secularism

Orthodox Vision of the Modern World. Context, Нistory and Meaning of the Synodal Document on Church Mission

The paper deals with the history and the theological context of the document “The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World,” to be presented and adopted by the Pan-Orthodox Council in 2016. The paper makes an overview of Western-Christian and Eastern Orthodox intellectual and theological resources that had an impact upon the discussions over the document and its final text. Debates and arguments that occurred throughout the process showed various theological and political orientations existing within the Orthodox churches.

Italy as a Secular State: Historical and Legal Sketch

Indian Model of Secularism: Contextualism and Principled Distance

Secularism is often reduced to its western forms — be it French or American model. Rajeev Bhargava in his interview invites us to revise this perspective. He proposes to look more closely at non-western forms of secularism, f. e. at its Indian model that might give clues to the solution of many problems of contemporary secular societies, which are, as it is often claimed, in crisis. Two basic features of Indian model are outlined: contextualism and principled distance.

„The Case of Crucifixions“ in the European Court: a Postsecular Reading

Law and Religion Beyond National Borders: The Virtue of the European Court of Human Rights

Counteracting „Religious Extremism“: the Russian State in Search for Responses to the Challeges of Desecularization

Understanding the Secular

The article explores the notion of «secular» and other terms that include this Latin root – secularization, secularism, de-secularization, and post-secular. All these terms are used in various ways by different researchers and in normatively biased ways both within and beyond academia, yielding much confusion. The author attempts to unpack the meanings behind these terms and organize a certain logical matrix for their use.

Post-Secular Conceptualization of Religion: Formulating the Problem

The author develops a new conception of religion appropriate for modern post-secular conditions. In these conditions, neither secular model of religion, typical to Modernity, nor pre-secular understanding of religion / religiosity can be considered as fitting to socio-cultural reality. It is especially stressed that secular understanding of premodern religion distorts religion’s nature by allotting it a fixed and therefore limited place in line with the idea and practice of functional differentiation typical to European societies of the Modern age.

The Turkish Laboratory: Alternative Modernity and the Post-Secular in Turkey

It is well known that Turkey is a country in a state of flux. The ongoing transi- tion from a Kemalist ideology to a post-Kemalist one has a deep impact on many different levels and domains of the Turkish national life. The Western-like profile of the Kemalist project of modernization is starting to leave room for alternative forms and understandings of modernity. From international relations and foreign policy to TV soap operas and fictions, just to mention two relevant and different examples, Turkey seems in search for herself.

From Secular Modernity to ‘Multiple Modernities’: Social Theory on the Relations Between Religion and Modernity

The author analyzes different views on the relations between religion and modernity, which appear in the social theory of the 20th–21st centuries. The paper provides critical analysis and assessment of secularization theories which claimed incompatibility between religion and modernity. Finally, the article deals with a relatively new contribution made by the concept of ‘multiple modernities’ elab- orated by Shmuel Eisenstadt. This concept both softens and shades the findings of the secularization theorists.

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