Marshall, Peter (2011) Disenchantment and re-enchantment in Europe, 1250–1920. Historical Journal, Vol.54 (No.2). pp. 599-606. doi:10.1017/S0018246X11000148

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Abstract

The relationship of reason to religion is a preoccupation of our times. Some
contemporary culture-warriors, particularly in Britain and the United States,
vehemently maintain their inherent antitheticality, and imagine themselves engaged
in a heroic struggle to preserve Enlightenment rationality and hard-won
scientific advances in the face of a global upsurge of irrational belief. Behind
much of the histrionics is a sense that history itself has gone off course. The longheld
presumption of an essentially linear path of development, via such milestones
as the Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment, towards a
condition of benevolent and universal secular modernity has been thrown into
disarray by the evident power of religious faith, not merely to maintain a fading
hegemony, but to generate new forms of social identity and inspire cultural and
political action across the developing and developed world. Where once the long
sweep of the 'secularization paradigm' seemed axiomatic and universalizing,
sociologists of religion now posit flowing and ebbing tides of 'Christianization' as
a hallmark of modern European history.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D901 Europe (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > History
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Religion and science -- Europe -- History -- Book reviews
Journal or Publication Title:	Historical Journal
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	1469-5103
Official Date:	2011
Dates:	Date Event 2011 Published
Volume:	Vol.54
Number:	No.2
Page Range:	pp. 599-606
DOI:	10.1017/S0018246X11000148
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

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