Secular History Research Articles

“Empire” Building in Medieval Iberia? Roots, Trajectories, Divergences

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to reflect on the connections between early modern Spanish empire building and expansionism by Christian principalities during the medieval period. The core argument, which is, by necessity, reductionist owing to the brevity of this article, is that while late medieval / early modern attitudes about conquest and world domination drew heavily on the history, models, and practices of earlier centuries, the ideology of empire that emerged from the later fifteenth century was distinct in two primary, interrelated respects. First, the increased political fragmentation within Christian-ruled lands intensified the more localized, inward-looking dynamic of the territorial struggles against Muslim regimes that contrasted with the more global outlook of later medieval and early modern Christian imperialism. Second, the distinct ideologies of these sometimes coordinated but often competitive earlier expansionist efforts were founded upon different justificatory conceptions of sacred and secular history that, again, were, in essence, much more peninsular in their orientation.

:The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism

:<i>The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism</i>

Patriarch and patriot: history in Patriarch Kirill’s sermons in the first year of the full-scale war in Ukraine

ABSTRACT The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus, has correctly been seen as a staunch supporter of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, explicit statements of support for the war are rare in his public sermons and speeches, and it is worth exploring the mechanisms of his support in some detail. The article presents an analysis of all the patriarch’s sermons and speeches between February 2022 and February 2023 and shows how the patriarch uses references to history to nurture a worldview that makes the war both legitimate and necessary. Using Duncan Bell’s notion of a mythscape, the author argues that Kirill infuses secular history with divine meaning in order to give indirect divine legitimation for the war in Ukraine. He further relates this to Stoeckl’s contention that the Russian Orthodox Church’s promotion of so-called traditional values functions as civil religion for today’s Russia and suggests that Kirill’s use of history nurtures this civil religion further.

Text and Tradition: The Dynasty of Villarvattom among Syrian Christians in Kerala, India

The present paper introduces, inventories and interrogates prevailing narratives about the complex trajectories through which a putative Syrian Christian dynasty named Villarvattom has taken root in communal genealogies and the popular imagination of Kerala. The paper, by examining historical evidence, argues that the existing historical documents compel us to consider it as a retrospectively invented and imagined tradition necessitated and facilitated by the unique socio-political structures of Kerala viz. the ideational complexes wrought by caste and allied practices, the dislocation caused by successive colonial regimes and the overall crisis experienced by the indigenous Christian community. The paper surveys the present state of literature, discusses explanatory models, points to the possibility of cultural introjection and seeks ways in which the study can be taken forward more comprehensively and productively so that we gain perceptive insights into both the ecclesiastical and secular histories of Kerala. The paper argues that it is an invented tradition, a defence mechanism collectively, and perhaps unconsciously, evolved by the beleaguered Syrian Christians under the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial rule, which had inflicted debilitating blows to the power and glory enjoyed by this community.

Narratives in School History Textbooks: An East African Perspective

This study conducts an in-depth analysis of the content in school history textbooks from East Africa, assessing the potential impact on socio-political stability in the region. Citing relevant research on multiperspectivity, the authors recognize the significant role power dynamics play in shaping historical narratives, suggesting that colonial structures and the dominance of majority groups continue to influence these dynamics. The paper provides a historical context by reviewing the educational systems in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. It particularly notes the challenges faced by the Muslim minority group, who often study in public schools managed by Christian entities or the government. These institutions predominantly use secular history textbooks, potentially biasing the learning experience. The researchers employed content analysis to qualitatively evaluate the data in these textbooks. The results indicated a biased presentation of historical events, overemphasizing the colonial and post-colonial periods while underrepresenting the influence of Islam in East Africa. The authors argue that this selective approach to history education might intensify existing socio-political tensions in the region. They advocate for a more balanced and inclusive representation of historical events in educational materials to foster a more equitable learning environment.

:The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism

:<i>The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism</i>

Theology and politics. political attempts to subordinate the Church

The article reviews a cultural hybrid, which is defined as religious political science or “theopolitics”. Within the framework of this phenomenon, according to the author, the language of church mission and catechetical practices is subordinated to the discourse of political activists. Among the examples of such subordination are the so-called “maidan theology”, the Declaration on the “Russian World” Teaching, Polish political Catholicism, the accession of the Hrodna episcopate clergy to the “zmagar” political opposition in 2020, etc. Religious political science tends to consider politics itself as a religious practice; political theology, on the contrary, looks at political issues as something that should be brought in accordance with a theological canon. The goals of theopolitics are reached with the close application of modernist theology. The latter seeks to transform the Christian canon according to the secularism, in particular, to sacralize specific events in secular history - this principle is characteristic of concepts from the category of the so-called “theology after” (after Auschwitz, after 9/11, after the global pandemic, etc.) According to the author, the field of church mission is thus taken under control, preaching is reinterpreted in line with the political propaganda, the church is represented as a subsystem of a “civil society”. The author emphasizes the importance of the motives of the “weak Church” and “weak God” for creating a “theological” justification of the ideas of religious political science and concludes that theopolitics is one of the manifestations of the “new Reformation” (otherwise: secular reformation) aimed at secularisation of church institutions.

