Post-Secular Theory

Rose Harris-Birtill analyses the secular reworking of Buddhist religious influences across David Mitchell’s complete fictions, including his novels, short stories, and libretti, arguing that their shared ethical perspectives draw them into a continuous post-secular world, and introducing the Tibetan Buddhist mandala as a fittingly post-secular comparative model through which to analyse Mitchell’s fictional worldview. Harris-Birtill demonstrates that Mitchell’s fictions cumulatively map not a physical terrain but the metaphysical world of belief, creating an interconnected world-system in order to suggest new ethical approaches to global humanitarian crises, revaluing the role of secular belief in galvanising both compassionate action and collective resistance. This study also reads the recurring character of Marinus as a form of secular bodhisattva, analysing Mitchell’s use of reincarnation as a form of non-linear temporality aimed at generating future-facing ethical action amidst the worryingly linear temporality of the Anthropocene. Harris-Birtill also identifies shared post-secular world-building in other contemporary literature, analysing novels by Michael Ondaatje, Ali Smith, Yann Martel, Will Self and Margaret Atwood in order to suggest the emerging literary category of mandalic literature. This perceptive study combines Buddhist philosophy with critical theory, drawing on Jung, Derrida, Foucault and Spivak, alongside contemporary theories of metamodernism and globalization. Taking a post-Jungian approach to the Tibetan mandala not as an ahistorical symbol but as a living socio-cultural artefact in diaspora, Harris-Birtill also identifies the wider implications of the mandala’s theorisation, noting the urgent need to resituate this ‘holistic’ symbol within the ongoing socio-political struggles that led to its increased international visibility.

This chapter explores a proposal that multicultural equality require some type of public multifaithism in a civic context where state–religion connections flourish. An establishment of religion, suitably pluralized, can offer one way forward. It deserves consideration as a practical option, especially if it would be the least disruptive and the least threatening to those for whom establishment is important or those who are uncomfortable with multiculturalism. Given the goal of citizen equality for democracy, this challenge deserves an adequate response: how will ethnoreligious groups receive appropriate recognition unless existing state–religion connections are sufficiently pluralized? By attaining that goal, a multiculturalism in which religion is just one of a number of valued identities and forms of social organization can be recognized as such in a public and political way.

This paper seeks to problematise and complexify scholarly
accounts of contemporary emotional repression in Western contexts
by presenting counterevidence in the form of two examples
of post-secular collective affectivity and their ritual expressions. It
argues that both narratives of emotional repression and expression
fail to capture the non-linear complexity of processes of
cultural transformation, which have resulted in the simultaneous
expression and repression of ritualistic affects that are products of
our evolutionary embodied history. Drawing on insights from
affect theory, this paper seeks to illustrate how contingent yet
nonetheless residual ritualistic affects have become repressed in
the nominally secular public sphere in modernity. This has presented
certain obstacles to the open communal display of religious
ritual, and, as a corollary, the expression of certain religious
affects, which have subsequently re-emerged in post-secular ritual
spaces that are both publically private and privately public, carved
by contemporary renewal movements. Two of these ‘formations of
the post-secular’ are explored here: the Sunday Assembly, a secular
church, and Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, an international
Pentecostal Deliverance church.

In the book, Christianity and Gestalt Therapy: The Presence of God in Human Relationships, I wrote stories reflective of chapter content instead of technical case studies.  This is one. I may share others. This one illustrates the phenomenon of atmosphere.

Alex  Dubilet’s  essay  “The  Catastrophic  Joy  of  Abandoning  Salvation:  Thinking  the  Postsecular  with  Georges Bataille” explores  the  way  Bataille  belies  the  established  divisions  between  theological  and  philosophical  modes  of  thought  in  order  to  develop  a  critique  of  subjection  as  being  enacted  by  theologico
- religious  concepts,  operations,  and  structures  no  less
than  philosophico-secular  ones.  Building  on  Bataille,  Dubilet proposes rethinking the status of immanence and transcendence,  by  decoupling  them  from  their  usual  semantic  associations  that  align  immanence  with  secularity  and  transcendence  with  the  religious.  Dubilet  finds  an  important  element  for  a  novel  theory
of the postsecular in Bataille’s elaboration of catastrophic joy as a critique of investments in futurity and salvation found across the secular-religious divide.

The Catholic Church is experiencing seismic shifts in the national religious landscape as much younger generation Catholics have been disengaging with the church and its practices and rituals significantly. I wish to propose a new paradigm of understanding this phenomenon for the church that focuses on the Catholic family, where traditionally faith is passed on to future generations. This paradigm characterizes a considerable experience of what may be called post-secular Catholicism. The methodology of this project engages with Catholic parents in the local archdiocese of Boston. The project connects the disaffiliated through their stories of departure, a qualitative phenomenological narrative study. I found that decisions for disaffiliation of emerging adults and older occur within a systemic family culture. It involves a dynamic relationship with Catholic parents and others for years. This family matrix of disaffiliation is also understood into a broader relationship with the institutional church on the one hand and larger secular culture on the other. At the center is the Catholic family pulled between the practice of sacramental life in the church and the larger secular culture with both common and divergent values, notions of spirituality, ritual, and opportunities to engage in social justice. This research suggests a renewed understanding of Catholic disaffiliation as a significant theological and social experience of Catholic families. It also offers a pastoral and practical approach to consider a pre-evangelical model of dialogue that allows an ongoing relationship with the church through the parish's families, in the larger cultural context where the faithful navigate their lives.

2014년 5월 퀴어문화축제가 신촌 광장에서 열렸다. 동시에 같은 장소에서 반동성애시위를 하는 개신교인들도 있었다. ‘종교의 공공성’이 화두인 가운데, 우리는 공적 영역에서 기독교의 공적 역할에 대한 바람과 희망을 제시하는 “광장에 선 기독교” 대신에 “광장에 선 호모포비아”를 목격할 수 있었다. 이들은 한국사회 공적 영역에서 의견을 제출하고 논쟁거리를 만듦으로써 공공성이 무엇인지를 새롭게 규정하려고 노력한다. 이들은 종교의 이름으로 말할 때도 있었지만, 때로는 세속의 언어, 즉 국민다수의 성도덕과 유사과학적 근거에 의해 대중을 설득하려고 했다. 또 한편으로는 이와 대조적으로 퀴어축복식을 열며 기독교 신의 이름으로 지지하고 연대하는 기독교인들도 있었다. 이들 모두 각기 나름의 이유를 가지고 광장에 나오고, 또 그럼으로써 광장을 만들어 나가는 공적 영역의 주요한 행위자들이다. 그러면서도 여기에서 우리는 단순한 이분법적 정교관계론의 문제가 아니라 양자 간의 특이한 현상적 차이를 발견한다. 도식적으로 말하자면, 공론장에서 종교적 언어로 말하고 종교적 의례를 행하면서도 세속주의에 배척되거나 함몰되지 않고 오히려 신성함을 경험하게 만드는 종교, 그리고 이와는 정반대로 공론장에서 세속을 신성하게 만들고자 세속의 언어를 사용하는 종교 간의 차이를 말이다. 이외에도 2008년 촛불집회, 제주강정마을, 밀양 등지의 소위 세속적 사안들에서, 광장에서, 공론의 장에서 우리는 종교인들—그것이 소위 보수든 진보든, 물론 대개 진보적 종교 분파—이 자신들의 종교적 가치와 정체성을 부분적으로 포기하지 않으면서도 그것들을 적절하게 사용함으로써 적극적으로 대화하고 개입하는 사회적 현상을 목격했다. 이러한 현상이 나타나는 오늘날의 사회를 하버마스는 ‘후기 세속사회(post secular society)’라고 명명했고, 카사노바는 ‘종교의 공적 재등장’이라고 보았다.
  그렇다면 한국이라는 세속사회는 과연 어떤 세속사회인가? 구체적으로 우리는 어떤 세속사회를 살고 있으며 우리가 경험하는 세속과 종교의 관계는 무엇인가? 주지하다시피 대부분의 종교사회학자들은 이미 종교가 모든 면에서 힘을 잃을 것이라는 고전적인 세속화론을 폐기했다(대표적으로 피터 버거). 대신에 학자들은 ‘탈세속화’로 설명하기도 하지만 그렇다고 섣부르게 전면적이고 전지구적인 보편이론으로서의 탈세속화론을 주장할 수도 없게 되었다.
  따라서 우리들은 우리가 종교가 의미론적 잠재력을 가지고 공적으로 재등장한다는 하버마스나 카사노바 등의 판단을 따르면서1, 마치 ‘다중적 근대성’과 마찬가지로 다양한 유형의 (후기)세속사회가 존재할 수 있다고 생각한다. 따라서 우리의 가장 큰 문제의식은 이것이다: 우리는 ‘어떤’ 후기 세속사회에 살고 있는가? 개신교는 어떤 (의미에서) 공적 종교인가? 이는 사실상 세속과 종교의 관계를 전면적으로 재검토해야 하는 매우 어려운 과제이다. 이 과제를 수행하기 위한 기초적 단계로서 본 연구는 종교가 공적 영역에 영향을 미치는 국가(정부), 정치공동체, 시민사회 중에서 카사노바를 따라 시민사회에 초점을 둔다(최현종, 2013: 107).2 

