theology via the theory of communicative action.The second section of the book is particularly challenging. It deals with the relationship between theology and the theory of action. The limits and paradoxes of communicative action and its normative postulates point toward what Peukert calls the authentic problem--dimension of theological discourse and toward the religious language of the Judeo-Christian tradition. These remarkable arguments form a permanent contribution to the foundational theory of theology and to the contemporary debate on communicative ethics.This book is in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy.