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1
Jeong, Yongtaek. "Minjung Theology as a Project of Profanation: Focusing on the Minjung-Event Theory of Byung-Mu Ahn." Religions 14, no. 11 (November 8, 2023): 1395. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel14111395.
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The relationship between minjung theology and the process of social change called secularization or theoretical and practical projects based on such processes of social change is complex. It requires more detailed discussions. Therefore, this paper seeks to reinterpret minjung theology as a theological minjung project using the methodology of new-style phenomenology of religion with a theoretical basis on Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s conceptions of secularization and profanation as projects with religious intentions and orientations. Through this reinterpretation, the paper demonstrates that minjung theology in relation to secularization is a unique theological project with very different goals from those of Latin American liberation theology as well as other political and situation theologies. In order to accomplish this purpose, the paper first introduces French sociologist Émile Durkheim who has explained secularization differently from German sociologist Max Weber. It then shows that secularization is not the only way in which the sacred is reappropriated through Agamben’s discussions of secularization and profanation. To identify the passage from secularization to profanation of the concept of minjung, this paper analyzes the minjung-event theory of Byung-Mu Ahn, a representative first-generation minjung theologian. This theory emphasizes the importance of “event” as a way of understanding minjung instead of defining it conceptually. Insofar as it presents the minjung as an intrinsically unnamable, invisible, and unpredictable event, a form of religious phenomenon called “the sacred”, minjung-event theory involves an attempt to secularize Jesus-Messiah as the Minjung-Messiah. In conclusion, this paper argues that beyond the secularization of the Messiah into the Minjung, minjung-event theory moves toward a dialectical project of desacralization and re-sacralization, in which the minjung itself is profaned into an event.
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Oprean, Daniel G. "The Secularization of the Church." Kairos 14, no. 2 (November 24, 2020): 7–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.32862/k.14.2.1.
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The aim of this paper is to explore a few factors that contribute to the tendency towards secularization in the evangelical churches in Central and Eastern Europe. It further suggests theological remedies to address the causes of secularization. The thesis of this paper is that there are three causes for the tendency towards secularization. First is the secularization of theological education, second is the crisis of ecclesial identity, and third is the secularization of leadership. The first proposal of this paper is that the remedy for the secularization of theological education is redefining theology as communion, theological education as transformation, and theological formation as discipleship. Second, the remedy for the crisis of ecclesial identity that leads to negative identity markers is the replacement of the external conformation model of Christian life (which leads to social isolation, subculturality, and spiritual abuse) with the internal transformation model, which leads to a healthy spirituality and a meaningful theology of mission. Third and finally, the remedy for the secularization of leadership is the rediscovery of the kenotic model of Christian life and ministry.
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Christiaens, Tim. "Hayek’s vicarious secularization of providential theology." Philosophy & Social Criticism 45, no. 1 (April 17, 2018): 71–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0191453718768360.
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Friedrich Hayek’s defense of neoliberal free market capitalism hinges on the distinction between economies and catallaxies. The former are orders instituted via planning, whereas the latter are spontaneous competitive orders resulting from human action without human design. I argue that this distinction is based on an incomplete semantic history of “economy.” By looking at the meaning of “ oikonomia” in medieval providential theology as explained by Giorgio Agamben and Joseph Vogl, I argue how Hayek’s science of catallactics is itself a secularization of providential theology. This exposes Hayek to three criticisms: (1) he unjustifiably neglects the possibility of tendencies toward spontaneous disorder in free markets, (2) he condemns the “losers” of neoliberal competition to being providential waste on the road to general prosperity, and (3) he imposes on people the duty to consent to a neoliberal order that hinders them from cultivating their inoperativity.
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Zaluchu, Sonny Eli. "Mengkritisi Teologi Sekularisasi." Kurios 4, no. 1 (April 11, 2018): 26. http://dx.doi.org/10.30995/kur.v4i1.31.
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The theology of secularization was a product of a changing age that was triggered by a shift in philosophical thought at the time of enlightenment. Rationalism put human hegemony over dogmatic issues so that theology also ought to be able to answer a changing need for the postmodern era. This article aimed to show a reflection presented by secularisation theology in post-liberalism. The method used was descriptive historical, to explain the theology of secularization in the context of changes and needs of modern humans until today. The conclusion is that secularization theology is an actualization of modern thought that seeks to apply the values of Christianity in the context of a wider world, independent of its religious and dogmatic hegemony.AbstrakTeologi sekularisasi merupakan produk dari sebuah perubahan jaman yang dipicu oleh pergeseran pemikiran filsafat pada masa pencerahan. Rasionalisme mengembalikan hegemoni manusia di atas persoalan dogmatis, sehingga teologi juga harus dapat menjawab sebuah kebutuhan jaman yang sedang menuju ke arah posmodern. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menunjukkan sebuah refleksi yang dihadirkan oleh pemikiran teologi sekularisasi pada masa post-liberalisme. Metode yang digunakan adalah deskriptif historis, untuk menjelaskan tentang teologi sekularisasi pada konteks perubahan dan kebutuhan manusia jaman modern hingga saat ini. Sebagai kesimpulan, teologi sekularisasi merupakan aktualisasi pemikiran modern yang mencoba menerapkan nilai-nilai kekristenan dalam konteks dunia yang lebih luas, yang terlepas dari hegemoni agama dan dogmatikanya.
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Gearon, Liam. "The Educational Sociology and Political Theology of Disenchantment: From the Secularization to the Securitization of the Sacred." Religions 10, no. 1 (December 27, 2018): 12. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10010012.