그리고 하버마스의 이론에서 관건인 종교와 세속 간의 (동기부여와 타당성 주장을 통한) ‘상호학습과정’의 경험적 성공가능성과 ‘공적의식의 변화’ 및 ‘정체성의 확장’을 공론장에 (상이한 방식으로) 개입하는 개신교의 동성애 찬/반운동집단을 통한 (상이한) 공공성 주장과 결부하여 설명할 것이다. 그러므로 연구질문은 다음과 같이 보다 구체화된다: 후기 세속사회 한국 개신교(보수와 진보)의 공적 형태는 어떠한 모습인가? 한국 개신교는 공론장을 어떻게 변화시키고 있는가? 

‘후기세속사회’(Habermas)의 ‘종교의 공적 재등장’(Casanova)은 이미 우리의 현실이다. 종교적인 것과 세속적인 것의 범주들은 (세속화의 기본적 가정과 달리) 상호침투하고 혼합되며, 그럼으로써 또한 새로운 범주를 창출한다. 하버마스나 카사노바에게 있어서 종교는 “회고하고 기억해 내는 이성(anamnestic reason)”과 “이야기하기(story telling)”로서 “의미론적 잠재력”과 “동기부여하는 힘”을 가지고 있다(Habermas, 2002: 133). 그리고 종교는 (본래 유동적인) 공/사의 경계를 재구획함으로써 공적 논쟁을 불러일으키고 정치를 활성화한다. 그러므로 종교의 탈사사화는 종교에 담긴 공적/사적인 측면들이 상호적으로 작용하며 국가와 교회, 정치와 종교 사이에서 공적인 것을 재정의하고 공적 영역의 경계를 넓힐 수 있다(Casanova 1994, 66).3 또한 우스노우도 기독교가 초월적 지평의 원천으로서 공공적(communal) 차원의 사회 교섭을 증가시키고 도덕적 헌신을 통해 시민사회의 이상을 실현시키는 데 핵심적으로 기여할 수 있다는 다소 낙관적 전망을 내놓았다(Wuthnow, 2004; 2014). 그렇다고해서 공론장에서 모든 세속적 범주들이 무화되고 재주술화되는 것은 아니다. 즉 여기에서 우리는 상호배타적 범주로서의 종교와 세속 간의 대립이나 단순히 ‘정교분리’ 담론에 입각한 ‘정치종교’를 논하는 것이 아니라 ‘공공성’을 놓고 벌어지는 다양한 대립과 상호학습, 또는 “협업”(Habermas, 2003: 109)의 양상들을 살펴야 하는 것이다. 어쩌면 우리 모두가 간과한 ‘공공성’에 대한 동상이몽을 성찰해야 하는 것이다. 

우리들은 ‘공공성’ 및 ‘공’과 ‘사’라는 개념이 공론장에서 행위자들 간에 정당성 투쟁을 위한 ‘판돈(stake)’이자(P. Bourdieu) 행위자들이 공유하고 ‘전략적인 도구’로 활용(A. Swidler)하는 ‘문화코드’(J. Alexander)로서 그들의 ‘지속적인 실천(ongoing practice)’이나 ‘퍼포먼스’를 통해 정당하고 의미있는 행위의 동기로서 인정되고 학습된 – 규범적인 효과를 갖는 - ‘문화적 구성물(cultural object)’이라고 본다. 

우리의 학문적 목표는 크게 두 가지이다. 하나는 이론적 목표로서 하버마스의 ‘후기 세속사회론’에서 핵심적인 종교-세속 간의 ‘학습과정(learning process)’ 이론을 경험사례를 통해 확인(corroborate)하고 ‘비판적인 재구성’을 제안하는 것이다. 다른 하나는 종교 행위자가 담론적 실천을 통해 공론장을 의미있는 정치적·사회적 실재의 영역으로 구성해내는 대강의 과정을 분석함으로써 한국의 후기세속사회적 특징과 한국개신교의 공적 성격(공공성 형식)을 포착하는 것이다.

