I Both of the aspects discussed above have been concerned with
I There is no scheme which can readily be applied to the theological
descriptions of secularization, as there is with the sociological aspects, but it is possible to take a number of key concepts, or areas of change, and to employ these as a framework for discussion. The categories which will therefore be used are:-
a) secularization as a historical drama,
b) the problems of speaking of God in a secular age, c) the idea of 'man come of age',
d) concepts of the world, ]
e) concepts of the Church, f) 'religionless Christianity'.
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As has been shown, none of Shiner’s categories of secularization is self-sufficient, nor is it independent of other theories- Each is separate and distinct to the extent that some are prepared to see it
as the predominant meaning of the term ’secularization'. The theological approaches however, are not alternative or complementary theories of the process. Rather, they are key concepts or areas of development in theological thought which, taken together, may be said to comprise a picture of the trends described as secularization, but it would be difficult to take any one of these separately and so describe it.
This chapter will therefore attempt to do the same as was done in the preceding two chapters, that is, to introduce some of the main themes and areas of secularization. However, this is done here with full awareness of the major problems of this method for the theological approach, for whereas sociology lends itself to this form of examination, theology does not. Therefore, all that will be undertaken here is a brief discussion of some of the theological issues which seem to have some bearing on secularization, and not a comprehensive introduction to these questions.
Secularization as a historical drama
Secularization is a continuing process; it is not a once-for-all event. This means that it must bear the marks of such an on-going movement. It has been described as,
'basically a drama of Christendom, which has its promising development, its crisis, and its tragic conclusion.'1
West, 0., Bossey Ecumenical Institute, Consultation on the Meaning of the Secular, 1959, p.6.
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It is possible to see secularization as a historical drama in three main ways. Firstly, it may be so viewed in that it is part of the whole historical process of Christianity, and, as such, inextricably
2
linked with the history of Christianity . Thus, secularization may be regarded as the inevitable outcome of that history. This is the
argument of van Leeuwen, who writes,
’Is not the process of emancipation from religious constraints, which is usually referred to as 'secularization', itself a product of Western Christian civilization, and has it not been set in motion by forces nurtured in the course of
Christian history? Are not all the 'non-religious' elements of Western civilization - modern technology, science, democracy, capitalism, socialism, nationalism which have thrust their
way into non-Western countries and been welcomed there, among the fruits of that very civilization which was formed and driven forward by the dynamic spirit of Christianity?.... Is it not conceivable that Christianity today has entered a phase of its history in which it presents itself no longer in the form of a self-contained corpus Christianum, but in the bifurcated form of a greatly reduced, weakened and divided Church on the one hand, and of a victorious 'secularized' civilization on the other?'3
Such an argument is related to Berger's view, discussed earlier, that secularization is an inevitable product of Protestantism, van Leeuwen, however, is taking this argument one stage further, to the history of Christianity itself. Such arguments are basically concerned with the history of the Church, and are necessarily dependent on many generali sations. It is also possible to claim a Christological basis for secularization, by taking the Incarnation as a fundamental and radical
if
form of secularization , for it represents the 'secularization', in a
2 cf. van Leeuwen, A.T., op.cit., p.332. 3 ibid., p.l6.
4 On this view, cf. Dantine, W., 'The revelation of man'. Student World, XVI (1), 1963, pp.29-30.
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literal sense, of God. By the incarnation, God became 'worldly’, and 'conformed' to this world in the very real sense of taking a human form.
Moreover, by the Incarnation, the dualistic distinction between sacred 5
and secular was broken, and the two thence united . In these senses, it may be argued, some degree of secularization is built into the very basis of Christianity, and it is therefore to be expected that as the history of Christianity progressed, so this secularization would become increasingly evident. Thus, secularization may be regarded as a product of Christianity and,
'may be an authentic manifestation in a changing world of the purpose of God in history. The God of the Bible and the Christian faith is a God committed to history, and to live in history is to live in change . . . The present phase in historical evolution may be a new
stage in the povidential order; we must learn to see and obey the will of God in it, uninhibited by a faithless nostalgia for a Christendom that is gone . .'°
The second way in which secularization may be seen as a historical drama is in terms of the Christian emphasis on history. The heilsge- schichte elements in the history and theology of the O.T. have already
7
been mentioned , and this was a feature distinguishing Hebrew religion from that of other Ancient Near Eastern peoples. The name most readily associated with this 'historical' approach to secularization is that of E. Gregor Smith^. Whilst he remained critical of much that is seen as
'heilsgeschichte', this is largely because the concept rests rather 9
heavily upon an idea of 'the holy' as separate and distinct . Smith
5 This aspect of secularization was discussed in ch.3- (cf. Bonhoeffer, D., Ethics, pp.197-8.)
6 Barry, F.R., op.cit., pp.37-8. 7 ch.3.
8 Smith, E.G., Secular Christianity, Collins, 1966. 9 ibid., pp.110-11.
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nevertheless retains a view of history that may be described as 'geschichte’, or the continuing presentness of the past. Despite
the fact that he refers to 'secularism' rather than to 'secularization',
10
and the former, as has already been demonstrated , bears a rather more absolute meaning than the open process implied by the latter.