The Transformation of Secularism and the BJP’s Hindu Nationalism

Since Modi came into power in 2014, secularism has significantly retreated in India’s State machinery, institutions and political discourse. Exploring the history of secularism after India’s independence, it can be concluded that India has never achieved a complete separation between the State and the religion. On the contrary, the State has rebuilt its relationship with religion by social reforms. Secularism advocated by the Indian National Congress was a mixture of both Nehru’s ideal of separation between the State and the religion and Gandhi’s ideal of religious tolerance. On many issues the latter’s stand is similar to what the Hindu nationalists argue for. The opportunistic strategy of the Congress on religion-related issues since the late 1970s further opened the door for Hindu communalism. By stigmatizing and redefining the secularism framed by the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reconstructed a political discourse about India being a secular State based on Hindu nationalism. At present, the Congress has no intention of reviving the Nehru-style tradition of secularism and other regional parties once advocating secularism have abandoned the ideal. A rightward shift in Indian party politics is inevitable. Under the BJP’s rule, a secular Indian State based on communal (religious) politics is taking shape.

The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War by Paul Kengor and Robert Orlando (review)

Reviewed by: The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War by Paul Kengor and Robert Orlando Richard A. Spinello The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War. By Paul Kengor and Robert Orlando. (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books. 2019. Pp. 221. $19.21. ISBN: 9781610171540.) When John Paul II was elected to the papacy in 1978, no one quite knew what to expect. This Polish Pope, the "man from a far country," as he called himself, was not well known outside the Catholic Church. The media were initially fascinated with him but only because he was a non-Italian pope. Some pundits predicted the beginning of liberal reforms in the Church, but they were obviously unfamiliar with John Paul II's writings or his reputation for theological orthodoxy. Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, an ethics professor at the Catholic University of Lublin, was a resolute defender of Humanae Vitae along with the traditional principles of Catholic morality. No one, however, would have predicted that this philosopher-pope would be instrumental in ending the protracted cold war and dissolving the Soviet Union. The Divine Plan explores the consequential alliance between Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan who joined forces in this noble effort. The book is based on a documentary of the same name, and is structured as a play in five acts with these two major actors. The book's basic premise is that Divine Providence brought these two leaders together on the world stage so that they could rescue the world from communism. [End Page 388] Secular historians will not find this argument persuasive, but it will surely resonate with Catholic historians. What might be surprising for the latter group is that Ronald Regan saw himself as a "tool of God" for this memorable undertaking. The Divine Plan devotes several instructive chapters to reviewing the symmetries between the lives of these two men. Both survived an assassination attempt within two months of each other. And both believed that they were spared by Divine Providence for a transcendent purpose. John Paul II was convinced that Our Lady of Fatima intervened to save his life. As he confided in an interview shortly before his death: this professional assassin certainly shot to kill, "yet it was as if someone was guiding and deflecting that bullet." There are other interesting parallels as well. Both men were actors—Reagan, of course, was a professional actor before he entered politics, and Wojtyla loved the stage as a young student. They shared similar political philosophies, with strong convictions about the "ideologies of evil," including communism. And these "kindred spirits" were known for their constructive optimism despite the traumas and challenges they encountered on their road to the world stage. But how precisely did President Regan and John Paul II cooperate with each other in this common purpose? Reagan vigorously supported Poland's Solidarity Movement, calling for an end to the marital law that had been imposed on this "martyred nation" in the early 1980's. The partnership between President Reagan and John Paul II also included the exchange of classified intelligence. When Mikhail Gorbachev assumed power with promises of glasnost and perestroika, John Paul II and President Reagan seized the opportunity to convince him to unravel the oppressive Soviet system. The Divine Plan is a gripping historical account of these events, even though we all know how the story will end. The book's provocative thesis about the role of divine providence in the flow of historical events is well worth pondering. As John Paul II often said, "In the designs of Providence there are no mere coincidences." In Hegel's Vernunft in Geschichte, where history is defined as the manifestation of the Absolute Spirit, the author refers to the "cunning of reason" (List der Vernunft). While history is not determined in any direction, it is possible to speak about the cunning of providence that coalesces with the free will of heroic men like John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. Richard A. Spinello Boston College Richard A. Spinello Boston College Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press

