The unquiet frontier: the boundaries of philosophy and public theology

Abstract

Taking Charles Taylor's characterisation of the boundary between 'a secular age' and the new visibility of religion as 'an unquiet frontier', this paper considers further some of the implications of what it means to occupy the liminal space between the Scylla of secularisation and the Charibdis of religious resurgence, often known as the 'post-secular'. Some advocates of the return of religion focus on its philosophical manifestations, whereas a concentration on religious practices offers, potentially, more traction on the benefits and problems of reconceiving the role of religion in the public square.