Secularization as a Vocation
Massimo Borghesi - Being Christian in the time of uncertainty: Carrón, Taylor, Williams compared - Ilsussidiario.net
The text of the documentary “Living without Fear in the Age of Uncertainty,” presented at the 2022 Rimini Meeting, has been published in a volume edited by Alessandra Gerolin for Bur Rizzoli.
The title is Inhabiting Our Time, and the authors are Julián Carrón, former president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation; Charles Taylor, one of the best known contemporary Catholic philosophers; and Rowan Williams, an Anglican and Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012.
The dialogue emphasizes the pandemic's time and reveals a concern to inspire hope in a time of fear. The three interlocutors, different in history and experience, share a common assumption: the time of Christianity is over. This is as true for Taylor as it is for Carrón. For the Spanish theologian, we live in an age marked by the "collapse of evidence," in which "the Enlightenment's attempt to affirm fundamental human values without reference to the Christian history and culture in which they emerged...has failed" (p. 19).
From this point of view, the end of Christianity coincides with the crisis of a certain model of secularization. The result, however, is not the nihilism postulated by Nietzsche but rather a pulviscular world that chaotically mixes individualistic passions, libertarian instances, and ethical movements. A world to be deciphered and not simply fought. The reactive attitude of Christians does not help in this case. According to Williams, "In the present circumstances, Christians are in danger of using tradition as a weapon. Instead of belonging to tradition intelligently and securely, there are Christians who make it an option, a party to be defended on an equal footing with other parties" (pp. 23-24).
The challenge of the post-secular world can only be met by a non-traditionalist return to tradition. A return to tradition as a source of renewal, as a memory that demands to happen again in the present. In this context, the end of Christianity can be an opportunity for faith today. Taylor, who sees the Second Vatican Council as a crucial moment for the Church today, eloquently observes how the clericalism that prevailed in his native Quebec, Canada, until the 1960s was the source of a later anti-clericalism. "It was about the Church telling people what to do, how many children to have, and so on. Suddenly, in the 1960s, there was a rebellion, and a lot of people left and didn't want to hear from the Church anymore. They were full of anger" (p. 71).
For this reason, the philosopher Taylor also entered the political arena in order to demonstrate the possible coexistence of secularism and religion. Unfortunately, he admits, "We still carry with us a certain legacy from the time of Constantine that has accustomed us to living in societies shaped by Christianity, in which not only was adherence to the faith numerically very significant, but in which the entire political structure, artistic and intellectual traditions were shaped by the Christian faith.
Now, I am not saying that this was wrong in itself, or even that Christianity was a phenomenon that could be criticized in its entirety (suffice it to say that it produced masterpieces such as the Divine Comedy or the Cathedral of Chartres). But I do not believe that this is a good way to be a Christian because political loyalty and faithfulness to the faith are mixed together, and thus, the temptation arises to use force to impose the faith on society as a whole. [...] We must learn to live without Christianity, and we must consider this change not as the loss of a wonderful way of being but rather as the gain of a much healthier way of being, in which we can return to the central role of freedom.
Faith must be something to which one freely subscribes with one's whole being and not the result of an imposition of membership (as in the world I lived in as a child in Quebec, where the essence of local nationalism revolved around the church). This kind of coercion and pressure does not provide the ideal situation for faith to really grow" (pp. 57-58).
This period is over and there is nothing to regret. Therefore, according to the protagonists of the dialogue, the present moment, even in the midst of a thousand ambiguities, is an opportunity. The expression is correct, but it should be clarified. It cannot mean that the present is in the hands of willing new Christians, different from the past, nor that a progressive position has a better chance than a traditionalist one. At the end of the volume, it is Williams who states:
"I believe that living in the secular age is a calling. It is a call from God and, therefore a gift. If we see it as a defeat, we think there is a struggle whose outcome depends solely on us. If we see it only as a challenge, we may not fully understand that it is God who is waiting for us and relating to us through this situation. If we see it only as an opportunity, we may not see it as something "given" to us: if instead, we speak of it as a call from God, we realize that today's circumstances are a gift from God. They invite us into a new depth of relationship with God and God's world. So perhaps we begin with this. Secularization is a vocation. It is a gift" (p. 138).
