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IPP WORKSHOP SERIES | Luca Siniscalco: “An Introduction to the “Postsecular Turn”: Rethinking Religion(s) in Contemporary Age””

When

Nov 14, 2024 from 02:00 to 04:00 (Europe/Berlin / UTC100)

Where

SR 109

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It is in the public eye how much the role of religion is currently pivotal in the context of geopolitical, social and ethical challenges. Western secularization seems in a phase of partial – although irregular – shutdown. Apart from the reaffirmation of traditional religions, often in form of revanchism and radicalization, scholars have underlined that the cultural crisis of the main drivers of modernity (materialism, scientism, individualism, progressivism, rationalism) seems to open a new phase, accompanied by the development and spreading of new religious forms, which seem to contradict – or even to reverse – the process of secularization. Elaborating on Jürgen Habermas’s theorization of “postsecular societies”, Stoeckl, Rosati and Holton (Global Connections: Multiple Modernities and Postsecular Societies, 2012, p. 2) define “postsecular” those contemporary societies, nor premodern (sacral), neither completely secularized, where religious instances are resurgent, while “new forms of religious pluralism also emerge within a secular horizon that call into question established institutions and practices” (ivi, p. 2). Under the notion of “Postsecular age”, a relevant debate has thus recently been established, culminating in the theorization of a “postecular turn”. Fundamental source, in this context, is The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity (2019), which thematize, through interdisciplinary perspectives, the notion of postecularity, between the processes of “revival of the religion” and “secularization of secularism”. The workshop will offer an introduction to the concept of “Postsecular”, discussing the meaning of this notion and its range of application as theoretical framework. A final section of the workshop will consider the application of this model to the analysis of contemporary cultural processes and will open a discussion with the
participants, offering considerations on how other Phd candidates could integrate this framework in their own research projects.

Keywords: Postecularity, secularization, postmodernity, spirituality, crisis, societies

To register: Winter Term 2024/25 — The Graduate Centre (uni-giessen.de)