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This article provides an outline theoretical synthesis of educational sociological and political theology, through the concept of ‘disenchantment’ to afford insights on critical current debates around secularization and securitization. Drawing together two originating frameworks—Max Weber’s (1918) sociological theorization of religious authority’s intellectual demise as disenchantment of the modern world and Carl Schmitt’s (1922) contemporaneous framing of a political theology—this article argues that a bringing together of these apparently disparate perspectives facilitates an understanding of securitization as a staging post in the history of the secularization of religion in education. Here an educational sociology and political theology of disenchantment thereby provides embryonic evidence of the securitization of the sacred as a staging post in the history of secularization. It is argued, in conclusion, that all these framings are a matter of decision-making in the exercise of ideological, political and theological power in and through education. Such decision-making in educational policy presents new sociological and political-theological territory for empirical and theoretical analysis of the shifting sources of authority amongst what C. Wright Mills called the “power elite”.
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Belokobylskiy, Aleksandr. "Theology and secularization: the paradox of Abelard." Skhid, no. 4(136) (August 22, 2015): 13–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.21847/1728-9343.2015.4(136).48331.
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Álvarez Solís, Ángel Octavio. "El retorno antimoderno. Mito y teología política en tiempos postseculares." Theoría. Revista del Colegio de Filosofía, no. 33 (December 1, 2017): 27–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/ffyl.16656415p.2017.33.420.
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The main argument of this essay highlights the political importance of the myths regarding the formation of the modern debate around secularization, especially the role that political myths and theologies play in the configuration of the modernity. The essay is divided in three parts. The first one supports that the political myth constitutes the blind point of modernity; the second one emphasizes why it is impossible to explain secularization without the help of politic theology, and the third one describes the return of theological thought in the current debates on secularization.
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Bedir, Murteza. "Fikih to Law: Secularization Through Curriculum." Islamic Law and Society 11, no. 3 (2004): 378–401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568519042544385.
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AbstractThis is a study of the transformation of the Muslim understanding of the concept of fikih in the last two centuries. I argue that the western notion of 'law' considerably influenced the form of fikih, transforming it into 'Islamic law', a process that has culminated in a 'new stage' in the history of fikih. I will attempt to describe the general features of this transformation as well as its implications in the Turkish context. I begin by explaining the meanings of the terms şeriat, fikih, hukuk and kanun. I then present an historical overview of developments in the field of law in Turkey since the second half of the nineteenth century, with particular attention to codification. Next, I examine the curriculum of the faculty of theology, which, after the 1920s, was the sole official venue for teaching fikih in Turkey. Finally, I attempt to measure the extent of change in the perception of fikh by modern Muslims by examining the form and content of a textbook commonly used in theology faculties in Turkey.
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Fabbri, Renaud. "Political Theology and the Dialectics of (Counter)Secularization." Politics and Religion 6, no. 4 (May 23, 2013): 730–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755048313000229.
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AbstractThis article builds on Habermas's hypothesis of a post-secular world society and on Voegelin's philosophy of consciousness. It first analyzes the genesis of the post-secular hypothesis in the work of Habermas. It then looks at the historical roots of the post-secular world society since the Axial Age. Finally, it delineates the evolution of religious actors in modern societies, at the political and cognitive levels, focusing on the European Counter-revolutionaries, the Islamist and post-Islamist movements of the Middle East, and the Hindu Nationalists. The article concludes that Habermas's hypothesis provides a plausible alternative to neo-Schmittian theory of the Clash of Civilizations proposed by Huntington.
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GEORGE, ROBERT, DAVID VANDRUNEN, PHILIP TACHIN, and RICHARD J. MOUW. "PANEL ON PUBLIC THEOLOGY." Unio Cum Christo 6, no. 2 (October 1, 2020): 235. http://dx.doi.org/10.35285/ucc6.2.2020.pan.
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1. How Is Your Position Fitted To Address The Problems Of Public Theology? 2. Does Natural Theology Have A Contribution To Make To Public Theology? 3. How Do You Conceive Of Law And Gospel In Relation To Social Issues? 4. What Is The Role Of Common Grace In The Present Secular Situation In The West? 5. What Would Be The Best Outcome Of The Present Secularization Other Than Christ’s Return? 6. From Your Point Of View, What Is The Major Problem With Other Positions? KEYWORDS:
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Molina, Almudena. "Evading Secularization: Prophecy as a Theological-Political Figure." Religions 14, no. 4 (March 23, 2023): 437. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel14040437.
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Carl Schmitt proposes a political theology founded on the paradigm of secularization. In an attempt to evade secularization, Strauss responds to Schmitt’s approach in Philosophy and Law by subtly recovering the Maimonidean prophet. By doing so, Strauss points to the prophet as a theological–political figure who, as a ruler, survives the secularization of the Enlightenment. Following the trajectory laid out by Strauss, this article explores prophecy as an unsecularizable figure. By approaching the prophet as an unsecularizable figure, the objective of this paper is to: (1) explore prophecy as a theological–political figure through Strauss’s particular interpretation of Maimonides’ prophetology in Philosophy and Law; (2) examine the Enlightenment secularization thesis in the light of prophecy; and (3) vindicate the anarchic character of prophecy in postmodern and post-secular times.
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Fetisov, Maxim. "Political Theology and Secularization: On the Inexorability of a Concept." Sotsiologicheskoe Obozrenie / Russian Sociological Review 17, no. 3 (2018): 30–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.17323/1728-192x-2018-3-30-55.
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The collapse of the Soviet bloc and the demise of grand secular emancipatory ideologies led to a growth of interest in the topics concerning religion and secularization. One of the vivid manifestations of this interest is a significant resurgence of research interest in political theology during the last three decades. The paper is intended to deal not so much with political theology in the narrow sense of the term, usually associated with the names of Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss or Walter Benjamin as to explore some cases in the history of thought revealing the political power of religion. The first case deals with Michel Foucault’s experience of Iranian Revolution. It argues that his exploration of the so-called “political spirituality”, a vague and widely criticized notion, discloses the problematics of political theology not as a historical inheritance or a marginal intellectual activity but as a living constituent reality pointing towards the limits of Western political mind. The second case is devoted to a widely known study of religion within post-secular societies done by a renowned German philosopher Jürgen Habermas. It claims that his idea of “postmetaphysical thinking” boasting to have done away with the “old prejudices” of classical metaphysics and theology does not suffice to ensure the peaceful coexistence of various religious as well as secular worldviews within the Western public sphere. Postmetaphysical treatment of politico-theological problems as irrelevant leads to their reappearance under the new guises: this is what happened to the “problem of evil” that plays a crucial role in the drawing up of the most part of modern political distinctions. “Evil” is dealt with in the third case, as a subject of political theories of radical democracy. Some proponents of radical democracy such as Paolo Virno, Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt consider that part of political theology to be very important for their own projects of “non-sovereign” political institutions that will arise when the current crisis of modern political rationality is over. The paper comes to a conclusion with the idea that political theology should be considered not only as a radical opposite to a political philosophy or secular reason in general but also as an ever-present possibility that comes to reactivation in the moments of crisis.
