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| Jan Hoogland. Foto RD, Anton Dommerholt |
THE SECULAR AS AN ORDERING OF THE SACRED?
Jan Hoogland
Philosophia Reformata 75 (2010) 60–74
On May 22th 2008 Bronislaw Szerszynski held his Van Riessen Memorial Lecture at the Delft University of Technology. In this lecture Szerszynski presented his own view on the relation between religion and the modern technological condition, which shows some striking parallels with the way in which Reformational Philosophy sees it. Szerszynski wanted to show that the sacred and the profane/secular are not just opposites excluding each other, but that the profane/secular itself must be understood in religious terms. In the first part of this article the background, presuppositions and trends of this debate will be sketched and in the second part the parallels and differences between Szerszynski and Reformational Philosophy will be delineated.
A. Introduction: background, presuppositions and developments
Religion is back on the menu. After years of relative silence, the phenomenon of religion is once again attracting considerable attention, particularly the question of the extent of its role in the public domain. Some speak of religion making a come-back. For others this is a development they find difficult to accept. For a long time many people hoped religion would simply disappear of itself. Gradually, however, the question has arisen whether religion must not be considered a permanent actor and whether a world without religion isn’t unimaginable.
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