A Secular Age

Chapter 16 delves into the concept of “cross pressures” in modern Western society, where belief and unbelief coexist in tension. It critiques the dominant secularization narrative, which assumes that society is naturally progressing toward the marginalization of religion. Instead, Western societies have transformed how they imagine their structures, leading to what he calls the “immanent frame”—a worldview grounded in the natural order and does not inherently require reference to the transcendent.

This immanent frame allows for different interpretations, either open to the possibility of transcendence or closed off from it. This has resulted in a fragmentation and instability in religious life, where positions of belief and unbelief are increasingly fragile. People are often caught between the appeal of a closed immanent worldview and a sense of its inadequacy, sometimes reinforced by experiences or intimations of the transcendent.

The persistence of reductive materialism in contemporary thought, particularly in scientific and motivational explanations, often fails to account for the fullness of human life. Various forms of resistance to this reductionism, including spiritual, ethical, and aesthetic objections, sometimes lead individuals back to orthodox religious faith or to new, alternative spiritualities.

In closing, the chapter addresses the idea of “middle positions” that attempt to navigate between orthodox religion and materialist atheism. These positions, though numerous, are often defined in opposition to the extremes, indicating the pervasive cross pressures within the culture. These pressures influence debates about what constitutes a fulfilled human life, touching on moral agency, artistic experience, and the ethical dilemmas of modernity.

Chapter 17 explores the tension between the Christian faith and modern secular aspirations, particularly regarding rehabilitating the body and human desires. It critiques modern culture’s tendency to see evil as something external and to view human desires as inherently good and innocent. This shift has contributed to the “triumph of the therapeutic,” where moral issues are increasingly reinterpreted as medical or psychological problems. This therapeutic perspective contrasts with the traditional Christian view, where struggles with evil are seen as part of the human condition, requiring moral and spiritual effort. In the spiritual view, even misguided pursuits retain a certain dignity, while the therapeutic model reduces these struggles to health issues, stripping them of their significance and dignity.

The chapter then explores the evolution of the concept of sacrifice in Christianity. He discusses how religion historically involved sacrifice, often in violent forms, as a way to connect with the divine. Over time, particularly in Judaism and Christianity, there has been a critique and rejection of certain forms of sacrifice, especially those seen as violent or immoral. Christianity transformed the idea of sacrifice into a spiritual act, with Christ’s crucifixion symbolizing ultimate self-giving for humanity’s salvation. However, the modern shift toward an anthropocentric view, which emphasizes human flourishing as the ultimate good, has led to questioning the necessity of sacrifice and divine violence in God’s plan.

This shift has led to significant changes in Christian thought, particularly the decline of belief in Hell and the rejection of the older juridical-penal model of atonement. Modern Christianity increasingly emphasizes God’s love over His wrath and human flourishing over sacrificial suffering. This has resulted in tensions within modern Christian consciousness as it struggles to balance the affirmation of human flourishing with foundational Christian beliefs like sin, atonement, and the transformative meaning of suffering.

While modern Christianity has gained by moving away from some of the punitive aspects of its past, it still grapples with reconciling these changes with its core doctrines. Traditional Christian views sought to channel and redeem violent, destructive impulses within a divine plan, but modern perspectives, both religious and secular, often fail to adequately address the depth and complexity of these aspects of human nature.

For this reason, both belief and unbelief in modernity face similar dilemmas: how to reconcile the pursuit of human flourishing with the darker, more violent aspects of human existence. For Christians, this involves a continued struggle to integrate a transformed understanding of sacrifice and divine love into a framework that remains faithful to the core mysteries of the faith while also addressing the realities of human nature and the challenges of modernity. The therapeutic model, though intended to enhance human dignity, often reduces people to passive patients and fails to grasp the full depth of existential struggles better understood within a moral and spiritual framework.

Chapter 18 explores the dilemmas of modern secularism, focusing on the ongoing tension between belief and unbelief in Western culture. Western culture is marked by a cross-pressure between extreme positions—orthodox religion on the one hand and hardline atheism on the other—forcing people to define themselves in relation to these extremes. This creates an environment where people grapple with aspirations for transcendence versus the desire to cherish ordinary human desires and the need to understand the roots of human violence versus the moral imperative to end it.

In the modern struggle to find meaning in life, many people feel a lack of ultimate significance in their everyday pursuits. This leads to different reactions: some avoid asking more profound questions, while others, like Luc Ferry, seek to find meaning within the immanent, human domain. Ferry, for instance, proposes that the universal pursuit of human well-being offers a kind of horizontal transcendence that resonates with modern sensibilities.

The chapter also addresses the pervasive sense of unease and the challenges of living in a pluralist, secular age. The weakness of the therapeutic model is that reduces moral struggles to health issues and lacks the depth needed to address existential concerns. Because it is so often portrayed commercially, modern society’s focus on health and well-being often diminishes the dignity associated with moral and spiritual struggles.

Chapter 18 further examines the link between violence and religion, exploring how even post-Axial religions, which sought to distance themselves from earlier forms of sacred violence, have nonetheless seen the recurrence of sanctified violence, such as in the Crusades. Modern secular ideologies have not escaped this legacy, as seen in the violent excesses of the French Revolution and 20th-century totalitarian regimes.

The chapter concludes with a discussion of the fragile nature of modern moral orders and the potential for violence within them. Traditional moral absolutism and self-righteousness can lead to scapegoating and exclusion. A more constructive approach might involve forgiveness and the recognition of common humanity, as exemplified by figures like Nelson Mandela, who sought to build a new society in post-apartheid South Africa through reconciliation rather than retribution.