History and Spiritual Formation: Baron Friedrich von Hügel's Spiritual Nurture

Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852-1925) viewed history as the crux of institutional religion. He also believed that our response to God needs to include all three “Elements of Religion”: the “Intellectual Element” (rational and theological), “Mystical Element” (experiential and devotional) and “Institutional Element” (sacramental, community, tradition and history). Given the role of history in the Baron's “Institutional Element,” it is not surprising that history played a significant role in his spiritual nurture of five individuals. Prayerful reflection upon the historical Christ was central to Evelyn Underhill's conversion. Learning about secular history broadened Gwendolen Greene, enabling her to appreciate Christian mystical texts more fully. Biblical history helped in the formation of Henri Garceau. However, von Hügel's use of history in the spiritual formation of Juliet Mansel and his daughter, Gertrud, had mixed results, and is a reminder of the need to be attentive to both individual differences and maturity levels when using history for spiritual formation. This article builds upon prior research about von Hügel as a spiritual director through the inclusion of unpublished letters from several archives, plus focusing upon one area that has not been extensively discussed in previous studies: the role of history in the Baron's spiritual nurture.

William Apess's Indian Nullification : Narrating Mashpee Wampanoag Sovereignty in Nineteenth-Century America and Beyond

Abstract: William Apess's Indian Nullification (1835) engages various forms of nullification, drawn from contemporary politics, secular history, and Judeo-Christian tradition, as part of a collective expression of sovereignty meant to gain ground (literally and figuratively) for the Mashpee Wampanoags. This essay argues that, for Apess, nullification emerges as a transformative practice that can be used in the absence of treaties to articulate the Mashpees' political and religious claims and leverage new political possibilities for them, in part through its invocation of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution. References to nullification also allow him to transform and elevate the Mashpees' situation from one of local concern to national and even eschatological importance. Nullification provides an avenue to respond to characterizations of Mashpees that circulated in the New England press in which their situation was used as an occasion, or even a vehicle, for working through issues of concern for many white Americans, such as miscegenation (to use a term common in the era) and growing sectional tensions. The essay concludes by briefly connecting Apess's arguments with the Mashpee Wampanoags' more recent efforts to gain federal recognition and assert their territorial claims.

The History of Russian Cities in Responses to Geographical Surveys of the First Half — the Middle of the 18th Century

The article examines the preservation of historical memory in Russian cities of the 18th century. The sources of the study are the answers to historical questions received from the provincial offices, to the questionnaires of the Office of Heraldry (1720s), the Academy of Sciences (1760s) and the Land Gentry Corps (1760s). The geographical scope of the study is limited to the European part of the Russian Empire with an emphasis on the study of ideas about the medieval past in ancient Russian cities. The analysis of these materials demonstrates the weak historical knowledge of clerks. Written evidence of the city&amp;apos;s past has been lost in most archives. The memory of the Tatar raids and the devastation of cities during the Time of Troubles was transmitted through oral traditions and stories of old people. In most cities, the respondents did not remember the wars of the past years, and those who mentioned the sieges of the city by the enemy found it difficult to say when it was. In contrast to the oblivion of the events of secular history, the memory of the history of the church, the time and circumstances of the founding of temples and monasteries was much better preserved. As a result, among the historical figures, the rulers who ordered the cathedrals to be built, as well as venerated local saints.

История изучения «Саги о епископе Арни»

The article presents a brief overview of foreign and domestic studies of Old Icelandic bish-ops’ sagas. This genre of sagas tells about the life of the Icelandic bishops of the 11th–14th centuries and is a valuable source on both ecclesiastical and secular history of medieval Iceland. The emphasis in this article is on the analysis of the historiography of Árna saga biskups Þorláksson, the Icelandic bishops’ saga, which was written in the first quarter of the 14th century. The saga is an important source of Icelandic history from the late 1260s to 1290s. In particular, it tells about the activities of the Skálholt Bishop Árni Þorláksson (1237–1298). In russian historiography, the Árna saga biskups Þorláksson has not been practically studied at the moment, while in the works of foreign authors the issues of dating and au-thorship of the saga have been studied, the sources used by the author of the saga have been studied, and a comparative analysis of the saga with some of the Norwegian legal sources of the second half of the 13th century has been carried out. Also, on the basis of this saga, the conflict between secular and church authorities and, directly, the role of Bishop Árni in this conflict was analyzed.

