The Role of Religion in the Public Sphere

Christian Moral Principles

In this course, Dr Ulrich Schmiedel (University of Edinburgh) explores Christian moral principles, and the engagement between religion and politics. In the first module, we examine the role of religion in the public sphere and responses to the involvement of religion in politics throughout European history. In the second module, we investigate the relationship between the Bible, ethics and politics and the role of scriptural interpretation. In the third module, we look at varying approaches to theological ethics and a theological understanding of heteronomy, autonomy and theonomy. In the fourth lecture we explore the role of Christians in a pluralist society, before finally coming to political theological discourse in the work of Dorothee Sölle.

The Role of Religion in the Public Sphere

In this module, we investigate the role of religion in the public sphere, focusing in particular on (i) religion’s involvement in politics (ii) the history of religion and politics in Europe (iii) changing philosophical and political views on religion from the Enlightenment (iv) secularisation, secularism, and secularity (v) the rise and fall of secularisation theory and changing geopolitical landscape in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.