Article

Relationship Between Christianity and Secularization or Theology of Secular Religiousness

ABSTRACT

The most basic presumption of discussions about secularization is that there is an opposite relationship between secularization and religion. However, this definition refers to a very general approach and is supplied by statistical data. In the modern era, secularization which is defined as “removal of religion from politics” or “the decline of religious attitudes and rituals in society” has led to the thesis that the religion would weaken and wane in importance over time. This thesis has become the most prominent secularization paradigm of the classical sociological approach. However secularization may be a requirement within theological tenets of some religious traditions, for example, the Protestant secularization doctrine attempts to increase the spiritual value of the worldly life that Catholic Church disowns. Within the framework of conceptual meaning of the term, secularization involves getting away from the Church not from Christianity. Religious practice and recommendations of the Catholic Church has been expelled from the worldly life by the Protestant Reformation. Instead of the Catholic doctrine that valued only the church and the monastic life, and despised the earthly life, Protestantism almost sanctified all secular (i.e. worldly) vocations and occupations as a manifestation of piety.

Keywords

Secularization Christianity Protestantism Luther The Two Kingdoms Doctrine Vocation