Jonathan Chaplin on Talking God

Jonathan Chaplin, Talking God: The Legitimacy of Religious Public Reasoning (London: Theos, 2008).

The latest email update from Theos, a public theology think tank, reports on the official launch of a report by Jonathan Chaplin, freely available online here.

It explores the legitimacy of religious public reasoning, arguing that public reasoning can often be religious – not that ‘confessional candour’ has a place in every political discussion, but that religious people should be at liberty to articulate their core convictions, and that the public square should always be open to ‘God talk’.

At the launch, Jonathan Chaplin noted: ‘The majority of commentators appear to think it is inappropriate for religious believers to appeal to their own faith commitments in public debate. The reality is that secular commentators have their own faith commitments. It is just as reasonable for public reasoning to be religious as “secular”. The challenge for all parties is to ensure that their arguments enrich political debate.’