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Kim, Andrew. "Minjung Theology in Contemporary Korea: Liberation Theology and a Reconsideration of Secularization Theory." Religions 9, no. 12 (December 14, 2018): 415. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel9120415.
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The Sewol Ferry tragedy in April 2014 has drawn a renewed attention to the role of religion in South Korea. Theologians and religiously-motivated NGOs in Korea at the time and thereafter have called for the need for religion, and religious organizations, to become more actively involved with societal needs, especially after disasters, to help alleviate their pain by providing relief aid and counselling. Such calls for the greater involvement of religion in relief efforts have coincided with Pope Francis’ repeated calls for the Catholic Church’s greater involvement in social affairs on behalf of the poor and the underprivileged. This paper contends that these developments in and outside of Korea provide an opportune time to renew discussion on oft-misunderstood liberation theology. This is because the latter’s advocacy of an interpretation of the teachings of Jesus Christ from the perspective of the poor and the marginalized for the purpose of alleviating unjust economic, social, or political conditions is as compelling today as it was some 60 years ago when it first arose. The paper offers a reassessment of the role of religion in light of liberation theology, arguing that religion can make itself more relevant to people’s lives today by engaging more actively with social issues. The paper will pay special attention to liberation theology in the Korean context, namely minjungshinhak or “people’s theology.” The paper also discusses the implications of liberation theology for secularization theory, arguing, among others, that the former refutes the “decline of religion” thesis of the latter, since liberation theology manifests a different role of religion in contemporary society rather than its diminishing significance.
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Shaposhnikov, Vladislav. "Theological Underpinnings of the Modern Philosophy of Mathematics." Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 44, no. 1 (March 1, 2016): 147–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/slgr-2016-0009.
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Abstract The study is focused on the relation between theology and mathematics in the situation of increasing secularization. My main concern in the second part of this paper is the early-twentieth-century foundational crisis of mathematics. The hypothesis that pure mathematics partially fulfilled the functions of theology at that time is tested on the views of the leading figures of the three main foundationalist programs: Russell, Hilbert and Brouwer.
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Engel, OP, Ulrich. "Secularization as a Challenge for a Contemporary Order Theology." Philippiniana Sacra 49, no. 147 (2014): 139–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.55997/ps2002xlix147a1.
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The Franciscan-Dominican research project “Transmission of Faith in Social and Religious Transformation Processes” runs over a period of two years. The phenomenon of secularization in its multifaceted nature and in all its contradictions is understood as the challenge for religion, church, religious orders, faith and theology in Europe. The research project, sponsored by the Philosophical-Theological University Münster (PTH) and run by the Capuchin order, is being carried out together with the Dominican philosophical- theological research center Institute M.-Dominique Chenu (IMDC) based in Berlin. As part of the research project, twelve theology lecturers from the US, India, Eritrea, Italy, Hungary, Croatia and Germany discussed around the theological definition of the relationship of the Church with the world in particular, around various identity models and around the ecclesiological question regarding the relationship between weakness and power. It became clear during the symposium that (at least beyond politically militant secularisms) secularization phenomena should not be treated as problems at first. Rather, they challenge churches and the religious to redefine their place in the world, their identity and their attitudes towards secularized society.
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Mosse, Georges L., and Gwen Terrenoire. "La Sécularisation de la théologie juive / Secularization ofJewish Theology." Archives de sciences sociales des religions 60, no. 1 (1985): 27–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/assr.1985.2362.
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Olkovich, Nicholas. "Complicating the Reception of Lonergan on ‘Sacralization and Secularization’." Irish Theological Quarterly 86, no. 2 (February 22, 2021): 164–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021140021994211.
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The core of Bernard Lonergan’s 1973 lecture entitled ‘Sacralization and Secularization’ is his fourfold distinction between: (a) a sacralization to be dropped; (b) a sacralization to be fostered; (c) a secularization to be welcomed; and (d) a secularization to be resisted. Drawing on elements found in Lonergan’s broader corpus, noted scholars Robert Doran and John Dadosky have presented detailed interpretations of this work. Conversant with both approaches as well as with contemporary debates in political philosophy and theology, my response aims to complicate their insightful albeit relatively heuristic treatments. More specifically, my interpretation of Lonergan’s fourfold distinction culminates with an account of democracy and human rights that clarifies and expands Dadosky’s notion of a fourth stage of meaning and Doran’s conception of social grace.
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Kopiec, Piotr. "Milczenie Boga: przykłady żydowskiej i chrześcijańskiej teologii Holocaustu (Paul van Buren i Richard L. Rubenstein)." Przegląd Humanistyczny 63, no. 3 (466) (December 2, 2019): 61–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0013.5992.
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When considering the causes of secularization in the Western societies, one must mention sociological and political consequences of both the World War II and Holocaust. Extermination of the Jewish nation prompted raising the question of “why did God allow Auschwitz?” Many Jewish and Christian theologians attempted to explain the moral collapse in the time of Holocaust. Part of them was related to the so-called Death of God theology, the theological movement which interpreted a radical secularization of the Western culture in many ways. The article discusses theological reflections of the Christian theologian Paul van Buren and the Jewish thinker Richard L. Rubenstein. They are considered to belong to the movement of the Death of God theology, though in both cases such classification is not justified. Both interpret Holocaust in the perspective of God’s silence, and both search for new notions and meanings for God in the secular world after Auschwitz.