A inserção social do pentecostalismo no Brasil

Pentecostalism has become, in the history of the Protestant religious tradition, a chapter of indisputable relevance. Through not dogmatic or academic paths, he established himself as a clear representative of the pneumatological interpretation of the Christian presence in the world, without the necessary dependence on theological categories but for a simple and popular reading of the sacred books, for this very reason, he effectively expanded his influence on all continents being recognized as a legitimate member of world Christianity. In his secular history He highlighted the free examination of the Scriptures and in this regard he was prodigal in the implantation of communities and denominations that do not cease to multiply, as for example in Brazil. From this movement of spiritual renewal, of morality customs and hermeneutic freedom, since the 1980s, the neo-Pentecostal variant with more daring and freedom of action in society, using them as media and especially direct participation in the political field, emerged attitude that is becoming generalized across the entire Pentecostal spectrum and in historical Protestantism.

Why Post-Truth Cannot Be Our Epistemological Compass

ABSTRACT This paper tackles some of the arguments Steve Fuller – arguably the best advocate of post-truth currently on the scene – put forward to show that, correctly understood, post-truth is the best conceptual tool to get a clear picture not only of what is happening in our societies today, but also of what has happened throughout the secular history of Western culture. The implicit assumption is that post-truth represents a reliable ‘epistemological compass’ – that is, a notion (or a set of notions) for proper orientation in both cultural and physical environments. The aim of the paper is to show that Fuller’s arguments do not work, because an epistemological compass can only be centered on a plausible notion of objectivity, and – it will be contended – this is exactly what Fuller lacks. Accordingly, it will be stressed how the upshot of his theses is the opposite of what he presumes it to be and, moreover, that his theses prove lethal to his own position.

Towards a transregional history of secularism: Intellectual connectivity, social reform, and state-building in South and Southeast Asia, 1918–1960

This article argues for a transregional historical approach to explain the career of political secularism, i.e. the ideas and practices that inform the modern state’s relationship to and administration of religion, in the 20th century. More specifically, it asks in how far we can understand secularism in South and Southeast Asia between the end of the First World War and decolonisation after 1945 as a result of transregional patterns that evolved within and beyond these regions. The argument is based on three brief case studies on Atatürk’s Turkey as a contested source of inspiration for state secularity and religious reform, regional women’s networks to foster secularism and social change in the 1930s, and secularism as a strategy of postcolonial state-building and territorial integration. Conceptually, the article suggests to use global intellectual history as a means to combine research on connectivity with historical comparison.

Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Historical and Theological Sources of Secularism and Secularisation

This article proposes a new way of approaching the roots of secularism and its outcome that is secularization. The fact that this phenomenon arises precisely in a Christian world, which ultimately leads to a complete emancipation of that what is worldly toward religion, profanum toward sacrum, is astonishing. The process of European secularism has its beginning in the 11th century, when the so-called dispute about reason was initiated resulting, in the next epochs of human history, in an intensifying departure from transcendence in favour of a secular interpretation of reality. What ensued is a fading away of the classical understanding of truth as a “compatibility of entities with intellect” (adaequatio rei et intellectus), that is compatibility of understanding and reality, replacing understanding with one’s own crafting of reality, making of a new society. An examination of the history of the European secularization can contribute to a rise of a new humanism, which rests upon reasonableness that originates at the deepest basis of the Logos.

Was Aśoka really a secularist avant-la-lettre? Ancient Indian pluralism and toleration in historical perspective

AbstractFocusing on Rajeev Bhargava's claim that Aśoka was a secularist avant-la-lettre, I dispute the common understanding of secularism as the separation of religion and politics, and argue instead that such separation, to the extent that it existed, was characteristic of traditional religious societies. I then offer an alternative history of secularism as the demise of the traditional balance of power between church and state, and the rise of a unitary state which incorporated a civil religion that excluded competing forms of religiosity within its domain. This model of secularism, exemplified by the seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, fits Aśoka's Dhamma better than the separationist model does.

Indigenous secularism and the secular-colonial

Many non-Indigenous people assume that secularism—the belief that religion and politics are and should be different spheres of life—is foreign to Native American experience. This partly explains why the topic of Native conversions in early New England has always been so controversial, since conversion implies the differentiation of religion from politics. Be that as it may, history shows that Indigenous peoples are well acquainted with secularism and have been debating it within their communities for centuries. This essay demonstrates proof of concept for a history of Indigenous secularism via a case study of Samson Occom, whose vision of Indigenous self-determination was informed by secularist ideas about sovereignty and conversion. It also offers a critique of scholarly romanticizations of Indigenous peoples' primordially “holistic” a-secularism. This romanticization is the product of a secular-colonial ideology which presupposes the otherness of Indigenous peoples when it comes to differentiating between religion and politics.