groups rather than opinions and convictions. At the same time,
however, opinions and convictions also play a significant role in the
acts of recognition. While some scholars think that recognition is an
advanced or fully developed form of modern toleration, others con-
sider that the two attitudes differ from one another considerably. The
present study will return to all these issues in more detail below.
Contemporary theologians and scholars of religion are vaguely
familiar with the idea of recognition in two different ways. In the
ecumenical movement,‘mutual recognition’is often used as a technical
term that denotes the approval of different practices: for instance, in
baptism or ordained ministry. This use of the concept comes very close
to that of agreement, as the religious groups recognizing one another
are considered to agree on basic doctrinal matters. In addition to this
older usage, theologians have become aware of the sociological dis-
course on multiculturalism and the psychological discussion regarding
the universal need for interpersonal recognition.^3
In Christian theology, the doctrine of justification of the sinner
offers an intuitive counterpart to the psychology of recognition. The
biblical language of justification depicts an event in which God, often
imagined as heavenly judge, considers and declares the human person
as righteous, although that person is guilty by the normal standards of
justice. In justifying the sinner, God thus performs an act of approval
that changes the person’s status.^4 As the societal and psychological
acts of recognition also equip the person with the new status of
citizenship or interpersonal esteem, they bear some intuitive likeness
to the theological act of justification. Obviously, this analogy has its
limits, because sin and guilt are not supposed to play any role in the
societal realm. The analogy is focused on the declarative act of status
change rather than on its precise contents.
In his influential treatise on justification, German Protestant theo-
logian Eberhard Jüngel makes use of the analogy between recognition
and justification. Jüngel writes that‘it is essential for people to be
recognized. Their personhood depends on it. As human beings, we
demand recognition for ourselves. The wish for justification has its
source in this basic human need for recognition.’For Jüngel, this
source is not primarily theological but can be grasped as part of the
(^3) The present study discusses these works in sections 1.3 and 3.6.
(^4) For an introductory biblical-theological discussion, see Jüngel 2006 and
Wright 2009.
2 Recognition and Religion