“Resacralizing” the Cosmos in a Post-secular Age

Abstract

Abstract This paper reflects on the attempt to ‘re-sacralize’ the cosmos in the context of the ‘return of religion’ to the public sphere, which has led scholars to describe our age as post-secular. This phenomenon contrasts with the association between secularization and disenchantment with the world that seemed to characterize modernity in some Western societies. On the one hand, the paper considers the idea of the sacredness of nature as a means of promoting respect for it and preserving it. Here the question is posed as to what extent this attitude has a place in today’s religions. On the other hand, the feasibility of this possibility without displacing an anthropocentric vision of the world that seems to have been central to some religions is pointed out. Finally, these issues are illustrated with some concrete examples within the Buddhist and Christian traditions.