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Shaposhnikov, Vladislav. "Theological Underpinnings of the Modern Philosophy of Mathematics." Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 44, no. 1 (March 1, 2016): 31–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/slgr-2016-0003.
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Abstract The study is focused on the relation between theology and mathematics in the situation of increasing secularization. My main concern is nineteenth-century mathematics. Theology was present in modern mathematics not through its objects or methods, but mainly through popular philosophy, which absolutized mathematics. Moreover, modern pure mathematics was treated as a sort of quasi-theology; a long-standing alliance between theology and mathematics made it habitual to view mathematics as a divine knowledge, so when theology was discarded, mathematics naturally took its place at the top of the system of knowledge. It was that cultural expectation aimed at mathematics that was substantially responsible for a great resonance made by set-theoretic paradoxes, and, finally, the whole picture of modern mathematics.
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Okey, Stephen. "Reconsidering David Tracy’s Public Theology in a Digital Age." International Journal of Public Theology 17, no. 3 (October 13, 2023): 321–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697320-20230093.
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Abstract While public theology initially developed amid concerns about secularization, its continued flourishing requires attention to the digital. Shaped especially by mediatization, digital intimacy, and accessibility issues, the digital sphere impacts both the idea of ‘public-ness’ and the practice of theology. Building on the work of David Tracy, this article offers four possible approaches in light of his methodological connection between publics and theological subdisciplines: the digital is only an extension of existing forms of mediation, the digital is a feature of society and practical theology, the digital is a new public and needs a new subdiscipline, or the digital is a new context for the various publics and thus requires a contextual theology.
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MARTIN, JAMIE. "LIBERALISM AND HISTORY AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR: THE CASE OF JACOB TAUBES." Modern Intellectual History 14, no. 1 (April 23, 2015): 131–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1479244315000116.
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Before his death in 1987, Jacob Taubes played an important role in postwar German academic philosophy and religious thought. Best known for his leftist political theology and scholarship on the history of Western eschatology, Taubes's thought was influential on mid-twentieth-century debates in Germany about secularization and modern political theology. Outside his relationship with Carl Schmitt, however, Taubes has received little attention in histories of postwar European thought, and few attempts have been made to understand his idiosyncratic work on its own terms. This essay presents new contexts for understanding Taubes and his political-theological critique of the ideological dominance of liberalism in postwar Germany. By analyzing Taubes's thought through the lens of his intellectual quarrel with Hans Blumenberg over secularization, it reassesses his contributions to postwar debates about the political temporality appropriate to a secular and non-utopian social theory, and the consequences of these debates for broader critiques of political liberalism.
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Yakovleva, Valeriа R. "The Phenomenon of Secularization: Philosophical and Theological Foundations." Общество: философия, история, культура, no. 11 (November 22, 2023): 181–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.24158/fik.2023.11.26.
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This article analyzes the interpretations of the phenomenon of secularization from the perspective of three discourses. The axiological programs of social philosophers such as Brian Wilson, Dmitry Uzlaner and Lewis Shiner are considered, who see secularization as a process during which religion loses its social significance as a result of the natural movement of history. Secularization has an acutely negative assessment in conservative discourses of Christian theology, which the author shows by analyzing the opinions of the most important representatives of the three Christian denominations. It is revealed that radical scientism as the ideological basis of the religious generates anti-religious and anti-clerical positions, fraught with conflicts. As a result, the article concludes in favor of constructive dialogue as part of all discursive practices to maintain stability both in society and in the inner state of the individual.
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Paeth, Scott. "Whose Public? Which Theology? Signposts on the Way to a 21st Century Public Theology." International Journal of Public Theology 10, no. 4 (November 22, 2016): 461–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697320-12341461.
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This article examines the way that public theology addresses the contemporary challenges represented by pluralism, secularization, and globalization. In analyzing how these challenges represent the context in which a 21st century public theory must be done, it attempts to demonstrate how public theology must craft a response that emerges out of a self-consciously theological and moral engagement with them. The question of “whose public” is being addressed necessarily raises the complementary question of with “which theology” we should engage it. Several options, confessional, apologetic, and synthetic, are considered. In the final analysis, each of these options offers promising possibilities, but also carries attendant risks, of which the two most pressing are ossification and dissolution.
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Schüßler, Werner. "Paul Tillich ‐ Interpreter of Life : The importance of his philosophico-theological thinking today." NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion 74, no. 2 (June 1, 2020): 105–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.5117/ntt2020.2.002.schu.
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Abstract Werner Schüßler regards Paul Tillich’s philosophico-theological thinking to be relevant for today for three reasons: His idea of a theology of culture shows that religion is the depth dimension of culture and that both areas cannot be strictly separated from each other. Therefore, in principle everything can become a subject of theology. With his formal definition of faith as the state of being ultimately concerned, he tries to make clear that every human being as a human being is a religious being and that even secularization is a religious phenomenon. And in contrast to Karl Barth, Tillich draws attention to the indispensable importance of philosophy for theology.
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Milbank, John. "The Gift of Ruling: Secularization and Political Authority." Almanac “Essays on Conservatism” 40 (December 12, 2011): 201–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.24030/24092517-2021-0-4-201-222.
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The author believes that the absolutizaton of liberal democracy and human rights when they are not subject to critical analysis, as well as the start of transformation of the USA from republic to empire, and the democracy – to the manipulative power of the elite, which were perhaps inherent to the very nature of American models of republic and democracy, put forward the problem of the return of irrationalism into mass consciousness and politics. In the context of this problem the author analyzes Western political philosophy and theology for the last few years, paying special attention to theological grounds for the appearance of liberalism.
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Berzano, Luigi. "Religioni nell'epoca secolare." SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI, no. 2 (July 2009): 7–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.3280/sp2009-002002.
