The church and the secular

The effect of the post-secular on Christianity

Bibliographic Data

ID5778534
AuthorsJaco Beyers (0000-0001-5432-2898, University of Pretoria, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume70
Issue1
Publication date2014-02-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0259-9422 • E-ISSN: 2072-8050
PublisherAOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.4102/hts.v70i1.2605
OpenAlexW2102395825
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited17

Paradigms determine relationships. During the Enlightenment period Emile Durkheim proposed a relationship between the sacred and the profane. Religion, which is concerned with the sacred, was defined in terms of being different from the profane. The profane came to denote the secular. The organic character of religion caused some scholars to predict the end of the church at the hand of modernisation and rationalisation. Some scholars instead envisaged a new form and function of the church. Some scholars anticipated the growth of Christianity. Reality shows that Christianity has not died out but seems to be growing. The new era we are currently in (identified as the postmodern) has been described as the post-secular age where a process of re-sacralisation takes place. How will the post-secular influence the church? What will the relationship between the church and the secular be like under a new paradigm? This article suggests that within a postmodern paradigm, the post-secular will emphasise the place of the individual in the church. Fragmentation of society will also be the result of the post-secular. Religiosity in future will have to contend with fundamentalism and civil religion

Age of Enlightenment · Fundamentalism · Rationalisation · Secular education · Secularism · Secularization · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology