Fw: Religious secularity in V.?

[Mark Kohut]

Quite interesting Dave.....what does this below mean re Pynchon, esp in V., if 
it means anythng?

1) Secularists tend to deny the mediaeval origin of the notion of secularity. 
From your point of view is it possible to ignore it?

First, a quick glance at the reasons that lead those people to dodge or 
camouflage this medieval origin could be apposite. Generally speaking, there has 
been since the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment a widespread 
negative prejudice against whatever is or is supposed to be, medieval. The 
received wisdom tells us: Good things arose in Modern Times, full stop. The 
Middle Ages were a period of darkness, fuller stop. 

As for the case of secularity, its advocates specifically want, or pretend to, 
ignore that it appeared in the Middle Ages, a period that was emphatically not 
secularist. The dividing line drawn between the Church and the State is a 
Christian invention that began among the Church Fathers, as a reaction against 
Constantine’s claim to control the Church and further culminated in medieval 
times. Moreover, this line was drawn by the Church, not by the State. The Holy 
See’s constant policy from the Investiture Controversy in the late 11th century 
consisted in sending the State (i.e. the Emperor or the Kings) back to its own 
merely thisworldly—“secular” if you want—task: enforcing peace, justice, good 
social order. The State, on the other hand, was not “secular”, but claimed its 
share in sacrality. Just think of the adjective: “Holy Roman Empire”. Secularity 
was a conquest of the Church.   


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tue, October 12, 2010 1:00:08 PM
Subject: Religious secularity

Is there a difference between secularity and secularism? Are they both
essentially Christian, or essentially religious concepts? An interview
with the arabist and medievalist, Rémi Brague

http://www.opendemocracy.net/jerome-di-costanzo-r%C3%A9mi-brague/religious-secularity