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- The permanence of religion, or the return of the sacred, is today a common consideration in every research about advanced modern societies. In the first place, this paper will consider the limits of the weberian theory, which is at the base of every model of secularization and, as such, is now less significant for interpreting the present religious transformations. Secondly, it will discuss the concept of postsecular age, recalling Durkheim's theory of "transfer of the sacred". The term post-secular here does not imply that secularization processes are finished. On the contrary, these processes are such that they highlighted relevant cultural phenomena capable to connect world and experience, history and knowledge of religions, precisely on the very ground of disenchantment and secularization. Finally the author shows an example of classification of fields in which we find new religious needs that, paraphrasing classical theology, could be defined as "preambula fidei" of the post-secular time.Keywords: modernity, secularism, post-secular society, sacred, preambula fidei
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Tzanakis Papadakis, Nikolaos. "Secularization of Political Authority. On the Political Content of Theology in Benjamin’s Theory of Trauerspiel." Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico 15, no. 1 (August 2, 2022): 101–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.36253/aisthesis-13419.
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This article investigates the relationship between secular politics and theology in Walter Benjamin’s The Origin of German Trauerspiel. It explores that question by starting from how the Weimar legal theory conceived the relationship between modern, secular law and the theological tradition. Focusing on Carl Schmitt’s concept of secularization, it investigates the analogy model in term of which the legal discourse understood the named relationship as well as its political consequences. The article suggests that Benjamin’s theory of the Trauerspiel elaborates a different, dialectical model which deploys, on the contrary, the crisis of any analogy between theology and modern politics.
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Feierman, Jay R. "The Biology of Secularization." Studia Humana 8, no. 3 (October 1, 2019): 21–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/sh-2019-0023.
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Abstract For the past 500 years, to varying degrees, the processes of religious secularization have been occurring in what today are the wealthy, highly educated, industrialized nations of the world. They are causing organized religion, as a social institution, to go from being a very important influence on the lives of people and the nations in which they live to being a smaller influence, or almost no influence at all. Various disciplines from theology to psychology to sociology have tried to explain secularization, each discipline contributing something unique. One discipline that has not contributed has been biology. From a biological perspective, based on observation and reasoning, at least one of the ultimate functions of the physical forms associated with religion appear to be that of in-group marker for a breeding population, which, as will be shown, is how all religions start. Religions structure larger human populations into smaller “clusters” that are separate in-group breeding populations. The clustering into smaller in-group breeding populations prevents the spread of contagious diseases and creates inter-group competition and intra-group cooperation, both of which have contributed to human eusociality, a very rare type of social organization that will be explained. As the physical forms of religion are losing this in-group-marker function of clustering populations with modernity, a general biological principle comes into play, which is “form follows function, and as function wanes, so does form.” When applied to religion, “form” means the physical components by which all religions are built. The specific meaning of “physical,” as used here, will be explained in the article. This biological perspective, which is counter-intuitive and can generate testable hypotheses, should complement, not compete, with perspectives from other disciplines. Physical forms in biology can and often do have more than one function, so the same form with a biological function can also have psychological and theological functions. The physical forms of religion are its objects of natural (genetic and cultural) selection. As socio-economic modernity spreads through the world, the evolutionary biological trajectory suggests that religion, as a social institution, will eventually become extinct.
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Cornelissen, Lars. "The Secularization of Providential Order: F. A. Hayek's Political-Economic Theology." Political Theology 18, no. 8 (May 16, 2017): 660–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1462317x.2017.1325990.
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Newman, Jane O. "Enchantment in Times of War: Aby Warburg, Walter Benjamin, and the Secularization Thesis." Representations 105, no. 1 (2009): 133–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/rep.2009.105.1.133.
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This article reads Aby Warburg's and Walter Benjamin's work on the astrological movements of the Reformation era in dialogue with the theory of relations between the spiritual and the temporal developed in Protestant "war theology" during World War I. War theology developed themes already present in historical Protestant doctrine, notably Luther's Two Kingdoms theory (Zwei Reiche Lehre). Warburg and Benjamin were wrestling with the challenge of living at a time of great conflict in a highly sacralized——rather than secularized——world with deep roots in early modern Lutheranism. Max Weber was working out his ideas about magic, Calvinism, and secularization at the same time. The article thus also suggests the need to reassess his theses about the emergence of a secular world purged of irrationalism in dialogue with Warburg's and Benjamin's work.
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Domingo, Rafael. "THEOLOGY AND JURISPRUDENCE: A GOOD PARTNERSHIP?" Journal of Law and Religion 32, no. 1 (March 2017): 79–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2017.18.
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In this essay, I argue for the fittingness of restoring in the era of secularization the dialogue between theology, the rational discourse about the divine, and the jurisprudence of the secular legal system. From a secular point of view, it is suitable for legal thinkers and legal philosophers to be familiar with theology, just as it is best for an architect to be familiar with the type of soil on which to build a structure. From a theological point of view, it is also appropriate for theologians to be familiar with the secular-legal, just as it is suitable for an environmental soil scientist to know the type of structures that can be built on a landscape. Interactions, synergies, and communication between sciences play an important role in the development of a scientist's knowledge.
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Yusak, Nailil Muna. "GOD IN ALICE WALKER�S THE COLOR PURPLE; A PARADOX OF THE DIVINE." EduLite: Journal of English Education, Literature and Culture 1, no. 2 (August 31, 2016): 129. http://dx.doi.org/10.30659/e.1.2.129-142.
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Over time, as secularization took root in Black churches during the CivilRights era, the prevalent framework in understanding African Americanspirituality discourse has shifted from theology to sociology. This paper triesto discern this major shift from the black literature perspective. It aims todiscuss the main charachers� paradoxical state of mind in understandingGod in the novel The Color Purple. The 1982 Pulitzer Prize for fiction winneris organized around an intimate conversation between two femalecharacters, Celie and Shug Avery, whose understanding of God werechallanged by complexity of sexism and racism in the black family.Sociological approach is adopted to understand the characters� dynamicconcept of God. Discussion in this paper suggested that Alice Walker�snaturalist theology is embodied in Celie and Shug Avery�s conceptualizationof God in the novel.Keywords: Black Theology, The Color Purple, God in Black Literature.
