Secularism and its Opponents from Augustine to Solzhenitsyn

In this overview of secularism and its history, Kennedy traces, through a series of intellectual biographies of leading European thinkers such as Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Dostoyevsky, and Solzhenitsyn, just how the Western world changed from religious to secular.

"This book gives an overview of the evolution of secularist ideas and the tug of war between the religious and political realm in western thinking. The debate concerning the role of religion in society is as fierce as ever, and, therefore, the ideas and debates presented here clearly feed into contemporary debates and thinking on religion, politics and modernity." - Journal of Peace Research"In a probing analysis of twelve giants of Western thought, Emmet Kennedy traces the emergence of secularism in the Eurocentric world." - The European Legacy

Autorentext
ROBERT E. KENNEDY Emmet Kennedy is professor of European history at the George Washington University, USA, and author of several books including A Philosophe in the Age of Revolution: Destutt de Tracy and the Origins of "Ideology" (American Philosophical Society 1978) and A Cultural History of the French Revolution (Yale U.P., 1989).

Inhalt
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE Saint Augustine, Christianity and the Roman Empire Thomas Aquinas Christian Secularism INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO: THE RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION Dante and Lay Secularism of the High Middle Ages Machiavelli, Religion and Politics Luther's Centrifugal Reformation INTRODUCTION: TO PART THREE: AUTONOMY IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT Locke, Toleration, Infallibility and the Secular State Rousseau, the Secular Hermit Kant's Ambiguous Secularism INTRODUCTION TO PART FOUR: THE UPWARD, DOWNWARD DIALECTIC Hegel: Secular Philosophy Comprehending Theology Marx, 'the Christian State,' 'the Jewish Question' and 'Species Being' INTRODUCTION TO PART FIVE: REACTION AGAINST SECULARISM Dostoyevsky and European Secularism Solzhenitsyn, Communism and the West Conclusion