The Invention of Secular Power: Towards a Religious History of Secularism

Abstract

In contrast to the common understanding of secularism as the opposite of religion, the author argues that the concept of secular power (which he regards as central to any politico-theoretical debate on secularism) was first elaborated by the Church Fathers. Consequently, secularism, as referring to the dissociation of public authority from organized religion, is a notion that only makes sense within the framework of, or with reference to, the Christian »political« thought. Part of a larger research project, this text deals with the invention of the notion of secular power, focusing on Ambrose of Milan and Gelasius I.