Modernity and Religion: Beyond the Philosophical Narratives of Secularisation and Back

Damian Barnat

doi:10.18290/rf24724.13

Published : 2024-12-30

Vol. 72 No. 4 (2024)

Modernity and Religion: Beyond the Philosophical Narratives of Secularisation and Back

Damian Barnat

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8178-6444

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf24724.13

Abstract

The subject of the article is the philosophical narratives of secularization and their importance for the study of religion in modern society. I am focusing in particular on Charles Taylor’s narrative presented in his monumental A Secular Age. Contrary to some of Taylor’s critics, especially Ian Hunter, I argue that the philosophical approach to secularity presented by the Canadian thinker cannot be equated with ideologically marked “combat concepts” that characterize the emergence of modernity as a result of either the overcoming of religion by autonomous reason or as the “self-alienation of Christianity”. The “conditions of belief” analyzed by Taylor indicate the mutual mediation of religion and secularity and provide a hermeneutical framework thanks to which we can criticize both the Enlightenment narratives about the triumph of religion over reason and religious visions, which perceive modernity as a theological phenomenon in its essence (John Milbank). Referring to David Martin’s considerations, I also draw attention to the heuristic dimension of Taylor’s narrative and its relevance to the research on religion.

Keywords:

Charles Taylor, Ian Hunter, modernity, religion, secularization, philosophical narratives

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