This essay aims at conceptualizing—and naming—a certain, rather popular, stance toward tradition, that fits neither of the polar opposites of the secularist– rationalist vs. religious–conservative dichotomy. Arguing that this stance should be viewed as a “stranger” (following Zygmunt Bauman’s conceptualization of the term) that challenges and threatens the binary constructs which are central to positivist notions of modernity, tradition, and secularism (such as the “modern vs. traditional” and “religious vs. secular” binaries), the essay highlights the ways in which this stance embodies a more nuanced understanding of the very concept of tradition. The essay does so by both studying the phenomenology of this stance (both con- ceptually and through the socio-historical case of its appearance in a Jewish–Israeli context), and developing a view of tradition that transcends the above-mentioned dichotomies. It also highlights the distinction between this stance and another, dominant phenomenon of professed loyalty to tradition, namely conservatism.

Mary holds the Christ child in the traditional formula, but unexpectedly, angels appear above bearing not good news, but a cross, spear and sponge - tidings of Christ’s future torment. This is the Virgin of the Passion icon. Due to its enormous proliferation by papal command, it has been called perhaps the most popular religious icon of the twentieth century. But despite an abundance of recent studies on the Virgin Mary in Byzantium, there has been little investigation into what first spurred this iconographical
innovation. This dissertation pursues this question by exploring four themes related to the Virgin of the Passion in Byzantium: Power, painting, priesthood, and predestination.

My first two chapters explore what the Virgin of the Passion is not. “Power” has been a pervasive scholarly theme in the humanities in recent decades, and Byzantine art history is no exception. Yet a vague concept of power does little to illuminate the original context of the first known Virgin of the Passion, which dates to 1192 on the island of Cyprus. Instead, the image conveys an iconography of political defeat, which was possible because the cult of the Virgin in Byzantium preceded imperial sponsorship, and could consequently transcend and outlast that sponsorship as well. Another obstacle to understanding the Virgin of the Passion comes from traditional accounts of the history of painting, suggesting Byzantine stasis and Renaissance innovation. Tracing the image to the creative milieu of Komnenian Constantinople, I argue that the history of the Virgin of the Passion type illustrates the reverse – Byzantine dynamism, followed by relatively homogenous mass production in the Renaissance and beyond.

My third and fourth chapters offer a new interpretation of the type. By connecting the icon to a twelfth-century Eucharistic controversy, I make the case that the original Virgin of the Passion is Eucharistic, which consequently associates Mary with priesthood. To contextualize this observation, I point to a surprising series of texts and images in the Byzantine world that also refer to Mary as priest. Finally, I offer a new interpretation of the instruments of the Passion borne by the angels above Mary and Christ. I relate them to the “Prepared Throne” imagery, a popular Byzantine motif most often interpreted as a throne “prepared” for Judgment. Instead, I make the case that it is the throne “prepared” from the foundation of the world. The result is that the Virgin of the Passion – a work of visual theology – treads on the verbally contested terrain of predestination.

Modernity has inaugurated a new stage in the relationship between ecclesiastical and secular power. On the one hand, the extinction of religions was  thought  of  as  an  inevitable  future;  on  the  other,  the  emergence  of  religious orthodoxies on a global scale brought to light the complexity of a new political arrangement, in which religious and non-religious citizens vie  for  the  establishment  of  their  agendas.  At  a  time  when  secularized  societies experience the religious revival in the public sphere, the concept of  “secularism”  takes  on  new  shapes  and  can  no  longer  mean  a  simple  movement to combat religious presence in these spaces or a mere institu-tional arrangement of separation between State and Church. In this arti-cle we seek to investigate to what extent Habermas’ proposal that religion can no longer be fought as an evil to be expelled and imprisoned in the intimate sphere of individuals, and must adapt its presence in the public space through legitimate contributions to the deliberative process, cons-titutes an adequate model to the Brazilian reality, verifying its limits and possibilities. In view of the above, the present article intends to examine the  Habermasian  model  of  “post-secular  state”  as  an  alternative  to  the  current model based on laicism, through bibliographic research and using the hypothetical-deductive method. To this end, we propose a review of the main concepts formulated by Habermas, from the publication of the “Theory of Communicative Action” to the most recent texts and essays. In addition, it will also seek to answer some criticisms and formulate other questions, to delimit the viability of the Habermasian paradigm, above all, considering the Brazilian reality. In this sense, we present an outline of the arguments raised by Habermas in defense of religious participation in the public space and the parameters endorsed by him as a way of gua-ranteeing state neutrality. Finally, we confront his theses with the position of Brazilian authors and conclude by recognizing some weaknesses in his theoretical model, stressing, however, the importance of his contributions to the composition of a plural public space and a democracy attentive to the voices of all citizens.

