Berkley Center

Beyond Church and State: Democracy, Secularism, and Conversion by Matthew Scherer seeks to reshape perceptions about secularism. Specifically, the author rejects the paradigm that secularism stands simply as a wall between church and state, and instead interprets it as an active process that seeks to reshape the nation. Scherer describes the process as "conversion," using a similar definition to the one used in religion. Scherer develops his thesis by looking at the works of key social philosophers and theologians, including John Locke, John Rawls, and Augustine. The book was published by Cambridge University Press.

Table of Contents
Introduction: Beyond the Separation of Church and State – Secularism as      Conversion
Chapter 1: Authorized Narrative and Crystalline Structure: Conversion in      Augustine's Confessions
Chapter 2: Toleration and Conversion in Locke's Letters: It Is “Above all Things      Necessary to Distinguish”
Chapter 3: The Crystalline Structure of Conversion: Henri Bergson's Two      Sources
Chapter 4: Saint John (Rawls): The Miracle of Secular Reason
Chapter 5: The Wish for a Better Life: Stanley Cavell's Critique of the Social      Contract
Conclusion: From Supernovas into The Deep – Secularism as Conversion, a      Conversion of Secularism…