Secularization is a vocation. This means that it can be redeemed from within, through the hearts of people, and not simply won from without. "I believe," says Carrón, "that in order to answer the question 'is there still hope today', as Charles Péguy says, 'one must have received a great grace'. In fact, hope is not simply an attitude inherent in human nature" (p. 131).
Hope, which enables us to bear the weight of the anxiety that attacks us today, cannot be the result of a commitment, of a spiritual method that guarantees certain results. Only a presence, a witness of life, is capable of inspiring hope. For Carrón, "no argument, no discourse, no rules, no constraints can overcome the deep fear that we have seen so often in our lives, for example during the pandemic. The only hope is to find presences that can support us, like the mother with the child. I think of the experience of the disciples in the boat with Jesus during the storm" (pp. 26-27). Hope, real hope, is linked to the "attraction of Jesus". Therefore, "the Christian response to secularization is to present a Christianity that is not reduced to morals or discourses. It means returning to the source, rediscovering that the encounter with Christ corresponds to the human heart" (p. 137).
It’s the presence of the mystery, the presence in the flesh, that can rekindle life today, even in those who have never heard of Christ. Taylor confesses in this regard: "All my philosophical work has tried to understand human beings as embodied subjects, in contrast to the dominant philosophy in the Anglo-Saxon world, which was extremely 'excarnate,' very much concerned with reason, which was not to be influenced too much by the guts or the sense of being in the world. What has kept my faith is the feeling of this movement that you really feel with your whole being. This has made me more Catholic because I think that in Catholicism - [...] - you have a very strong sense of how grace goes through the whole person, including physical contact" (p. 98).
"Physical" grace, transmitted in and through the senses, is the locus of an authentic experience of faith today. Any other "strategy" is a distraction. This means that all cultural, political, charitable, etc. engagement is fruitful only if it is sustained by witness. As Taylor beautifully observes, "There are times when there is a perception of something very powerful that is there, beyond us, that draws us in and gives us an idea of what the real meaning of existence is. When this kind of discovery happens, I have a very strong sense of what it means to be full of agápe: somehow, all the worries and anxieties about my life and what threatens it are removed. I am seized by the need to meet people full of agápe and the desire to give something in return. In this way, my faith is strengthened" (p. 123).
People filled with agape are those who make it possible to "live fearlessly in the age of uncertainty. For Taylor, "what gets you out of doubt is another 'wave' of insight, thanks to those you meet. For me," he says, "it was crucial to meet some really remarkable people, not just Christians. You meet them and see another way of being. You are again inspired by them, moved by them, and again you feel a strong connection. But I don't expect the oscillation of doubt to end, at least not in this world: it's part of what makes us grow, we have to go through doubt to mature. I think that God is always working to change us, and if we try to avoid those moments, we are, in a sense, avoiding the places where we can be changed; it's a hypothesis, but it's a hypothesis that I cherish. It is impossible to suppress obstacles completely; they will never end. You have to go through it all, including the pain that comes with it" (p. 127).
Personally, doubt did not overwhelm him because of a fundamental experience that shaped him. "One of the most beautiful experiences I ever had was when I was invited to the Russian Orthodox Easter Vigil, which I had never attended. During the vigil, I heard this beautiful song: Christ is risen, He is risen from the dead (Christos voskrese!). It was one of the moments in my life when I was most deeply moved. At that time my father was leaving and I was burdened by death and the idea of the total denial it seemed to imply. Suddenly I heard this wonderful song from the choir: Smerteeyou smert po prav (With death Christ has conquered death). And that has been with me ever since. It is almost seventy years!" (pp. 113-114).
Massimo Borghesi is professor of moral philosophy at the University of Perugia. He is the author of several books, including The Mind of Pope Francis: Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s Intellectual Journey (Liturgical Press, 2018) and volumes on Augusto del Noce, Luigi Giussani, and political theology.
Translation by Mo Caplin - EpochalChange.org - ilsussidiario.net
Unrevised translation by the author. Download here.