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Graham, Elaine. "Reflexivity and Rapprochement: Explorations of a ‘Postsecular’ Public Theology." International Journal of Public Theology 11, no. 3 (October 19, 2017): 277–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697320-12341496.
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Abstract Accounts of secularization, decline and marginalization in relation to the public position of religion in western society have failed to account for the continued vitality and relevance of religion in the global public square. It is important, however, to challenge simplistic accounts and think of the new visibility of religion (not least in Europe) in terms of complexity and multi-dimensionality. This article will ask how public theology might contribute constructively to repairing our fractured body politic and promoting new models of citizenship and civic engagement around visions of the common good.
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Hubbard, Scott. "An Implicit Theology of Mad Men." Religion and the Arts 24, no. 4 (October 26, 2020): 415–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685292-02404004.
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Abstract One of the most striking sites of secular-religious encounter in narrative fiction of the decade has been the baptismal imagery of the television serial drama Mad Men. Set in an era which may be said to be the high-water mark of the secularization of American culture, Mad Men’s encoding of meaning in symbolic representation in effect re-sacralizes the secular world into which those symbols are transplanted. The symbolism’s divergences from Christian doctrine and ritual that give Mad Men its distinct theological significance. This paper will explore the literary implications of Paul Ricoeur’s theory of religious symbolism. This paper conducts several close readings of key moments in the show’s use of baptismal symbolism, and offers thoughts about how Mad Men’s constellation of originally religious symbols to convey narrative significance empowers the show to perform a religious function for its audience.
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Mocan, Beneamin. "The Religious Imagination and Contemporary Public Theology." Kairos 15, no. 1 (May 27, 2021): 113–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.32862/k.15.1.7.
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The process of secularization, known as the process of the privatization of religion or its denial from the public square, is a heritage of Modernity. This reality had (and continues to have) important consequences for Christian theology. Hence, the renewal of Christian theology is urgent, and has a lot at stake, especially regarding the need for a renewed Christian message within contemporary society. Though public theology appeared as a normal consequence of the need for the renewal of Christian theology, this renewal is not necessarily present in many of its methods. The rigidity of both of its theological methods and language remains a problem for public theology. This article suggests that the new shift in anthropology should be taken into consideration when constructing a viable public theology nowadays. The category of “religious imagination” is of utmost importance since it takes into consideration the new definition of the human being, which is in line more with postmodernism than modernity. Thus, the article sketches the possible substantial contribution the religious imagination brings towards the revitalization of contemporary public theology. Moreover, the article mentions recent Romanian studies on the imagination, which stresses, even more, the richness hidden within it and its possible usage for the construction of a viable public theology.
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Eskola, Timo. "Quran Criticism, the Historical-Critical Method, and the Secularization of Biblical Theology." Journal of Theological Interpretation 4, no. 2 (2010): 229–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/26421305.
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Abstract The emergence of historical criticism of the Bible was partly influenced by medieval Quran criticism. This background was still well known in the 19th century but was later forgotten when emphasis was laid on Greek literature. Scholars such as Riccoldo da Monte di Croce had written critical works against the Quran. This tradition reemerged 200 years later in Germany when Martin Luther translated Riccoldo's Confutatio Alcorani. The special features in Riccoldo's work are the criteria he used hoping to prove that the Quran was not divine revelation. The famous Deist Hermann Reimarus later demanded that the Bible be read in the same way as other literature. His examples in Wolfenbüttel Fragments are mostly taken from the Quran. Reimarus adopted Riccoldo's criteria when interpreting the Bible. The purpose of his rationalistic criticism was to show that contradictions, inconsistencies, and lies prove that, as with the Quran, neither can the Bible be held as divine revelation. Reimarus, in his apology "for the Rational Reverers of God," stated that Christian doctrines are based on a fraud because the apostles created the whole Systema only after Jesus' death. Jesus' original proclamation was political. This dichotomy, confirmed later in David Strauss's biography on Reimarus, became the basis for the criterion of dissimilarity in NT interpretation. Rudolf Bultmann then gave this criterion its present formulation, and it is still used, for instance, by the Jesus Seminar.
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Eskola, Timo. "Quran Criticism, the Historical-Critical Method, and the Secularization of Biblical Theology." Journal of Theological Interpretation 4, no. 2 (2010): 229–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/jtheointe.4.2.0229.
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Abstract The emergence of historical criticism of the Bible was partly influenced by medieval Quran criticism. This background was still well known in the 19th century but was later forgotten when emphasis was laid on Greek literature. Scholars such as Riccoldo da Monte di Croce had written critical works against the Quran. This tradition reemerged 200 years later in Germany when Martin Luther translated Riccoldo's Confutatio Alcorani. The special features in Riccoldo's work are the criteria he used hoping to prove that the Quran was not divine revelation. The famous Deist Hermann Reimarus later demanded that the Bible be read in the same way as other literature. His examples in Wolfenbüttel Fragments are mostly taken from the Quran. Reimarus adopted Riccoldo's criteria when interpreting the Bible. The purpose of his rationalistic criticism was to show that contradictions, inconsistencies, and lies prove that, as with the Quran, neither can the Bible be held as divine revelation. Reimarus, in his apology "for the Rational Reverers of God," stated that Christian doctrines are based on a fraud because the apostles created the whole Systema only after Jesus' death. Jesus' original proclamation was political. This dichotomy, confirmed later in David Strauss's biography on Reimarus, became the basis for the criterion of dissimilarity in NT interpretation. Rudolf Bultmann then gave this criterion its present formulation, and it is still used, for instance, by the Jesus Seminar.