Smith's comments are still helpful in the present discussion. He writes.
' . . . the source of secularism is to be found in the Christian faith. Further, the relation of secularism to this faith
is of such a kind that it cannot be noted simply as a historical fact of a merely genetical order. The relation continues into our time • • . .'11
In addition to Smith's particular emphasis on 'geschichte', there is also the more general historical emphasis of Christianity. This can be identified not only in the awareness of the heritage of Hebrew religion, but also, and more especially, at the centre of the
12
Christian faith in the historical Christ-event . Thus, for any religion which is concerned with events occurring within the ordinary course of history, secularization will to some extent be a natural process, for worth and value have already been accorded to the worldly, inasmuch as this is the locus of divine activity. It may be argued therefore, that in a religion so clearly rooted.in the historical manifestation of God within the secular world, that secularization is, all the more, a natural process.
10 ch.1.
11 Smith, E.G., op.cit., p.150.
12 Whether this historical dimension is seen as limited to the Incarnation and Atonement, or is seen more generally in the fact of the life of Christ, the emphasis remains much the same.
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A third feature of secularization which may be classified under the heading of ’historical drama’ is the process of liberation. This has already been hinted at in van Leeuwen's statement cited earlier, and secularization has been defined by West as.
'the withdrawal of areas of life from religious and finally also from metaphysical control, and the attempt to under stand and live in these areas in the terms which they alone can offer.'13
Although this strictly implies the liberation of society from some of the traditional controls and constraints of religion, more general forms of liberation are likely to be consequent upon the liberation from religious constraints. Once the concept of freedom is accepted, it is difficult to limit it to specific areas of life. The Old Testament emphasis on Yahweh's activity in history meant not only that his action occurred in time, but also that it was operative within the ordinary social and political life of the people. If this is regarded as a continuing process or as 'geschichte' history, then the contemporary political and 'secular' world will become the arena of God's liberating and renewing activity. Thus the current attempts
14
to evolve various 'theologies of liberation' , may be seen as part of 13 West, C ., op.cit., p.1. cf. vanPeursen, C.A., Bossey Consultation
on the Meaning of the Secular, pp.1-5.
14 The works in this area are now numerous, and are concerned with liberation from oppressive political ideologies, from colonialism, racism and sexism, A few examples of the literature are, Kee, A., (ed) Seeds of Liberation, S.C.M., 1973; Alves, R.A., 'Theology and the
liberation of man', in In Search of a Theology of Development,
Sodepax Report, Committee on Society, Development and Peace, Geneva, 1969, pp.75-92; Morton, N., 'Toward a whole theology’. Risk, X (2), 1974, pp.14-16; Bonino, J.M., Revolutionary Theology Comes of Age, S.P.C.K., 1975" The involvement of the Churches with the theme of - liberation is reflected in its importance in two of the sections
('Education for liberation and community' and 'structures of injustice and struggles for liberation') of the Fifth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, (cf. W.C.C., Work Book for the fifth assembly of the W.C.C., Geneva, 1975, pp.40-6l.)
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this process. Furthermore, the concern of the Churches with liberation movements of various types may be indicative of a major loss of
dominance by the Churches themqleves, for such a concern with the various 'oppressed' groups would have been unlikely at a time when
15
many were held in bondage by the dominance of the Church . There is 16
also the more general interpretation of secularization as liberation . M> This has connections both with the sociological theory of differentiation
and of the differentiation of society from religion, for both of these theories really involve the loss of dominance by religious institutions,
'I n Âi
and the increasing independence of the 'liberated' area of life
These various elements within the concept of a historical drama 7!
18 ^
are brought together in Thomas' statement that secularization has been seen,
^ as the decisive fact of our time which challenges and threatens every world view. (They) also see secularization as the fruit of the Christian gospel. It is something to be welcomed, since it liberates man from all types of religous and meta physical bondage, from the supremacy of fate, from the tyranny of cosmic powers, from the divinity of kings and from the strictures of unquestioned i d e o l o g i e s . ' 1 9
The process involved is not without its problems. The first is the question as to whether the whole historical process of secularization
20
in fact represents liberation or dehumanization . There is the possibility of dehumanization because of secularization's potential
15 The argument that traditional Christianity has held mankind in bondage is forcibly stated by Kahl, J., The Misery of Christianity, Penguin, 1971.
16 Thus secularization has been defined as the,
'liberation of mankind from the grip of obscurantism' (Panikkar, R., 'Secularization and worship', Studia Liturgica, VII (2-3), 1970, p.33" 17 cf. ch.2.
