Politics and Religion in a Secular Age

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What is "secularism" and what does it mean to live in a "secular age"? These questions have become increasingly more urgent in the contemporary world as we witness the rise of religious-based political ideologies (e.g., Christian nationalism, Islamism, Hindu nationalism) that threaten the ideal of a secular modern state. This course both seeks to address these questions as well as problematize the very notion of a modern tradition of secularity in the West and beyond. By tracing the development of the concept of the "secular" from its origins in Enlightenment Christianity, we will investigate the perpetual oscillation between both the proponents of secularism and the reaction against it. In particular, this course will emphasize the reformulation of the secular ideal after the collapse of Enlightenment metaphysics and religious thought among thinkers such as Marx, Nietzsche, and Weber and contemporary American non-foundationalists such as John Rawls and Richard Rorty. Finally, we will survey the so-called "post-secularists" from both Western and Islamic traditions (Habermas, Taylor, Asad, Mahmood) in order to discuss the plausibility, or even desirability, of moving beyond the secular ideal for contemporary politics. Politics and Religion in a Secular Age: What is "secularism" and what does it mean to live in a "secular age"? These questions have become increasingly more urgent in the contemporary world as we witness the rise of religious-based political ideologies (e.g., Christian nationalism, Islamism, Hindu nationalism) that threaten the ideal of a secular modern state. This course both seeks to address these questions as well as problematize the very notion of a modern tradition of secularity in the West and beyond. By tracing the development of the concept of the "secular" from its origins in Enlightenment Christianity, we will investigate the perpetual oscillation between both the proponents of secularism and the reaction against it. In particular, this course will emphasize the reformulation of the secular ideal after the collapse of Enlightenment metaphysics and religious thought among thinkers such as Marx, Nietzsche, and Weber and contemporary American non-foundationalists such as John Rawls and Richard Rorty. Finally, we will survey the so-called "post-secularists" from both Western and Islamic traditions (Habermas, Taylor, Asad, Mahmood) in order to discuss the plausibility, or even desirability, of moving beyond the secular ideal for contemporary politics.