By T. M. Moore|Published Date: March 05, 2010

Reckoning with the blinders of secularism

Hebrews 11:1

Wary of things not seen

Has our secular, postmodern age become wary of things spiritual? Are the people we encounter each day no longer interested in matters related to unseen realities?

I'm reading Charles Taylor's new book (it's a really big book), entitled, A Secular Age. Taylor’s burden is to trace the development of secularism from around the 16^th century to the present. Everyone agrees we live in a very different world from what people in those days knew. That’s not his point. He wants to identify the process whereby secularism came to be the dominant worldview in our time.

Taylor argues that five principal changes have come to pass in the Western world. The first of these is what he calls, “disenchantment.”

By “disenchantment” Taylor means a number of things. Essentially, however, what he has in mind is that, in the secular age we no longer believe in realities from beyond the world of our senses. In a disenchanted world “the only locus of thoughts, feelings, spiritual élan is what we call minds; the only minds in the cosmos are those of humans; and minds are bounded, so that these thoughts, feelings, etc., are situated ‘within’ them” (p. 30).

Life “under the sun”

People today, by and large, have become persuaded that here just is nothing outside the world of what we can see, feel, hear, taste, or touch. There is no “enchanted” realm of spirits or unseen realities of any sort, at least, not such as cannot be accounted for by material explanations. Solomon would have describe such people as living solely “under the sun” rather than “under the heavens.”

This doesn’t mean that people don’t still believe in God in a disenchanted age. Taylor notes, “the existence of God or other spirits is not negated by the modern world-understanding; but this understanding situates belief in a realm where it is open to doubt, argument, mediating explanations, and the like” (p. 31).

Most importantly, Taylor notes, “in the enchanted world, the meaning is already there in the object/agent, it is there quite independently of us; it would be there even if we didn’t exist. And this means that the object/agent can communicate this meaning to us, impose it on us…by bringing us as it were into its field of force” (p. 33).

But not in a disenchanted world. There is no meaning, except that which our minds invent, and that meaning is radically and constantly susceptible to change. This is because there is nothing beyond our minds, nothing superior to our minds to make any sense out of the reality we encounter all around us, and human minds, in a highly relativistic and personal age, are nothing if not changeable.

The important thing to get here is that the people around us who do not share our faith in Jesus Christ consider themselves right generous to be putting up with our silly religious convictions. They don’t mind doing so as long as we don’t take those beliefs seriously – that is, as long as we don’t try to impose on their everyday experience meanings derived from our religious convictions. If we want to go to church, pray, read our Bibles, and spend lots of time in Bible study groups, they’re fine with that. At worst, they’ll only talk about us with their other unsaved friends; mostly, they’re tolerant of us – if we live out our faith on their terms.

Defensive against spiritual truths

But the minute we come along suggesting that the world is not a disenchanted place, that, in fact, there are spiritual realities with which we have to do, and that we have to do with them in every area of our lives – when we come talking that smack, that’s when the trouble begins. That’s when the hackles go up and cries of “religion is a personal matter”, “separation of church and state”, “cramming God down my throat”, and even “theocracy” come gurgling up from the deep recesses of their souls in a kind of spiritual anti-missile defense system which they keep on hair trigger for just such occasions.

What are we supposed to do? We should live our enchanted world more consistently, that’s what. Don’t back down in the face of such hysteria. Indeed, take each such response as an indication that we need to be a little more consistent, day-in and day-out, in living the enchanted world that is so real and dear to us. We need more of that singing and making melody in our hearts to God, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and offering thanks and praise openly to God which are the hallmarks of a life filled with the Spirit, filled with the Great Enchanter Himself. We don’t intend to be obnoxious or provocative, merely consistent.

Total, or not at all

Look, the world of God the Father, Christ on His throne, the indwelling Spirit, eternal truth, precious and magnificent promises, the Kingdom of Heaven, angels and demons, and the coming judgment is either real and total, or it is nothing at all. We are disloyal to God – and unloving to our neighbors – when we allow them to live in the blinders of secularism without consistently reminding them that, hey, there’s a larger world out there, and it’s filled with wonder and beautiful things. They may not like it, but they’ll get used to it – just like we, alas, have gotten used to their disenchanted view of life.

Our unbelieving neighbors and friends think nothing of carrying on their lives quite apart from any sense of or obligation to unseen realities. They have lost the sense of enchantment that pervaded the lives of people in previous ages. Think of all they’re missing! The peace that passes understanding, hope unassailable, power to become more than what we’ve ever dared to ask or think, love for even the unlovely and unlovable from a Source beyond this world. Worst of all is the fact that they don’t even know that such possibilities exist.

Trying to “re-enchant” our neighbors by words alone is not likely to persuade them that there is another, an unseen, realm which can bring new meaning, purpose, and joy to their lives. They’re basic mantra concerning life in this world is “seeing is believing.” We must begin to let them see in us realities of demeanor, conversation, relating to others, and doing our work which shine like a light from beyond this world. The hope of glory which is the driving force for the Christian life can radiate through every aspect of our being, in all our words and deeds.

But that doesn’t “just happen.” We must give more thought – in study, prayer, and conversation with other believers – to the very practical, day-to-day ways that faith and new life in Jesus make a difference in our lives. Then we must make bold, in a disenchanted world, to clothe ourselves with the garments of newness that we receive each day from our heavenly Clothier. The more we are able to live the hope of glory, drawn from the vast resources of the unseen realm, the greater will be the likelihood that our disenchanted neighbors will observe that hope, and will begin to be curious about why we stand out like warm, glowing lights in an age of earthy hopeless, doubt, and disappointment (1 Pet. 3:15).

Make it your mission to re-enchant the world, at least that part of it that you occupy week-in and week-out. You may be surprised to find that your enchanted lifestyle has begun to enchant some of your disenchanted neighbors and friends.

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Scaling the Secular City, by J. P. Moreland, from our online store. Or read the article, “Three Meanings of Secular,” by Douglas Farrow.