Romanticism and the origins of postsecular thought
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15633/lie.28Keywords:
postsecularism, romanticism, modernity, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Jürgen HabermasAbstract
The purpose of the paper is to use the concept of postsecularism to interpret some selected themes of the British and German Romanticism. Postsecularism is here understood in the sense given to this term by Jürgen Habermas, as a thought which: 1) takes Western secularization to be largely an accomplished fact, but at the same time: 2) claims that religion is an important source of meanings suitable for the secularized public sphere of (post)modern societies. The main contention of the paper is that one can find the roots of the postsecular thought thus understood in the period of Romanticism, in the works of such authors as William Wordswort, William Blake or Novalis. The Romantics assume that the main Christian intuitions, symbols or themes may be “saved”, but only within a highly idiosyncratic and heterodox conceptual framework.
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