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Bragagnolo, Celina María. "Secularization, History, and Political Theology: The Hans Blumenberg and Carl Schmitt Debate." Journal of the Philosophy of History 5, no. 1 (2011): 84–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187226311x555473.
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AbstractConsidering the enormous outpouring of scholarly work on Schmitt over the last two decades, the absence of an adequate treatment in English of Schmitt’s concept of history and the problem of secularization is quite surprising. After all, it is Schmitt himself who claims that “all human beings who plan and attempt to unite the masses behind their plans engage in some form of philosophy of history,” such that the attempt to make sense of Schmitt’s program remains incomplete without a serious treatment of his philosophy of history. This article is an attempt to address this problem by means of his exchange with Hans Blumenberg who, more than any other critic of Schmitt, was privy to the political intentions behind Schmitt’s metaphorical use of theology. While their discussion is extensive and wide-ranging, I focus here on their diverging philosophies of history, precisely that aspect that is most relevant to gaining a more expansive understanding of Schmitt’s arguments, and indeed the relationship between political thought and historical thought.
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Larsen, Timothy. "Dechristendomization as an Alternative to Secularization: Theology, History, and Sociology in Conversation." Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology 15, no. 3 (August 2006): 320–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/106385120601500306.
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Hollerich, Michael J. "Retrieving a Neglected Critique of Church, Theology and Secularization in Weimar Germany." Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology 2, no. 3 (August 1993): 305–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/106385129300200307.
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Benhabib, Seyla. "The return of political theology." Philosophy & Social Criticism 36, no. 3-4 (March 2010): 451–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0191453709358546.
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Increasingly in today’s world we are experiencing intensifying antagonisms around religious and ethno-cultural differences. The confrontation between political Islam and the so-called ‘West’ has replaced the rhetoric of the Cold War against communism. This new constellation has not only challenged the hypothesis that ‘secularization’ inevitably accompanied modernity but has also placed on the agenda political theology as a potent force in many societies. This article analyzes the contemporary revival of political theology by focusing on the headscarf debate in comparative constitutional perspective. It compares the well-known decision of the French Parliament banning the wearing of the headscarf in public schools (2004) with the decision of the German Constitutional Court concerning whether Fereshta Ludin, an Afghani-German teacher wearing the hijab, could teach in German schools (2003) and with the more recent judgment of the Turkish Constitutional Court (summer 2008) upholding the ban on the wearing of the scarf or the turban in institutions of higher learning. At stake in these debates is not only the meaning of fundamental human rights but also why women and their bodies become the object of disciplinary conflicts in culture, law and religion.
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Wilson, Catherine. "Theological Foundations for Modern Science?" Dialogue 36, no. 3 (1997): 597–606. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0012217300017091.
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It is often said that philosophy in the seventeenth century returned from a Christian otherworldliness to a pagan engagement, theoretically and practically, with material nature. This process is often described as one of secularization, and the splitting off of science from natural philosophy and metaphysics is a traditional figure in accounts of the emergence of the modern. At the same time, the historiographical assumption that early modern science had religious and philosophical foundations has informed such classics as E. A. Burtt's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1932), Gerd Buchdahl's Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science (1969), and Amos Funkenstein's Theology and the Scientific Imagination (1986). A recent collection testifies to continuing interest in the theme of a positive relationship between theology and science.
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Pivovarov, G. O. "A NEW PICTURE OF THE WORLD AND THE CULTURE OF EVERYDAY LIFE. ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY, SECULARIZATION AND THE STATE OF POSTMODERNITY." Northern Archives and Expeditions 6, no. 1 (March 30, 2022): 187–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.31806/2542-1158-2022-6-1-187-194.
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This article discusses the specifics of the relationship between the development of technology, the processes of secularization, and the principles of the Postmodern Condition. The influence of these relationships on the culture of everyday life is revealed. The study used the concepts of culture-forming ideals according to D.V. Pivovarov and the ideas from the "Research Program"of Lakatos. A historical analysis of the factors that influenced secularization was made. Common points of interaction between Peter Berger and Jean Francois Lyotard are found. The influence of the Protestant movements of the second half of the 20th century on the formation of cultural ideals is considered. The contribution of Dorothea Sölle, almost unknown in Russia, is indicated. Within the framework of the article, the concept of polyvariability of the Hard Core of modern culture is indicated. This article is relevant for people studying cultural studies, theology, psychology, sociology and philosophy.
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Gultom, Odniel Hakim. "Globalisasi dan Keberagamaan di Asia: Pemikiran Kwok Pui-Lan�Teologi Poskolonial Feminis Asia." GEMA TEOLOGIKA 1, no. 1 (April 28, 2016): 73. http://dx.doi.org/10.21460/gema.2016.11.212.
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The main thesis of this article is to present the phenomenon of globalization about cultural change (and economic) that gives effect to the "religion" and religious practice. Secularization as part of globalization and modernization, affecting cultural relations and "religion" in the region. Forms of religious practices which was appointed as the impact of globalization is privatization, fundamentalisasi, and the commodification of religion. Kwok Pui-Lan as an Asian postcolonial feminist theologians criticize globalization as a form of colonization with a new face that oppresses women and children. In the context of Asia with a diversity of religious and extreme poverty, how theology can provide a role in public life. Religion can not be separated from other social relations (especially cultural) as stated classic secularization theory. Thus the award to religious pluralism and inter-faith spirituality to be very important to build religiosity that appreciate coexsistence.
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KOSLOFSKY, CRAIG. "Suicide and the secularization of the body in early modern Saxony." Continuity and Change 16, no. 1 (May 2001): 45–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s026841600100371x.
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A jurisdictional dispute over the burial of suicides in Electoral Saxony in the years 1702–1706 brought into sharp contrast conflicting views of the body in popular belief and Lutheran pastoral theology, and in the secularizing project of the early Enlightenment. The dispute centred on the practical, local implications of territorialism, a theory of church subordination to the state developed in the 1690s by the Saxon jurist Christian Thomasius (1655–1728), the most influential German political philosopher of the early Enlightenment. Considered in its intellectual and institutional contexts, the Saxon dispute illustrates the importance of the body to an understanding of secularization, the early Enlightenment and the history of suicide.