‘A Tale of Two Speeches: Secularism and Primacy in Contemporary Roman Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy’ ed. John Chryssavgis, Primacy in the Church: The Office of Primate and the Authority of the Councils, Volume 2: Contemporary and Contextual Perspectives (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2016), pp.807-837.

In questo libro, uscito presso Queriniana all'inizio del 2019, ricostruisco il dibattito recente sulla secolarizzazione, analizzando i lavori di H. Blumenberg, D. Martin, C. Taylor, H. Joas, T. Asad, M. Gauchet, J. Habermas e G. Vattimo. La tesi principale del libro è che ciò a cui abbiamo assistito negli ultimi 50 anni è un vero e proprio cambio di paradigma che ha influenzato sia i decostruttori sia i manutentori della teoria classica. Nell'estratto sono inclusi l'introduzione e l'indice.

Von Franz Marc ist der Ausspruch bekannt, daß er hoffe, die Bilder der neuen Kunst würden einmal auf den Altären der Zukunft ihren Platz haben. -Franz Marc hat selbstverständlich recht, Herr Schreyer. Aber ich bin nüchterner als Franz Marc. Die Zukunft hat bereits begonnen. Sie ist schon heute da. Und es bedarf nur eines kleinen Mutes einiges einsichtiger geistlicher Herrn, um der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts in den Kirchen Raum zu geben. Die Kunst [dieses] Jahrhunderts aber bestimmen wir. -There is a well-known claim by Franz Marc, that he hoped for the examples of new art to be one day placed at the altars of the future. -Franz Marc was indeed right, Mr. Schreyer. But I am more prosaic than he was. The future has already begun. It is already here today. And what is needed in order to set the art of the twentieth century in a church space is merely a bit of courage in a single insightful spiritual man. The art of [this] century, though let us specify. Conversation between Lothar Schreyer and Wassily Kandinsky, Weimar, 1922 from Lothar Schreyer, Erinnerungen an Sturm und Bauhaus (1956).

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The real strength of today’s protest movements is not conflict, but a reclaimed solidarity and newly rebuilt sense of community. The real “we are all in this together” of people losing their homes, jobs, life savings and those who know how easily they can succumb to similar misfortune. In the face of adversity, the sense of community is reborn together with a selfless impulse to help. ‘Empathy’ and ‘inclusiveness’ become key words. A new community and the language it establishes emerge in cooperatives and movements working for the common good. In this book we imagine the architecture and urbanism of this emerging community.

The present article deals with the political debates about secularism, Islam and Pancasila in Indonesian history. It argues that Pancasila—or Pancasila secularism—constitutes, as Abdurrahman Wahid (2001) has rightly put it, a “mild secularism,” in which relative (not absolute) separation between state and religion is maintained, but allows at the same time the former’s moderate administering of some of the latter’s public affairs, on the one hand, and the latter’s moderate values and norms to inspire the former, on the other hand. If secularism contains three basic theses  (Casanova 1994: 3-6), viz., separation of state and religion, privatization of religion and differentiation between religious and non-religious spheres, they are not fully and strongly implemented, because there has always been some degree of religiousness present, and this could not easily be abandoned. As for the official political debates, they were mostly related to the separation thesis, rather than to privatization and differentiation, but there has also been an association of secularism (also in the sense of separation) with nationalist groups and of anti-secularism with Islamic groups. This study contributes to the knowledge of how secularism has been indigenized creatively as part of Indonesian political culture. This study also shows that secularism and Islam could mix in their milder sense in order to endorse a more democratic form of politics for Muslim society.

Mary holds the Christ child in the traditional formula, but unexpectedly, angels appear above bearing not good news, but a cross, spear and sponge - tidings of Christ's future torment. This is the Virgin of the Passion icon. Due to its enormous proliferation by papal command, it has been called perhaps the most popular religious icon of the twentieth century. But despite an abundance of recent studies on the Virgin Mary in Byzantium, there has been little investigation into what first spurred this iconographical innovation. This dissertation pursues this question by exploring four themes related to the Virgin of the Passion in Byzantium: Power, painting, priesthood, and predestination. My first two chapters explore what the Virgin of the Passion is not. "Power" has been a pervasive scholarly theme in the humanities in recent decades, and Byzantine art history is no exception. Yet a vague concept of power does little to illuminate the original context of the first known...

