Performing Secularity: Toward the Construction of a Concept
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Authors
Gilger, Patrick, S.J.
Issue Date
2018
Volume
17
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Type
Journal Article
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Abstract
This essay argues that a critical synthesis of Charles Taylor, Talal Asad, and Jeffrey Alexander can be used to construct a concept of “secular performances.” Via Taylor it is argued that performing secularity means displaying-in-action fragile, non-naïve interpretations of persons, objects, communities, and patterns of action. Via Asad it is argued that secular performances are received in the senses before they are reflexively chosen in the mind. That is, secular performances are staged by actors and displayed before audiences both of which are already-capacitated by secular disciplines. And via Alexander it is argued that secular performances take place within a differentiated context of action. These are performances, then, that aim to re-fuse the elements of social action that have become de-fused within complex societies. The essay closes by noting the paradoxical limits that secular performances have for achieving re-fusion and, thereby, motivating meaningful communicative action.|Keywords: secularity, performance, plurality, embodiment, Talal Asad, Charles Taylor, Jeffrey Alexander
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Citation
Gilger, P., S.J. (2018). Performing Secularity: Toward the Construction of a Concept. Supplement Series for the Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series, 17, 54-69.
Publisher
Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center, Creighton University
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ISSN
1941-8450