The chapter discusses modern culture’s attempt to find deep and powerful meanings in ordinary life—love, work, art, and nature—and how these have been integral to modernity. However, this sense of depth is often metaphorical and hints at something beyond the natural or immanent, such as the Romantic connection to nature that suggests an almost spiritual force.

The chapter also explores how modern society has shifted from a hierarchical, transcendent understanding of time to a secular, horizontal, and homogeneous conception of time. This shift has altered how we imagine social structures, leading to what Benedict Anderson calls “imagined communities,” where nations and other large social entities are no longer grounded in something higher but are collective actions within secular time.

As modernity progresses, these secular narratives and the routines of daily life once infused with meaning through larger narratives of progress or human flourishing have come under attack. Critics argue that these narratives are increasingly flat, uninspiring, or even imprisoning. For example, the Romantic critique of modernity condemns it for its lack of transcendence, heroism, and deep feeling, leading to a pervasive sense of meaninglessness.

This sense of meaninglessness is unique to modernity, as earlier societies, focused on salvation or damnation, did not face this existential void. The modern preoccupation with meaning becomes a central theme, with the crisis of meaning leading to various cultural and philosophical responses. For instance, once central to modernity, narratives of human progress and self-realization are now questioned or fragmented, leading to disunity and the disintegration of meaningful continuity across time.

The chapter further examines how death poses a significant challenge to the meaning of life, especially in love relationships, where individuals feel the demand for eternity most acutely. Contemporary attitudes toward death show how modern secular society struggles with the meaninglessness that death represents, especially in the context of the loss of loved ones.

In the “immanent revolt” within unbelief, modern thinkers, like Mallarmé, reject the importance of life and instead focus on death as a central theme. This revolt highlights a paradoxical search for meaning in death, where death is a privileged vantage point from which individuals can understand life’s meaning without any transcendental or religious grounding.

The concluding parts of the chapter reflect on the “schizophrenic” nature of the secular age, where despite the decline in traditional religious belief, there remains a persistent sense that “there is something more.” This unrest surfaces in various ways, from reflections on life and moments of grief to the public’s reaction to religious figures like Pope John Paul II. The chapter emphasizes that the secular age, far from being comfortably settled into unbelief, is deeply cross-pressured, with many individuals experiencing a persistent, if ambiguous, yearning for something beyond the immanent frame.

This chapter contrasts with the previous chapter by examining the experiences of those who have undergone a significant shift in belief toward religion. It begins by discussing “epiphanic” experiences—moments of profound revelation that lead individuals to religious conversion, such as Bede Griffiths and Václav Havel, who experienced such transformative moments. However, not all conversions stem from such intense experiences. Many people come to religion through the influence of charismatic figures, saints, or prophets who seem to have a more direct connection to the divine.

Different religious experiences can lead to conversion. While some, like Griffiths and Havel, have contemplative epiphanies, others, like St. Francis of Assisi, experience a transformative sense of God’s love, leading them to a life of radical devotion and service. Collective experiences are also important in conversions, such as those found in communal rituals and celebrations, which can lead to a sense of “collective effervescence,” as described by Durkheim.

Contemporary conversions often involve a paradigm shift—moving from a purely immanent perspective to one that includes the transcendent. This shift frequently disrupts the previously dominant frameworks of understanding, whether scientific, psychological, or moral. For example, the conversions of notable figures like Walker Percy and Dostoyevsky involved a significant reorientation of their views on human nature and morality.

Literature and the arts play important roles in these conversions, as many influential converts of the last two centuries have been writers and artists. Literature often serves as a medium for expressing these new insights, helping to articulate the struggle between secular modernity and the pull toward the transcendent.

The chapter concludes by reflecting on the broader implications of these conversions. While conversions disrupt established orders, they also raise important questions about the relationship between the transcendent and the immanent. The tension between the desire for a fully integrated Christian civilization (as seen in historical Christendom) and the recognition that any such civilization will always be imperfect and in tension with the demands of genuine Christian faith.

The epilogue aims to situate the text’s narrative of Western secularization in relation to other historical accounts that trace philosophical and theological changes leading to the present secular condition. It acknowledges the existence of different accounts, particularly the Intellectual Deviation (ID) story, which focuses on critiquing medieval realism and the rise of nominalism, mechanistic science, and a more instrumental human agency. These intellectual developments contributed to the modern ontic dualism, disenchantment, and mechanization of the world, which are essential components of modern secularity.

While the ID story explains significant intellectual shifts, it is insufficient as the main narrative behind secularity. By contrast, the Reform Master Narrative (RMN) centers on the Axial Revolution and the Protestant Reformation’s demand for a fully committed Christian life. This narrative emphasizes the reordering of life and society, leading to an anthropocentric shift and ultimately breaking Christianity’s monopoly, which facilitated the emergence of secularity as a mass phenomenon.

Another weakness of the ID story is that, while it addresses changes in elite intellectual understanding, it does not fully account for how secularity became widespread. The spreading of secular ideas through social imaginaries and the lived experiences of institutional changes is crucial to understanding this process. Additionally, the ID story, rooted in Christian doctrine, does not provide the same impetus for turning against Christianity as the RMN does.

Ultimately, A Secular Age views the ID and RMN stories as complementary, offering different perspectives on the historical development of secularity. It stresses the importance of considering both narratives to fully understand the complexities of religious and spiritual life today, shaped by various forces, including resistance to discipline and homogenization. The epilogue concludes that one must consider history’s intellectual and social dimensions to grasp the contemporary secular condition.