Postsecular theology: Daly, Hampson, Buber, and Gordon

Abstract

Rooted in the postsecular turn of the study of religion and society, postsecular theology is conceptualized in this article as an umbrella term for theologies offering hybrid interpretations of religiosity and spirituality within a framework that adopts numerous ostensibly secular values and perceptions. In this article, I apply postsecular theological reading to two pairs of thinkers: post-Christian feminist theologians Mary Daly and Daphne Hampson and non-Orthodox Jewish philosophers A. D. Gordon and Martin Buber. Assessing the similarities between them, I sketch the details of their common “postsecular” ground, aiming at enrichment of our understanding of postsecular theology. I then discuss differences between the theologians from a feminist perspective, suggesting that Daly’s and Hampson’s feminist sensitivity exposes Buber’s and Gordon’s gender blindness, while Buber and Gordon introduce Jewish-oriented ideas that may enrich the Christian-dominated field of postsecular feminist theology.