The secular masks of religion: A (re) constructive critique of W. D. Hart's Edward Said and the Religious Effects of Culture

Abstract

Since the late 1970s, much scholarly interest has been generated by Edward Said's Orientalism. More recently, some scholarly attention has been devoted towards understanding Said's view of religion. One such example is W. D. Hart's Edward Said and the Religious Effects of Culture. This article aims to show that Hart's reading of Said's œuvre is not only partial, but also largely uncharitable and therefore inadequate. Two major problems of Hart's book are the focus of attention: first, that according to Hart, Said was only negative in regards to religion, and second, that, again according to Hart, Said thought religion and secularism could not be fruitfully allied. To correct these two erroneous views, six theses based on Said's writings are proposed as correctives. In offering the correctives this article provides a more nuanced account of Said's views of religion based on the understanding that Said expressed his thoughts concerning religion on two relatively distinct discursive levels: one metaphorical, the other concrete. To illustrate this, the article examines an example of Said's metaphorical reflections concerning nationalism as religious, and conversely, of exile as secularity.