Naukowa i filozoficzna refleksja nad sztuką dawno zakwestionowały kategorie autora, twórcy, geniuszu, czy ekspresji z tajemnych wewnętrznych głębi. Nie przetrwały one śmierci autora, intertekstualności, instytucjonalnej definicji sztuki, odkrycia dzieła otwartego, czy estetyki performatywności. Jednak kategorie te wydają się wciąż obecne w potocznych próbach rozumienia ludzkich zdolności i osiągnięć. Rozciągane są ponadto daleko poza obszar sztuki, na wszelkie właściwie sfery ludzkiej działalności -"geniuszem" może być zarówno pianista jak piłkarz.

The point of departure of this paper is an examination of the
sociological literature on the recent occult revival in modern societies.
This phenomenon, which clashes with the image of secularization,
is particularly notable among the youth of the counterculture. To
further sociological analysis, a conceptualization of esoteric culture
is proposed. It is further argued that esoteric culture has played a
significant role in Western cultural change, in such areas as artistic
expressions, political ideas, and even scientific thought. Esoteric
culture is thus treated as a source of ideational innovations in Western
modernization.
Отправным пунктом данной статьи является анализ социологической литературы об оккультном возрождении в современных обществах. Это явление, противоречащее классическому представлению о секуляризации, особенно заметно среди контркультурной молодежи. Для дальнейшего
социологического анализа вводится понятие «эзотерической культуры». В статье приводятся аргументы в пользу того, что эзотерическая культура играет значительную роль в трансформации западной культуры в таких сферах, как художественное отображение действительности, политические идеи и даже научная мысль. Таким образом, эзотерическая культура рассматривается как источник мировоззренческих инноваций в рамках западной модернизации.

Ein postsäkulares Zeitalter? Jürgen Habermas' These zwischen Religionssoziologie und politischer Philosophie Einleitung Die Charakterisierung moderner Gesellschaften als "postsäkular" hat Konjunktur. Seit Jürgen Habermas dieses Adjektiv in seiner Rede anlässlich der Verleihung des Friedenspreises des deutschen Buchhandels im Jahr 2001 gebraucht hat, ist es aus dem religionssoziologischen Diskurs nicht mehr wegzudenken. Viele Autorinnen und Autoren folgen Habermas' Einschätzung, dass wir in einem postsäkularen Zeitalter leben und sehen klassische Säkularisierungstheorien als gescheitert an. Doch was versteht Habermas eigentlich unter "postsäkularen Gesellschaften" und welchen Mehrwert hat es, diesen Begriff in die Diskussion einzuführen? Dieser Beitrag ist einer Analyse dieser Fragestellung gewidmet. Es wird sich zeigen, dass sich bei Habermas der Begriff der postsäkularen Gesellschaft (a) zunächst auf eine empirische These bezieht, die im Gebiet der Religionssoziologie untersucht und verhandelt wird, darüber hinaus aber auch (b) mit einer Debatte über den legitimen Status von Religionen im liberalen Verfassungsstaat verbunden ist und somit in den Kernbereich der politischen Philosophie hineinreicht. Was die empirische Behauptung betrifft, werde ich dafür argumentieren, dass die Rede von "postsäkularen Gesellschaften" irreführend und in der soziologischen Forschung mit Vorsicht zu gebrauchen ist. Mit ihr wird auf der begrifflichen Ebene ein Dualismussäkular versus postsäkularangedeutet, der durch die Veränderungen in der sozialen Wirklichkeit nicht bestätigt wird. Dieser neue Terminus dürfte daher für die empirisch ausgerichtete Religionssoziologie keinen Nutzen bringen, sondern eher die Gefahr in sich bergen, eine verstärkte Auseinandersetzung um Begrifflichkeiten, einen Streit um Worte, zu provozieren. Habermas' normative Position hinsichtlich des legitimen Status von Religionen in modernen Demokratien dagegen ist attraktiv und mit einigen wichtigen Einsichten verbunden, die in der Folge behandelt werden. Zentral ist dabei die Forderung, dass Gesellschaftsgrundsätze moderner Demokratien zwar durchaus säkular, aber keinesfalls säkularistisch und religionsfeindlich ausgerichtet sein sollen. Ein normatives Verständnis der Staatsbürgerrolle, wie es Habermas in Anlehnung an John Rawls' Politischen Liberalismus verteidigt, hat vielmehr zur Folge, dass sich religiöse und säkulare Bürger/Bürgerinnen einer Gesellschaft auf gegenseitige Lernprozesse einlassen und sich selbstkritisch mit den Beschränkungen der eigenen Positionen auseinandersetzen sollen.

