L'incerto rapporto fra il teologo e la teoria critica negativa : annotazioni a margine dell'Enciclica Spe salvi di Benedetto XVI.

Abstract

The article discusses some quotations by T. W Adorno and M. Horkheimer included in the Pope Benedict XVI Spe Salvi encyclical letter, and explains how those misinterpret the so-called 'negative critical theory'. Such a discussion includes also a critical assessment of various questions directly or indirectly dealt with in the encyclical letter, concerning the relationship between theologies and social sciences and the possibility to establish a dialogue between them. The difference between materialist 'negative' analysis and theology is thus clarified and the role played by the concept of hypostatisation within the critical theory is defined. On these bases, it is suggested that it is possible to devise a theory on how the religious institutions tend to manage the religious need. Illustration then is offered on the differences between a 'religion of certainties', arguably endorsed in Spe Salvi, and a 'religion of trust' or hope, which seems closer to the negative critical theory. In the final section, the rejection of secularisation, typical of certain sectors of the religious world, is criticised. Conversely, the positive contributions of the thorough secularisation advocated by the negative critical theory is outlined. It is argued that from a similar intellectual framework a 'negative theology' may be articulated as a source of genuine hope and stimulus against all total identifications which bring about intolerance and alienation.