ABSTRACT
The key dividing line in the scholarly debate concerning religion and the secular in different disciplines is between those who see the distinction as analytically meaningful and those who see the distinction as an object of discursive study. One of the rare examples of translations Habermas provides is that the biblical idea that humans are created in the image of God can be translated as a defence of human freedom and autonomy. Another way of looking at the debates between religion and the secular has been developed by US historian of religion, Bruce Lincoln, who pays special attention to language and discourse. He defines religion as discourse whose defining characteristic is its desire to speak of things eternal and transcendent with an authority equally transcendent and eternal. It has become commonplace to talk about so-called return of the religious in political theory. This is also known as political theology, which investigates how theological concepts, ideas and discourses relate to politics.