18 Thomas, O.C., (ed). Attitudes toward other Religions, S.C.M., 1969. 19 ibid., p.27.
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22
zation as historical drama, for, it is argued , by so doing, what is really being said is that secularization is totally irreversible. The validity of this as a criticism must inevitably rest both on the
23
definition of secularization that is adopted , and on the view of
drama' is likely to be seen as irreversible. If, however, a view of 24
history as following a more 'cyclical' pattern is accepted, then the problem of irreversibility will not be so great.
Some links between the concept of secularization as a historical drama and Shiner's categories of secularization have already been mentioned. These are the parallels between the liberation aspects
of historical drama, and the differentiation and disengagement theories. There is also an evident connection with Shiner's sixth type of
secularization - the movement from a sacred to a secular society. It has been claimed by van Leeuwen that the concept of conformity with this
21 The latter view is supported by Smith's comment that,
'in its superficial aspects the tide of secularism is tending to reduce everything to the same boring mediocrity and
conformism, to one style and taste, to a life which basically does not emerge from the impersonal world of It . . «' (Smith, R.G., Secular Christianity, Collins, 1966, p.139).
22 van Leeuwen, A.T., op.cit., p.333.
23 The decline of religion, for example, is potentially more reversible than the process of differentiation.
24 e.g., the view of Toynbee (Civilization on Trial, O.U.P., 1948).
Î
for removing some of the dimensions of variety, depth and understanding '% 21
in human life • Such a criticism, although valid, may tend to rest on a rather limited and negative definition of secularization.
The second problem arises from the very description of seculari- .0
history that is taken. If history is viewed as following a straight- i
II
line continuum, then, clearly, any process described as a 'historical
79
world should be seen as the very opposite of the historical drama of secularization- He considers it strange that these two processes of secularization are simultaneously at work within the history of
25 %
Christianity . It is, however, difficult to accept van Leeuwen*s «•;i polarisation of these two aspects of secularization, for it would % seem that, although distinct, they may be regarded as complementary
aspects of the process.
1
The problems of speaking of God in a secular age I
The discussion of secularization as a historical drama was largely concerned with the nature of the process of secularization-
The categories which follow will mainly be concerned with the content r or characteristics of that process. Firstly, there is the problem, of
speaking of God in a secular age, in many ways fundamental to other % questions involved in secularization. This demands consideration on * two levels, the terms in which such discourse may occur in a secular
longer. The whole issue is one of the key problems of secularization, for it is concerned with the attempt to represent what many have held to be the timeless in terms of contemporary secular culture. This thereby involves not only language about God, but also the whole quest for valid symbols by which belief may be expressed^^. Whether the crisis in ’meaningfulness’ is prior to other forms of secularization 25 van Leeuwen, A.T., op.cit., p.332.
26 The latter problem has particular pertinence for worship, and a fuller discussion of the search for valid symbols will be found in ch.8.
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27 cf. van Caster, M., 'Secularization: a Christian view', Lumen Vitae, XXIII (4), I968, pp.626-7- He contrasts the position of man in these different cultures, and thus considers man's needs at the various levels involved.
28 Bonhoeffer, D., Letters and Papers from Prison, p.92.
29 Bethge, E., 'The challenge of Bonhoeffer's life and theology', in Smith, R.G., World Come of Age, Collins, I967, pp.22-88.
(for example, institutional decline), or symptomatic of them, is
impossible to determine with any accuracy. It is more likely, however, 1
■■à
that these are complementary processes, so that, for instance, problems ; of credibility are increased by institutional decline, which, in turn, U may be partly due to a growing sense of the meaninglessness of many ,5 traditional religious statements.
Î The first question, that of how to speak of God in a secular age,
may be said to arise out of, and reflect, the movement from a sacral to a secular universe, for the conceptions of God (and of man) which
arose in a sacralised culture, will inevitably need re-interpretation -I once that culture is secularised and the original conceptual framework *
27 S
removed . The basic problem as presented to theology today centres ;l
I
round Bonhoeffer's question in his letter of 30th April, 1944. J’How do we speak of God without religion, i.e. without the temporally influenced presuppositions of metaphysics,
inwardness and so on? How do we speak (but perhaps we are 4 no longer capable of speaking of such things as we used to)
in a secular fashion of God?'28
.a 1 Bonhoeffer*s question reflects the whole problem, for it arises out of
an awareness that traditional religious symbols, terminology and
conceptual structures lose their potency in a secular world, and thus f there arises the attempt to express the same underlying ideas without
29
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reminder of an important distinction between Bonhoeffer and others who have sought such a non-religious interpretation# For Bonhoeffer, this attempt at reinterpretation does not arise out of doubts but out of the conviction of the adulthood of the world^^. The reconstruction demanded is necessarily difficult, and further impeded by the fact that
31