ABSTRACT

The myth of reason is the belief that human beings are capable of accumulating increasing amounts of increasingly accurate knowledge about themselves and the world, knowledge that is relevant to collective human fulfillment. Succeeding and failing throughout the world, movements in the service of human rights, social equality, and environmental sanity are the latest manifestations of a long and noble tradition. They are our greatest hope against those who would remake the world in the image of global capitalism. When the Greek emphasis on reason and human fulfillment and the biblical emphasis on fairness and concern for the weak combine with the belief that fundamental social change is possible, we get world-making politics. The political gift of the Judeo-Christian tradition is its moral imperative to sanctify the world. The great danger is that its ethical activism can turn into fanaticism and violence against those who disagree.