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Kyrchanoff, Maksym W. "Summa Theologiae 2.0: Intellectual Mass Media in the Modern Russian Realities, or How “The Academic” became “The Mediatic”." Galactica Media: Journal of Media Studies 3, no. 2 (June 4, 2021): 55–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.46539/gmd.v3i2.168.
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The research paper focuses on the specific features of the status of theology in the modern humanities in Russia. Studying the complexities and difficulties of the institutionalisation of theology and its localisation in the Russian university system and academic culture, the author foregrounds the post-Soviet European experience of the Baltic countries and Ukraine, where theology acquired the status of a “normal” science earlier than in Russia. Within the framework of this study, the peculiarities of the controversial status of theology in the system of higher education as well as in the Russian postgraduate and doctoral studies are considered in the contexts of the frontier of knowledge and the post-Soviet stereotypes. It is assumed that several factors, including the Soviet atheistic cultural heritage, the post-Soviet system of secular degrees and the traditionally significant role of representatives of the natural sciences in the academic community, may significantly contribute to slowing down the transformation of theology into a “normal” science. The paper also deals with the issue of how theology is transforming from the church life of the Russian Christians and becoming more noticeable in the Russian educational cultures and academic spaces. The arguments of the supporters and opponents of the official institutionalisation of theology in the higher education system are critically examined. The author pays special attention to the prospects and possibilities of using the Western experience of “secularization” of theology and its integration into the secular canons of science.
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Javorskiy, Dmitriy. "Theology in a Post-Secular Context: Origins, Problems, and Prospects." Logos et Praxis, no. 2 (December 2020): 5–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.15688/lp.jvolsu.2020.2.1.
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The article reconstructs the cultural conditions of the possibility of theology as a specific intellectual practice. The author proceeds from the understanding of the divine as non-anthropic, that is, beyond the control of man, but at the same time exerting an irresistible influence on him. In this context, the divine appears as unintelligible, which casts doubt on the project of theology as a form of cognition of the divine. However, despite this, in the ancient Greek Poleis, the divine becomes the subject of theology as a contemplative practice; it is the contemplative attitude to the deity that allows making the divine an object of cognition. A contemplative attitude to the divine has accompanied theology throughout its history. However, it is supplemented by a practical (liturgical) attitude. The secularization of Western European culture led to the separation of theology from religious practice. In modern times, there is a specific form of theology (crypto-theology) that allows thinking about the divine and its attributes, regardless of the experience of communion with God. Besides, extra-institutional theology is being formed, free from dogmatic restrictions and even a kind of amateurish theology, whose representatives did not have special, "school" training. All these transformations eventually led to the crisis of theology and the decline of its influence. At the same time, at the beginning of the XIX century, there were conditions for the emergence of a "modern theology" that responds to the challenges of secularism. In the second half of the twentieth century, the topic and problems of modern theology were also influenced by the programs of "overcoming metaphysics" (M. Heidegger) and "deconstruction" (J. Derrida). Modern theology basically positions itself as post-metaphysical and generates more or less radical projects of phenomenological theology (J.-L. Marion, J. Manoussakis) and negative theology (J. Derrida).
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Pirner, Manfred L. "Re-präsentation und Übersetzung als zentrale Aufgaben einer Öffentlichen Theologie und Religionspädagogik." Evangelische Theologie 75, no. 6 (December 1, 2015): 446–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.14315/evth-2015-0607.
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AbstractThe social-philosophical discussion about the role of religion in late modern society opens up new perspectives for a public theology in general and a public religious pedagogy in specific. This contribution develops some of these perspectives referencing primarily Jürgen Habermas’ proposal to understand secularization as a common complementary process of learning of religious and non-religious people, in which translation gains central relevance. The consequences for religious pedagogy include the foundation as well as the conceptualization and impact of public religious learning.
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Thorsen, Jakob Egeris. "Diakoni som teologisk fagområde, videnskab og nyt universitetsfag i Danmark." Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift 82, no. 1-2 (December 1, 2019): 40–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/dtt.v82i1-2.118576.
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Since 2014, the Department of Theology at Aarhus University has offered a 2-year, interdisciplinary MA-program in Diaconia (Christian Social Practice). Thereby, diaconia has officially become an academic subject in a Danish university. The author uses this occasion to provide a general introduction to diaconia and its role in church and theology, to the science of diaconia, and to the character of the new MA-program. The article centers on the apparent paradox that while diaconia is becoming an increasingly important theological concept, especially in ecclesiology, the diaconal field of practice is characterized by interdisciplinarity and secularization. The author argues that the science of diaconia should reflect that situation and make it the starting point for a continuing constructive analysis of the role and identity of diaconia in an increasingly pluralist context.
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Gascoigne, John. "From Bentley to the Victorians: The Rise and Fall of British Newtonian Natural Theology." Science in Context 2, no. 2 (1988): 219–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0269889700000582.
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The ArgumentThe article explores the reasons for the rise to prominence of Newtonian natural theology in the period following the publication of the Principia in 1687, its continued importance throughout the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries, and possible explanations for its rapid decline in the second half of the nineteenth century. It argues that the career of Newtonian natural theology cannot be explained solely in terms of internal intellectual developments such as the theology of Newton's clerical admirers or the impact of the work of Hume or of Charles Darwin. While such intellectual movements are undoubtedly of considerable importance in accounting for the rise and fall of Newtonian natural theology, they do not of themselves explain why British society was more receptive to particular bodies of thought in some periods rather than in others. Hence this article – in common with a number of recent studies – attempts to draw some connections between the growth of Newtonian natural theology and the character of Augustan society and politics; it also attempts to link the decline of this tradition with such nineteenth-century developments as the growing separation between church and state and the secularization of the universities and of scientific and intellectual life more generally.