Subject: Re: HAB: RE: Rawls and Inquisition in medieval Europe..
Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 07:10:09 +0000



Ken

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I was though looking for something 
else. I have found an interesting article in my search. May be you would 
like to have a look.

William T. Cavanaugh, "A fire strong enough to consume the house: The wars 
of Religion and the rise of the state" Modern Theology 11: 4 October 1995.

best
ali


----Original Message Follows----
From: Kenneth MacKendrick <kenneth.mackendrick-AT-utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
To: habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Subject: HAB: RE: Rawls and Inquisition in medieval Europe..
Date: Sun, 4 May 2003 02:43:25 -0500



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
[mailto:owner-habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu] On Behalf Of Ali Rizvi
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2003 2:15 AM
To: habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Subject: HAB: Rawls and Inquisition in medieval Europe..

 > Rawls claims in Political liberalism that "In the society of the Middle
Ages, more or less united in affirming the Catholic faith, the Inquisition
was not an accident; its suppression of heresy was needed to preserve that
shared religious belief" (PL: 37).

KM: This is a rather simplistic understanding of the Inquisition (to be
sure!). The Inquisition, at least to my knowledge, wasn't really about
purging the Elect from the heretics (social function) or unifying the faith
(symbolic meaning) - but a way of producing a particular kind of politics
through religious ritual. Judicial torture as a religious ritual works to
produce truthful discourses and makes subjects respond to authority... The
Inquisition (judicial torture) followed on the heels of accusatorial
procedure: the duel, ordeal, and sacred oath. Ordeals and oaths produce
truth through the fate of battle, or the test of pain. Inquisitorial
procedure is established by a judge, without resource to fate or the
supernatural - i.e. inquisitorial torture is more logical or rational than
ordeals... I'm not much of a scholar on the Inquisition, but you could check
out Talal Asad, "Pain and Truth in Medieval Christian Ritual" and "On
Discipline and Humility in Medieval Christian Monasticism" in Genealogies of
Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam (1993).
The notion of any kind of shared religious belief is largely a rhetorical
remark... it places an emphasis on "belief" rather than practice - thus
reifying the significance of what people are doing. It is a grand
ahistorical summary that ignores the details. Even if people did share
similar beliefs (and there isn't much evidence of this)... they didn't much
do the same thing as a manifestation of these 'beliefs.'

ken



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