Abstract
The article is a contribution to the commemoration of the 2008 centenary celebration of the University of Pretoria. Its focus is on present-day theological trends. The article�s point of departure is the commendation of the philosopher Charles Taylor for being awarded with the Templeton Prize in 2007. With this prize the Templeton Foundation bestows �progress toward discoveries about spirituality�. The article links Charles Taylor�s idea of the postmodern spiritual tendency of �enchantment� as a closure of modernity�s exclusive humanism to Peter Berger�s reproach of civil religion. It pleads for a non-fundamentalist and non-populist post-secular spirituality which concurs with post-theism, a de-centring of the power of institutional religion and the enhancement of a biblical hermeneutics that does not emphasise a proposition-like and moral code-like reading strategy. The article is aimed at a spirituality of living faith in light of ancient biblical and confessional life stories.
Highlights
Introduction the TempletonPrize – progress toward ‘discoveries about spirituality’In 2007 the American Academy of Religion awarded the Harvard University publication, A secular age, authored by Charles Taylor, with the prestigious Templeton Prize (Taylor 2007:27) – the biggest prize in the world for excellence and merit
The commendatio stating why Taylor was awarded the prize in 2007 reads that it is because he has ‘for nearly half a century ... argued that problems such as violence and bigotry can only be solved by considering both their secular and spiritual dimensions.’4 Whereas Peter Berger argues that our modern-day emphasis on secularisation and the so-called decline of ‘mainline churches’ should not delude us by being unaware of the huge numerical growth of Christianity in some ‘denominational traditions’ in North America5 – not to speak of other parts of the tri-continental world – Taylor reminds us of what we have already known for many years: that not even ‘secularisation’ is void of spirituality
Theology exists in mainstream churches as well as in what were previously called ‘sects’
Summary
Postal address: Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Hatfield 0083, Pretoria, South Africa. How to cite this article: Van Aarde, A., 2009, ‘Theological trends in our postsecular age’, Verbum et Ecclesia 30(3), Art.
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