Book review of In Praise of the Secular

Lloyd Geering published In Praise of the Secular in conjunction with St Andrew’s Trust in 2007. Margaret Mayman, from the St Andrew’s Trust for the Study of Religion and Society, provided the Foreword. The book is 56 pages, with no illustrations.  The four chapters that comprise the book each stand by themselves:  What Does Secular Mean? The Emergence of the Secular Age, The Value of Being Secular, and Spirituality in the Secular World.

Lloyd provides a scholarly introduction to “secular”, tracing the idea to Erasmus from 1509.  Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic theologian, educationalist, satirist, and philosopher (2). Lloyd is not without humour, quoting Erasmus “monks they bray like donkeys in church repeating by rote the psalms they have not understood”. 

Erasmus was a former monk, now viewed as the spiritual ancestor of modern religious thought.  Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched.  But the work of these two was based on the conflict between Catholic and Protestant.

Etymology of the word “secular” - the age or world in which we live is worldly.  It focuses on life on earth as opposed to eternity.  Originally religion didn’t refer to a set of beliefs but to a commitment or devotion that people displayed towards their most important interest.

But that real world can be a pretty nasty place at times and perhaps that is why secular thought espouses ‘justice in the marketplace and peace among the nations’ just as proposed by Israeli pundits.

 Do we all live in the same real world?  YES and NO.  Reality is an interpreted worldview, so each has his own.  But increasingly we live in a new cultural age that is increasingly global.

The foundations for constructing this new world include Copernicus Galileo (planet earth as part of a greater universe) Newton (universal laws of nature) and Darwin (human species interconnected).  John Stuart Mill, in1851, published On Liberty – a theory of a secular state.

The values of a secular state include defence of human rights, abolition of slavery, emancipation of women, legitimacy of homosexuality.

Now the conflict is between religious and those who regard themselves as secular. Christians and Muslims vs Dawkins/Hitchen/Harris who view religions as superstition.  Lloyd explores a mediating position.
Dawkins points to biblical ignorance but suggests that we not lose touch with the treasured heritage of the cultural past.
 Spirituality provides the individual with joy and self-control but in conjunction with others - kindness, love, faithfulness and gentleness - living toemgether in harmony.

Lloyd examines in part the history of attitudes toward nature.  Christians had little interest in Nature (save Noah) but St Francis spoke of Mother Earth, out of these monks came Roger Bacon who looked to observation of nature leading to experimental science.  Thomas Berry focuses on the survival of the natural world. Lloyd proposes that this - ‘worldly needs of pure air, clean water, healthy food, adequate shelter, the regeneration of the species and the overcoming of threats to human survival have become genuinely religious issues’.

Don’t put your head in the sand, that is my takeaway. Trace the origins of secularism and then live a new form of interconnected spirituality.

Mary Ellen Warren