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The Task of Liberal Theory after September 11

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2004

J. Judd Owen
Affiliation:
J. Judd Owen is assistant professor of political science at Emory University and a fellow at the Center on Religion and Democracy at the University of Virginia (jjowen@emory.edu)

Extract

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, presented liberal societies with grave practical challenges. Yet, they also exposed the single most profound theoretical challenge since liberalism's origins: the challenge of illiberal revealed theology. Today's challenge is, in fact, a variety of liberal theory's original antagonist. The radical renewal of this old challenge, in a form markedly different from that which the early liberal theorists faced, requires fresh consideration from liberal theorists today.J. Judd Owen is the author of Religion and the Demise of Liberal Rationalism and is working on a book entitled Religious Apathy and the Democratic Citizen. He thanks Peter Ahrensdorf, Robert Bartlett, Jennifer Hochschild, John Owen IV, Carrie Rosefsky Wickham, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and criticisms.

Type
PERSPECTIVES
Copyright
© 2004 American Political Science Association

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