The Myth of Secularization

(Click on link for episode) The Myth of the Secular, Part 6

In 1990 British theologian John Milbank published a five-hundred-page manifesto called Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. The book argued that theology should stop deferring to social theories that are just second-hand theology and declare itself, once again, the queen of the sciences. The book led, in time, to a movement called “Radical Orthodoxy.” IDEAS producer David Cayley profiles John Milbank.

The English poet William Blake once wrote that humanity must and will have some religion – the only question is which religion.  British theologian John Milbank agrees.  A purely secular society, in Milbank’s view, is simply not viable.  The only choice in our time, he says, is between religion and nihilism.  But religion for him means something more than just a private moment with God on a Sunday morning – it means a way of life. Milbank belongs to a movement called Radical Orthodoxy.  Under its banner, he and a group of like-minded colleagues have argued that modern Western societies have lost touch with authentic Christianity and as a result, are now living in a spiritually flattened world.