Irlenborn Bernd

Focusing on Jürgen Habermas’s Also a History of Philosophy, the article argues that his conception of postmetaphysical philosophy remains internally unstable, insofar as his account of communicative reason continues to rely on holistic and implicitly metaphysical assumptions. This instability becomes particularly apparent in Habermas’s understanding of religion, as articulated in his genealogy of the entanglement of faith and reason. In this context, the priority accorded to ritual practice and fides qua over doctrinal truth-claims tends to marginalise the rational content of religious belief. From a theological perspective, the article examines the implications of this problem for the rationality of claims of strong transcendence. It concludes that, although Habermas’s project prompts a critical reassessment of enduring metaphysical frictions between faith and reason, it cannot straightforwardly serve as a source of inspiration for a postmetaphysical self-understanding of theology. The argument proceeds from the standpoint of a contemporary analytic and fallibilist conception of metaphysics.

This paper develops a conceptual and theological framework for understanding sacred places within the Christian tradition. It begins with phenomenological reflections on the nature of place, highlighting how places are constituted not merely as coordinates in space but as meaningful sites of human experience. Against this background, a typology of places is outlined in order to situate sacred places more precisely. The classical distinction between the sacred and the profane is then revisited, drawing on Durkheim, Eliade, and Nancy, while also identifying its limitations in Christian theology. Finally, the paper sketches some contours of a topology of sacred places by analysing different modalities of divine presence and their degrees of representation, from creation as God’s oikos to the Eucharist as Christ’s real presence.

This paper develops a conceptual and theological framework for understanding sacred places within the Christian tradition. It begins with phenomenological reflections on the nature of place, highlighting how places are constituted not merely as coordinates in space but as meaningful sites of human experience. Against this background, a typology of places is outlined in order to situate sacred places more precisely. The classical distinction between the sacred and the profane is then revisited, drawing on Durkheim, Eliade, and Nancy, while also identifying its limitations in Christian theology. Finally, the paper sketches some contours of a topology of sacred places by analysing different modalities of divine presence and their degrees of representation, from creation as God’s oikos to the Eucharist as Christ’s real presence.

Ist die Vorstellung überzeugend, nur eine einzige Religion für die wahre zu halten und alle anderen religiösen Überzeugungen, die mit ihren Lehren nicht übereinstimmen, als falsch zu erachten, wie der religionstheologische Exklusivismus behauptet? Oder ist es angemessener, trotz des Festhaltens an der Wahrheit und Superiorität der eigenen Religion davon auszugehen, dass auch in anderen Religionen Wahrheit und Heil zu erkennen ist, wie der religionstheologische Inklusivismus behauptet? Der Beitrag untersucht Konzepte und Versionen des Exklusivismus und Inklusivismus in der aktuellen Religionstheologie und -philosophie, und stellt Argumente vor, die für und gegen die jeweilige Position sprechen.