Secularization and Secular Remainders

Are normative basic concepts of modern European history, such as human dignity, individuality or tolerance, merely secular forms of originally Christian traditions or are they qualitative characteristics of a self-asserting human rationality? This question was the focus of the interdisciplinary workshop „Secularisation and Secular Remainders“ for which scholars of the University of Göttingen and external researchers such as theologians, legal experts, philosophers and sociologists of religion met on 25 and 26 January 2008.

Thomas Kaufmann, professor at the Faculty of Theology and one of the initiators of the event explains: "The concept of ‘secularization’ is understood in various disciplines of the humanities and social sciences as the central self-descriptive category of the so-called ‘West,’ and frequently serves in public discussions as a line of demarcation that sets the West apart from the Islamic world. However, there is no unanimity regarding the coherence and implementability of this concept." In this sense, workshop participants discussed whether the development of neutral states can be seen as a precursor for secularization. Papers also addressed the establishment of norms in ethics without God, the religion of individuality, or "culture" as a secularized approach for constitutional law.



Göttingen scholars discussed their fields of research with prominent experts from other research institutions who have published significant contributions to the debate about secularization in recent years. Keynote speaker Hans Joas talked about the "Future Possibilities of Christianity". Joas, Professor of Sociology, is the Director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Science Studies at the University of Erfurt and a permanent member of the "Committee on Social Thought" at the University of Chicago (USA).