Recognition and Religion A Historical and Systematic Study

Another remarkable text that employs‘acknowledgement’ in a
similar manner is John Locke’sLetter Concerning Toleration. For
Locke, the acknowledgement of proper authority is an essential sign
of belonging to a religion. As religious acknowledgement entails
submission to proper political authority, it is impossible for a Muslim
to be genuinely faithful to a Christian magistrate:

It is ridiculous for any one to profess himself to be a Mahometan only in

his religion, but in everything else a faithful subject to a Christian

magistrate, whilst at the same time he acknowledges himself (se fate-

atur) bound to yield blind obedience to the Mufti of Constantinople...

this Mahometan living amongst Christians would yet more apparently

renounce their government if he acknowledged (agnosceret)the

same person to be head of his Church who is the supreme magistrate

in the state.^12

I will not cover Locke’s argument as a whole but only the ways in
which he employs the concept of acknowledgement. Like Hobbes,
Locke thinks that a person has control over his or her own act of
acknowledgement. In Locke’s argument, religious conviction is a
package that includes personal allegiance to proper authority. At
the same time, the act of acknowledgement is an autonomous reality
that can be employed properly or improperly.
This feature of autonomy is even more evident in thefinal part of
the letter, in which Locke explains how Catholicism and Lutheranism
are different religions because they subscribe to different authorities.
The difference between these two religions consists in the acknow-
ledgement of authorities:

The Papists and Lutherans, though both of them profess faith in Christ

and are therefore called Christians, yet are not both of the same religion,

because these acknowledge (agnoscunt) nothing but the Holy Scriptures

to be the rule and foundation of their religion, those take in also

traditions and the decrees of Popes and of these together make the

rule of their religion....amongst those who acknowledge (agnoscunt)

nothing but the Holy Scriptures to be their rule of faith, heresy is a

separation made in their Christian communion for opinions not con-

tained in the express words of Scripture.^13

In this passage the act of acknowledgement is the basic conviction of
believers; while it may be narrower or broader, it is something that is

(^12) Locke,Toleration, 134. Trans. Popple. (^13) Toleration, 150.
114 Recognition and Religion