Three Secularization Theorists â Voegelin, Gauchet, Taylor â and the Implications for Secular Public Policy

Patrick Giddy

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Three Secularization Theorists â Voegelin, Gauchet, Taylor â and the Implications for Secular Public Policy

In: The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

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Patrick Giddy

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 223â239

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.30965/9783846769607_010

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Abstract

Voegelin argues that the way a liberal democracy positions religion as outside of and not susceptible to normal public debate betrays a view of religion as a closed gnostic sect â and, because of this, of liberal secular society â defined in this way as closed to human transcendence â as immunized from reasonable critique. If one sees modernity as arising out of the Christian religion â the thesis of Marcel Gauchet â this historical development is a âdistortionâ of the religion. More precisely, if we follow Charles Taylor, the distortion or impoverishment of the tradition can be traced back to the Deist influence in European cultural history with the resulting âsubtraction theoryâ of secularization. The combined upshot of these three theorists of secularization is to point to the need for a reform of the standard secular public policy of liberal democracies.

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The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age

Series:Â Eric Voegelin Studies: Yearbook, Volume: 4

Cover The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

E-Book ISBN:: 9783846769607

Publisher:: Brill | Fink

Print Publication Date:: 22 Jul 2025

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - Social & Political Philosophy

Front Matter

Part I The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations. Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age

Part II Voegelinâs Intellectual Environment

Part III Selected Book Reviews

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Three Secularization Theorists â Voegelin, Gauchet, Taylor â and the Implications for Secular Public Policy

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The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age

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Three Secularization Theorists â Voegelin, Gauchet, Taylor â and the Implications for Secular Public Policy

Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age