Hans Blumenberg e Jürgen Habermas, pur condividendo l’ambizioso sforzo sistematico di definire e difendere il progetto di razionalità illuministico, assumono due paradigmi antropologici e filosofici opposti. Nelle loro riflessioni, vertici della filosofia tedesca post-heideggeriana e post-francofortese, si profilano infatti due maniere alternative di intendere la modernità, capaci di restituirne appieno le tensioni contraddittorie: da una parte, la legittimità dell’autoaffermazione, l’ospitalità verso il mito, il bisogno di esonero dall’assoluto; dall’altra, la fiducia nella capacità della ragione di rischiarare l’esistenza, l’impegno nel guidare criticamente la società e la politica, l‘insistenza sulla responsabilità etica.
Si propone, allora, di verificare la radice di presupposti teorici discordi, eppure interconnessi, a partire dalle loro letture della storia del cristianesimo – in particolare di Agostino e della tradizione agostiniana – e della sua secolarizzazione: emergerà la portata inaggirabile della sfida della religione – al contempo scommessa iperbolica e inquietante minaccia – per una genealogia della ragione post-metafisica moderna.

Ce texte s’intéresse aux embarras qui touchent – ou que suscite – la parole religieuse dans nos sociétés contemporaines, dès lors qu’elle se manifeste en public et tombe dans l’oreille de tiers. Par "parole religieuse", on entend ici tant les voix explicitement articulées à partir d’une tradition religieuse définie que les voix qui se prononcent sur les religions, notamment lors de "problèmes publics" impliquant les religions et leurs adeptes. Pour contraster ces embarras, comprendre le "travail" émotionnel qu’ils réalisent et saisir leur "composante pratique" , on les décompose selon trois axes (énonciation/réception, Christianisme/islam, Fondamentalisme/modernisme), sur deux terrains (les théories post-séculières et des émissions radiophoniques). Le texte montre alors comment le mode de publication de ces embarras participe de l'instauration d'une nouvelle "méthode de fixation des croyances" que nous nommons la "méthode de la sensiblerie" ; une "méthode" qui a l'insigne désavantage d'être résolument opposée à la "méthode de l’enquête" valorisée par Charles S. Peirce et John Dewey.

This paper draws on the results of ethnographic research on 'women's circles'; women-only spaces that celebrate sisterhood and the 'feminine', including the increasingly globally popular 'Red Tent'. Women's circles are non-institutionalized, often monthly gatherings, for women to come together and relax, meditate, share stories, partake in rituals, heal, nourish, and empower themselves. Based on fieldwork and in-depth interviews with founders and organizer-practitioners of women's circles in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, the study shows how they offer a growing number of women from diverse backgrounds a space that they find lacking in secular-liberal society, out of a desire to 're/connect' with each other, their bodies, their inner selves, and sometimes with the sacred. Women's circles are indicative of women's heightened participation in the realm of subjective wellbeing culture, including both elements of spirituality and more secular 'personal growth'. Against the presumption that circles would be merely expressive of neo-liberal individualist consumer culture or retrograde gender essentialism, the paper argues they can be viewed as sites of sisterhood, solidarity, and dissent, cultivating a new type of femininity grounded in both affirmative and more oppositional forms of emerging feminist consciousness. In response to the so-called 'post-secular turn in feminism' and the growing interest for religion and, more recently, spirituality in (secular) feminist theory, the paper pleads for a reconsideration of the rise of women's spirituality/wellbeing culture in the West as a form of post-secular agency.

The purpose of this article is to explore how the contemporary academic discourse on religion is, on the whole, beginning to resonate with the broader vision of reli- gion provided by the Bahá’í Writings. Toward this end, I argue that the contemporary academic discourse on religion pivots around seven narrative frameworks, which I describe respectively as the (1) subtraction, (2) renewal, (3) transsecular, (4) post-naturalist, (5) construct, (6) perennial, and (7) developmental narratives. Each of the narratives offers unique insights into the historical evolution of religion and the changing place of religion in the modern world, many of which align with the Bahá’í teachings. I endeavor to substantiate this claim in three steps. First, I discuss the theory of secularization and the nature of its recent disruption in order to elucidate the narrative problematic that lies at the heart of the contemporary academic discourse on religion. Second, I analyze the seven narrative frameworks and show how each resonates with certain aspects of Bahá’í teachings. And third, I conclude by considering how my typology of seven narratives could be used to frame further inquiry.

