This exemplified by a question my 30+ daughter asked regarding the Coronation which she watched and found moving: i am surprised it is so religious? I mention her age because she has lived within the English culture (with a Christian mother) yet her culture is avowed secular and she had no idea of the religious or historical references within the ceremony. On my holidays to Egypt, Turkey there would have been complete congruence within society and culture of the faith worldview.
Jan, yes, people don't realize that our society, that either segregates or compartmentalizes religion to the private sphere is very much a recent innovation. We think such separation is self-evident, but for most of history, and in most places to this very day, that is not the case.
I have the same problem when leading my home group in terms of contextual understanding of scripture. Roman society in NT was not secular and neither was Judaism reading back Empire s a secular process devalues the radical ness of both Jesus in a Roman environment and within Judaism. 'Gentle Jesus meek and mild" not challenging the status quo is the mantra that results.
Secularism in Christian countries is a reaction to Christian sectarianism. The Enlightenment thinkers of France, US, etc. that pushed for a separation of Church and State were reacting either to things like the Thirty Years War, the Wars of Religion in France, tension with the Church and leadership under Elizabeth and the Stuarts, and more. While it may have been invented by people who were Christian culturally and religiously, it didn't stem from theological considerations, but rather from Ecclesial ones.
So while I am inclined to agree with you that it was articulated among Christians it doesn't necessarily flow from a Christian theological viewpoint, but a happenstance of context regarding ecclesial tensions.
I do appreciate your mention of the way we have privatized religion (in the Anglophone world especially) though, because it never has been the norm.
This exemplified by a question my 30+ daughter asked regarding the Coronation which she watched and found moving: i am surprised it is so religious? I mention her age because she has lived within the English culture (with a Christian mother) yet her culture is avowed secular and she had no idea of the religious or historical references within the ceremony. On my holidays to Egypt, Turkey there would have been complete congruence within society and culture of the faith worldview.
Jan, yes, people don't realize that our society, that either segregates or compartmentalizes religion to the private sphere is very much a recent innovation. We think such separation is self-evident, but for most of history, and in most places to this very day, that is not the case.
I have the same problem when leading my home group in terms of contextual understanding of scripture. Roman society in NT was not secular and neither was Judaism reading back Empire s a secular process devalues the radical ness of both Jesus in a Roman environment and within Judaism. 'Gentle Jesus meek and mild" not challenging the status quo is the mantra that results.
Secularism in Christian countries is a reaction to Christian sectarianism. The Enlightenment thinkers of France, US, etc. that pushed for a separation of Church and State were reacting either to things like the Thirty Years War, the Wars of Religion in France, tension with the Church and leadership under Elizabeth and the Stuarts, and more. While it may have been invented by people who were Christian culturally and religiously, it didn't stem from theological considerations, but rather from Ecclesial ones.
So while I am inclined to agree with you that it was articulated among Christians it doesn't necessarily flow from a Christian theological viewpoint, but a happenstance of context regarding ecclesial tensions.
I do appreciate your mention of the way we have privatized religion (in the Anglophone world especially) though, because it never has been the norm.