This essay considers the notion of private selfhood as articulated in Emerson’s and Hawthorne’s writing about beauty. Though _Nature’s_ infamous “transparent Eye-ball” is frequently cited as evidence of his secular intellectual bent, the 1836 treatise borrows heavily from Jonathan Edwards’s aesthetics. Seen in this light, the early Emerson displays far more reliance on his Congregationalist Christian influences than is typically supposed, promoting a vision of the soul that resembles more than refigures colonial New England’s predominant configuration of homogenous interiority. Hawthorne’s writing about the beautiful, on the other hand, offers art as a vehicle for transcending humankind’s inherent isolation. While art rarely attains the status of true beauty, it does so when bringing particulars of the artist’s innermost self into meaningful contact with his community. Thus Hawthorne’s selfhood resonates with modern discourses of individualism more so than does Emerson’s.

Artykuł jest przeglądowym omówieniem twórczości Stanisława Barańczaka w kontekście jego paradoksalnego stosunku do religii. Barańczak mówił o sobie jako agnostyku, ale równocześnie fascynowała go (wywiedziona z teologii Bonhoeffera) idea  "chrześcijaństwa bez Boga".

PIERRE LEROUX AND THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY: A POST-SECULAR CONCEPT IN THE 19th CENTURY?

The aim of the article is to show, using the example of Pierre Leroux, that the extension of the post-secular perspective to Romanticism is not only possible, but even desirable. Leroux’s work contains in this context two fundamental aspects: first, a philosophical reflection on humanity, its true tradition and eternal life; secondly, a socio-political reflection on the necessity of establishing a civil religion. Some threads that are present in Leroux’s thought, referring to Joachimism, seem to make him closer to the views of contemporary post-secular and post-modern authors.

In the past decade the National Secular Society (NSS) have made their voice clear on the subject of whether animals should be stunned prior to being slaughtered in the UK, arguing that to slaughter an animal without first stunning it is inhumane. They amplify the concerns for non-human suffering that are raised by the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) and the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and in so doing contribute a secular underpinning to a slaughter that is humane.  In this essay I am going to think through the debate over the human slaughter of non-human animals in order to explore this construction of a seemingly exclusive pair: humane (secular) and inhumane (religious) slaughter. I will argue that it is not the suffering of these beings that concerns the NSS, but the suffering incurred by a secular society when a legal exemption on the stunning of animals is afforded exclusively to religious groups in the UK; namely Jews and Muslims. I will not be constructing a defence of the Jewish shechita or Muslim halal methods of slaughter, or provide prescriptive elaboration of the methods. This is instead an approach to the secular and its methods of self-assurance.

This book argues that hope is the indispensable precondition of religious practice and secular politics. Against dogmatic complacency and despairing resignation, David Newheiser argues that hope sustains commitments that remain vulnerable to disappointment. Since the discipline of hope is shared by believers and unbelievers alike, its persistence indicates that faith has a future in a secular age.

Drawing on premodern theology and postmodern theory, Newheiser shows that atheism and Christianity have more in common than they often acknowledge. Writing in a clear and engaging style, he develops a new reading of deconstruction and negative theology, arguing that (despite their differences) they share a self-critical hope. By retrieving texts and traditions that are rarely read together, this book offers a major intervention in debates over the place of religion in public life.

Dans cet essai, j'analyse les présuppositions du récit dudit 'retour du religieux', du point de vue de la psychanalyse (Freud) et de la déconstruction (Derrida). Après avoir mis à jour l'eurocentrisme et le colonialisme inhérents aux concepts de 'magie', 'animisme', 'religion' et 'croyance' chez Freud (en particulier dans Totem et tabou), j'offre une lecture déconstructrice des discours politiques contemporains sur le sécularisme, la foi et le savoir.
[In this essay, I unpack presuppositions involved in the narrative of 'the return of the religious', from the point of view of psychoanalysis (Freud) and deconstruction (Derrida). After highlighting the Eurocentric and colonialist components of the concepts of 'magic', 'animism', 'religion', and 'belief' in Freud (with special emphasis on Totem and Taboo), I provide a deconstructive analysis of contemporary political discourses on secularism, faith and knowledge.]

Stampato in aprile de 2016, ristampato in dicembre del 2016, seconda ristampazione in marzo de 2018. La tesi degli autori del libro  –John Shelby SPONG, Maria LÓPEZ VIGIL, Roger LENAERS e José María VIGIL, tra i nomi più prestigiosi, brillanti e amati della nuova teologia di frontiera– è che le religioni, così come le conosciamo, siano destinate a lasciare spazio a qualcosa di nuovo non ancora facilmente prevedibile, ma sicuramente aprendo all'insopprimibile dimensione spirituale dell'essere umano un futuro ricco di straordinarie possibilità.